When Things Heat Up
by risenfromash
Summary: A tale that has gone epic- Soul and Maka struggle with powerful enemies, hormones, & how best to support one another while the DWMA is attacked by 'Avian Flu' an organization bent on world domination. 1st person Soul Eater w/the whole gang contains explicit sexual content in some chaps. Now Beta read by Loki son of Laufey CHAP 101- The ninja recovers as the enemy slings accusations
1. Chapter 1

**Risenfromash:**__I have once again caught the fanfic writing bug and I'm excited to share with you this first person adventure told present tense by Soul Eater. Just to let you know I was so immediately taken by the SoMa pairing that I started writing this before I even finished watching the anime. Normally, I build upon the existing canon, but since I haven't read the manga yet I am sure there are things that will conflict with the canon of the manga and the end of the anime series. Assume that the kishin has been defeated and Crona is AWOL…that's pretty much all you need to make this story fit with most of what happens in the anime…

_**Chapter 1: The Girl at the Other End of the Sofa**_

It's afternoon on a Saturday. Sunlight streams in through our living room window making a bright elongated rhombus on the floor. If our friend, Blair the magic cat, were here she would be lying smack dab in the middle of that sun spot, but she's gone for the day out on some adventure or another and I don't mind. Lately when she's been transforming into her human form she's been forgetting to clothe herself and as nice as it is to see a naked woman I find it a tad bit disturbing to go from petting a cat one moment to stroking a naked woman the next.

It's nice to have the afternoon to hang out with my roommate and partner, Maka. She's what makes this place home for me, more than the posters on my bedroom wall or my bottles of my favorite soda in the fridge. Maka is more than a partner to me; she's my other half, though I always avoid using that terminology aloud. It raises too many questions from noisy people who need to mind their own business and just accept that she's my meister and I'm her weapon and so where she goes, I go.

And go we have. We've traveled all over hell and back hunting demons and witches, so having a relatively "normal" afternoon in one another's company free from the drama of world-saving is a pleasant treat for both of us. Plopped down on our sofa, she reads an intimidatingly thick book while I finger mash the videogame controller occasionally shouting obscenities at the asshole player who is insisting on cockblocking my finishing move **every single time** I go to use it.

"If Godbutt35 is Black*Star I swear to Death I will kick the shit out of him."

She glances up from her book. "Want me to tell Tsubaki she needs to make him play fair?" I grin a little. At least Black*Star is more whipped than me. I'm totally devoted to my meister I can stand up to her on the rare occasion when she's being stupid or doing something I disagree with. Black*Star and Tsubaki's partnership functions totally differently because he is **always** doing something stupid and on some level he must know it because he does whatever his weapon tells him. With anyone else it's all machismo, but she can get him to do anything which I assume is because he's as infatuated with his partner as I am with mine.

The difference is that Black*Star would take sex from any willing female and I'm waiting for Maka. That may sound incredibly romantic but in reality it's damned annoying, because Maka is the **queen** of mixed signals. One moment she's whacking me in the head with a textbook any time another checks me out, the next she's pulling away when I try to hold her; I can't figure out if she wants to take things to the next level or not. And since we already live, work, study, and hangout on weekends together I can't exactly ask her out on a date to get the conversation started. That'd be kind of like asking your bandmate to come jam with you. I've considered trying to talk to her about this, but we aren't that great at talking. Instead of talking we often end up understanding one another's feelings as an after effect of the intimacy of our souls during soul resonance, but when it comes to this attraction and whether or not it's mutual I can't pick up a thing from her even during soul resonance.

Which leaves me in the incredibly awkward position of totally jonesing for her, but feeling like a lecherous pervert anytime I fantasize about her because I don't know if she thinks about me that way. Part of the problem is that Maka is humble to a fault. She doesn't credit herself with being nearly as brave or talented as she actually is, let alone how beautiful. You try to compliment her and she just shakes her head like you've said the dumbest thing on the planet. I tell her to knock it the hell off, but she still does it _every time_ I try to tell her how great she looks.

Fact is we pretty much function like a couple, except that we don't do romantic stuff and our physical contact has only gone so far as a quick peck on the cheek, a celebratory hug, back rubs on a stressful day, and sometimes holding hands so having me nudge us in the direction of sex could make me seem like every other horny teenage guy when I really want to do it because I love her. And I'm riddled with guilt because how uncool of me to be projecting some kind of sexual fantasy onto our partnership if all she feels is platonic?

But, really, this girl needs to think about things from my perspective once in a while because she doesn't make it easy for me to _not_ develop these kinds of feelings. First off, we are soul mates- hence our incredible capacity to resonant our souls with one another in combat. Second, she is constantly wearing teeny, tiny clothing- skirts the size of handkerchiefs, tops that cling to her tits, colors that bring out the green in her eyes. And then to top it all off, when she gets excited she'll throw her arms around me and kiss me…on the cheek and every single time I think for like a millisecond it's going to be on the mouth and I get really excited and then I feel crushed when those precious lips steer clear of mine.

I'm beginning to wonder if she's asexual, because she doesn't seem too interested in anybody in _that way_. I mean I realize that I may not be too appealing what with my spikey teeth, red eyes, and hair the color of an old man's, but she's never dated anyone and has no crushes that I know of, not even on movie stars or celebrities. At a time when the entire DWMA student body is spending as much time preparing for proms as witch hunts she seems fairly oblivious to the idea that someone might want to date her. I guess I should be thankful for that, because I might come unglued if I had to see her cozying up to some other guy. The thought alone gets me a bit ill.

Then there's my lesbian theory, strengthened by her strong bond with Crona who I think is actually a chick though she/he refers to herself/himself as male. Which is cool- I don't care what Crona has under that dress, but is will be pretty lame if I find out down the road that the object of my affection has been playing for the other team the whole time.

I pause my game and look over at her. She is deeply engrossed in her book, so she doesn't notice me watching her. I gaze at her legs and feel pervy, because I know how much I want to touch them and allow my hands to run all the way up them and how much I want to tear her clothes off and kiss every inch of her body. I'm flooded with images of her reciprocating my advances by tossing aside her book and giving herself to me right here on the couch. I groan. I can never have a generic sexual fantasy anymore. No matter how hard I try the Jane Doe in my mind ends up turning into her and then I'm left with a huge amount of guilt afterward.

I close my eyes and attempt to transform the thoughts bouncing around in my brain from amorous to platonic. I think about how Maka's sense of justice inspires me and that amazing self-confident glare she gives the enemy before we kick their ass. I remember all the late nights at the kitchen table where she has helped me cram for exams. Without her I probably would have been kicked out of the DWMA, because it's not really the demon eating that's given me a focus, it's her.

And once again I come to the same damn conclusion I keep coming to when I think about her, which is to give it time. If I really want her as my partner for life, I should be able to wait a while longer.

I close my eyes and pray.

_Death, if Maka feels for me what I do for her let her show it, and, make it soon, please. Cause I'm really starting to lose my cool and that isn't cool at all._


	2. Chapter 2: Some Perspective

_**Risenfromash:**_ I am stuck in bed sick today, but thankfully I have enough energy to polish this a little and post it. Hope you enjoy it…

_**Chapter 2: Some Perspective**_

I stand up to get myself some milk from the fridge and she grumbles about me drinking directly out of the milk jug and for at least the five-hundredth time I remind her that she's lactose intolerant and, therefore, will have no reason to encounter my backwash. I see her roll her eyes in mock agitation and I chuckle to myself about how habitual we have become.

I rejoin her on the sofa but this time she lifts her legs up so I can scoot under them. I do so without a thought of the repercussions which are that I am now touching the very legs I was craving mere moments ago. The softness of her skin feels like heaven. She makes a happy little murmur as my left hand comes to rest above her knee. Being this close to her empowers me.

I could do it right now. I could say the words I long to say…_Hey, Maka. I love you…and not just in all the ways you think. I totally want to be your boyfriend._

I groan internally. That won't work. Maka hates labels almost as much as I do. Whenever she introduces me to people she doesn't provide any title or context along with my name. It's just a straight up, "And this is Soul." As if the entire world should automatically know that Maka and Soul are a package deal. No wonder I get confused, but eventually one of us will have to be bold enough to make the first move. I watch as her chest moves up and down with each breath and notice that my own respirations have changed to match hers. We practically beat with one heart. What the hell am I so afraid of? She's my best friend in the world…

"Maka, I love you," the words rush past my lips like a waterfall. I hold my breath.

She smiles. "Love you too, Soul," she says never looking up, but instead flipping to the next page in her book.

Damn it to fucking hell, Maka. Pay attention! We didn't just decide on a pizza topping! Didn't you hear the love, the desire, the craving, the crazy hormones I have for you? How I want to lay you down and kiss you everywhere? How can someone so smart be so dumb? How can she not notice how I squirm whenever she snuggles up to me on the couch or how I start to stutter when she's in that sexy little nightgown with the purple polka dots?

Ugh. It's official. I'm doomed to be celibate. Years from now she and I will be two wrinkled virgins sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of an old age home and she'll say, "You know, Soul, I always wondered what it would be like to make love to you," at which point the entirety of Death City will hear me shout, "You mean I could have been having sex with you this whole time?! FUCK!" Yup. That is my destiny. Thank you, Maka. Thanks. I've always thought you were really nice and sweet, but, no, you are in fact, cruel and mean to me.

Oh, Lord Death! I cannot sit here like this. The urge to do something to make her sit up and take notice of me is simply too great. I shift uncomfortably hoping that the thoughts will go away, but they will not. They rattle around in my brain distracting me from my ability to think about anything other than how much I'd like to lean over pull that book from her hand and have her wrap her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as I give her a _real_ kiss.

_Deep breath, Soul. Deep breath._ The lust will pass and you'll just go back to your normal state of being hopelessly devoted to her. You will survive this like you've survived all the days before this.

Maybe I'll crank the AC so she'll get cold and put on some damn clothes for a change.

"Soul?" Her gaze meets mine over the top of the book and I immediately ditch my thoughts in order to pay attention to my meister.

"Yeah?"

"I think I figured out that new technique on page sixty-seven. Let's go try it out."

"Sure," I answer without consideration. Where she goes, I go.

"Uuuhhhh…but it's getting late. You better put something warm on. It's gonna get cold when the sun goes down." Good one, Soul. You're taking care of her _and_ easing your own perviness at the same time. Kudos.

"Ok, _Mom_. You know, I can dress myself without your assistance, Soul."

"That's yet to be proven," I mumble whilst recalling all those teeny, tiny skirts she pairs with super long jackets.

After Maka throws on another layer, we walk to the edge of town where there is a vacant lot overgrown with various vegetation. The greenspace has been unofficially adopted by the DWMA students as a practice space because most of our digs are too small to practice many magical maneuvers in and we all get sick of being at the Academy. It's good for everybody to get out once in a while and really enjoy the outdoors.

Tonight we are the only people here so we have an impeccable view of the setting sun which has painted the horizon every shade of pink and orange imaginable. The sight is even spectacular enough to make Maka take a moment to slow down and "smell the roses" for once.

"Wow, Soul, isn't it gorgeous? I wish Crona was here to see it."

"Yeah," Maka leans into me and rests her head near my shoulder. "Don't worry, Maka. I'm sure he's ok and he's probably looking at this same sunset wherever he is and thinking of you."

"You think so?"

I nod. I'm not going to lie to Maka and say I'm sure that we will see Crona again, but if Crona is still alive and kicking I'm sure he thinks of Maka often. She was the first person to really see the good in him. His own mom is a witch and got him mixed up in some really fucked up stuff including attacking us. He almost hit Maka with his obnoxious screaming sword Ragnarok the first time we dueled, but I jumped in front of Maka and took the hit- a nice long slash across my chest. Needless to say I wasn't super hot to jump on the let's-kill-this-enemy-with-kindness bandwagon, but Maka tried it and her sincerity won him over and helped get Crona on a much better path, though we don't know where that journey has taken him currently.

Problem is that Maka often feels _too_ responsible for her friends. Lately she's been super conflicted about whether to try to go after Crona and bring him back to the DWMA, which she considers to be his adopted family and where he belongs as though it is somehow her responsibility. And don't get me started on how she will get teary eyed seeing the big ole scar I have across my chest from Ragnarok.

At one time, I thought I had to conceal from Maka that I would have offed Crona given a clear shot because I worried that she for some crazy-ass reason thought I was the kind of person to lay down my weapon during a fight, which of course I am not. I'm not even sure any weapon class has that ability to really lay themselves at the mercy of an enemy. We're all fight all the time, pretty much. I feared that if she knew I hadn't seen the good in Crona that she'd put two and two together to figure out there isn't much good in me. It can be awkward to be partnered with someone so damn angelic when I'm really a don't-give-a-fuck-about-anything kind of a guy. I remember the tortured feeling in my heart hiding that I would have killed Crona who went on to become one of Maka's closest friends, but when I confessed to her that I thought he was just another good-for-nothing to cut down she had smiled, kissed me on the cheek, and said, "You don't have anything to be ashamed of Soul. You're a much better person than you think you are."

It was that day I struck a bargain with my meister. I would quit feeling ashamed that I would have killed Crona if she would quit bursting into tears over the damn scar on my chest.

I wrap an arm around her back. "He'll be ok, you know. Crona's…" I search for a word… "Resilient." She grins at me proudly. "Wow! I knew that vocabulary program I bought you was a good investment."

I shake my head. "Nope, I don't need no education. The word 'fuck' can say so many things." She whacks me playfully on the arm before hopping in front of me.

"Alright, no more lollygagging," she says with a nod. "If we're gonna be ready for whatever the future brings us and ready to help Crona when we find him we need to hone our skills. So, Game on."

At her signal we are immediately swept into battle mode. I grin devilishly and transform. She catches me before I fall to the ground and I revel in the feel of her hands around me. Her grip is strong and tight, affirming that I am, in fact, hers. I often find being with her in my weapon form more comfortable than my human form. As a scythe, I can relax and focus on our soul wavelengths till we resonant and meld into one another without all the fear and nervousness I feel from being close to her as a human.

"Ok, Maka. You say we're supposed to soul resonate and then what…" Maka is really the brains of the operation and since she is also technically the muscle I'm often left wondering what exactly I bring to this partnership.

"If we do a sequence where we alternate a minor attack and a major attack we can conserve some of that energy and then use a substantially larger attack at the end."

We work for hours trying to get the rhythm of big versus small attacks down. It's hugely rewarding to feel so close to her and to watch her work. Being with her like this makes me crave her even more then her long legs and short skirts. I refocus my thoughts on our attacks and in maintaining the same rhythms of wavelengths, of breathing, of movements and become like one being- transcending any earthly form whether it be human or weapon, we are one soul and it feels like this is how we are meant to be.

After hours of practicing Maka says it's time to call it quits. Reappearing in human form, I hold her in my arms proud of the work we have accomplished. Our sweat glistens in the moonlight, our breathing quick little pants from the exertion.

"Good work partner. You nailed it," I tell her.

"Thanks. Not bad yourself," from her tone I know she is smiling even though I can't see her features in the dark. "I can't believe we were able to hold onto the soul resonance for so long."

Maka and I have been trying to gradually increase the length of time we can maintain soul resonance and today we have surpassed our previous record.

"I mean, usually, the bond breaks when I get startled," she explains. "But you held tight even when I tripped on that stump."

"All you," I say assuming none of the credit for the new record.

"Soul, quit being modest. You had to have done _something_, something special to keep the soul resonance like that even when I was completely losing focus."

"Nope. Nothin' special. Just thought of you." It isn't even a lie- my mind was entirely on her and how comforting having our souls united feels. Who knows maybe amorous thoughts don't distract from soul resonance, maybe they can make the bond more resilient. Maybe the DWMA housing policy of having meisters and weapons housed together is really a secret conspiracy on their part to increase our attack power. This is a theory I must share with Kid…

I feel her hand gently grab mine. "Shinigami, I am beat," she yawns.

"Me, too." We head toward home walking slowly, holding hands and I feel much better about life. If the biggest problem I have is that I my partner is _so awesome_ that I'm in love with her and don't ever want to be without her than I haven't got it too bad…even if she is fucking clueless about my feelings for her.


	3. Chapter 3: Dissected Feelings

_Chapter 3: Dissected Feelings_

The next morning Maka is pounding at my door.

"Up, up, Soul! We gotta get movin'. It's already 7:45!"

I leap out of bed pulling on my pants as I run through the door. Professor Stein is not a person you want to anger by showing up late. Absent is ok, because he figures if you aren't in class you must be off on special assignment saving the world, but show up tardy and you're liable to get dissected.

We are the last students to arrive and run to the open seats next to Kid just in time.

"Welcome, class." Professor Stein's low drool proceeds him into the classroom as he comes sliding in on his green office chair. "Today we are going to shake things up a bit."

"Great. I've been needing a challenge," Black*Star brags from the row behind mine in the auditorium.

"Shut up. You cocky bastard," someone shouts and I grin because I was about to say the same thing.

"Now. Now, class. There will be plenty of opportunities in the coming lessons to prove your toughness- so save it for dueling," Frank says. It never even crosses Professor Stein's mind to tell us to clean up our language. That's one of the reasons he's my favorite teacher. He's just so damn cool.

Standing up from his chair, he adjusts the ginormous screw in his head. _Click, click, click_

"You all have achieved some great things and you have worked hard to learn how best to resonant with your partner and as teams, but _today_ you will not have the benefit of your usual routine. Each meister will come forward and draw the name of a weapon out of the hat and that person will be your partner for the rest of the term. If you get the name of your usual partner you _must_ draw another name. No meister will be partnered with their usual weapon."

Murmurs break out throughout the auditorium. We have been taught that it is highly important to be consistently partnered with the person you work best with so that your training can be that much more accelerated; with great natural compatibility come more powerful attacks or so they've told us. This concept of trading partners seems to go against everything they've taught us so far and from the looks on my classmates' faces it is clear I'm not the only one thinking that.

Ox, our resident expert on every topic under the sun and then some, hops up from his seat in the front row. "Professor! Why are we doing this? We've always been paired with the person that we work most effectively with. It seems ludicrous after all this time that we should be forced to switch."

A lopsided smile forms on Stein's lips making some of his scars stretch in odd ways. "Yes, Ox we have always sought to pair you so that your attacks would be the strongest, but it is time that you learn some flexibility. All of you have resonated in larger groupings so you've had _some_ experience partnering with unfamiliar souls. Now it is time for you to learn to do it one on one just as you would do in an emergency situation."

I blink. What was he saying?

"Weapons, it is possible that at some point your primary meister may fall in combat and it will be your duty to be available for other meisters should they need your help."

I feel kind of nauseous. I could blame it on the fact I didn't eat breakfast, but I know it's because I'm getting taken away from my meister. Maka is going to be someone else's. I think I may hurl, but I need to keep my cool.

I should be happy about this, I guess, since I have feel pretty useless in the past when I've ended up on the sidelines of a fight because Maka has been knocked unconscious or badly injured. I have the ability to turn my arm into a scythe, but the attack isn't powerful enough to do anything to anyone who is more than a common thug so if Maka is down for the count so am I, but I've never really thought about rejoining the battle as the weapon of another meister. I thought my duty as a weapon was to stay by my meister's side no matter what…or was that what I wanted to do because my meister is Maka. Which would be a better way to support her and the team? And what if the answers to those two things aren't the same? I don't ever want to be put in a position where I have to choose between her and the health of other DWMA students or innocent bystanders. Delving into this stuff is not going to be pleasant for me considering how confused I am about the nature of my devotion to Maka.

Sitting to my left, Kid has broken out into a cold sweat and the black dye he uses to try to hide the asymmetrical stripes in his hair has started to run down his forehead. "Patty…Liz…" he murmurs, looking lost.

"Aw, Kid! It'll be ok. You'll still be our number one go-to guy," Patty chuckles, but that doesn't seem to comfort Kid much.

"How will I be symmetrical without both of you? And what good will I be without a gun? I don't know anything about lances or fire arrows! Oh, no what will I do? I will be worthless…a piece of garbage-"

Kid tends to share his personal agonies more vocally than I do. I pat him on the arm. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd much rather stay with Maka."

"I bet you would," he says his eyes staring into mine as though he can peer into my brain and see all the details of my obsession with her. But before I comment, he continues his rant mumbling about the strength of his pinkies and how hard it has been to learn to shoot an upside down gun while on a overboard.

Professor Stein looks at all of us with a serious expression and continues, "The unfortunate reality of life is that no one lives forever and even if each of you finds your abilities greatly enhanced when working with a certain individual you _must_ be prepared to fight at any time with _any_ partner in order to survive."

To my right, Maka stares intently at the Professor her eyebrows slightly lowered, the way they do when she is really, _really_ concentrating- I call the expression "the sponge" as she only gets it when she trying to soak up all the knowledge from one of our mentors or someone she considers super wise.

_She looks so cute like that…_

I gulp. What the fuck?! Can I not go more than a few minutes without having some inappropriate thought about her? I'm sure she'd find it insulting if I dared say something like that out loud. It's totally disrespectful of her abilities as a talented meister.

She turns to me and smiles. "Well, I guess I won't be working with you on this."

I nod not knowing what to say. I fight the impulse to hug her.

_Soul, get a grip. It's not like she's was leaving the country or something. She's just gonna be partnered with someone else for a while._

"Don't worry, Maka. You'll do great," I encourage her. "What'd you need me for, anyway?"

She makes little sounds in protest saying how much I contribute and how she's going to be lost without me blah, blah, blah. If she goes on much longer I will cry so I lighten the mood.

"Just don't pick Excalibur." My joke distracts her as she now feels the need to scan the room for the obnoxious three foot tall master sword. "He isn't here is he?!"

None of the meisters look incredibly enthusiastic as they line up to draw names. I cross my fingers I won't be with Ox. If I have to be with a different meister _temporarily_ (emphasis on the temporarily) I'd rather it be someone less book-wormy, I get enough of the straight-A crowd hanging out with Maka. I need someone a little cooler, maybe a little rebellious…

When the time comes for Maka to pull a name out of the hat she isn't watching her gloved hand as she picks. She's smiling at me across the classroom and I'm smiling right back to show her my encouragement.

I try to tell myself that this assignment will be a good thing for us. It has the potential to make both Maka and I more versatile and that could end up strengthening our partnership in the long run. But my stupid heart isn't listening to my brain. As she unfolds the slip of paper to reveal who will be her new weapon an ache arises from deep within my chest and I'd swear Maka senses it as at that moment she stops and looks back up at me.

Across the classroom, our eyes meet, but it's her gaze on my soul that is most comforting and affirms for me that whatever written on that paper is wrong.

_**I**__ belong with her. She's __**my**__ meister._


	4. Chapter 4: Everyone has a Cross to Bear

_Chapter 4: Everyone has a Cross to Bear_

Later that night I sit strumming my guitar, one leg slung over the arm of the recliner. Maka is out running errands presumably picking up groceries that she will challenge me to somehow transform into an edible meal in the near future. We have a house rule that as long as the cook doesn't complain about cooking, the people eating the food do not get to complain about the taste, texture, or general appearance of the food unless they puke as a result. There is a reason Blair rarely eats meals at home.

A knock at the door disturbs my composing. I figure it's Blair. When she forgets her key she usually changes into her cat form and comes in one of the windows, but it's raining and windy this evening so all the windows are tightly shut and latched.

I set aside my guitar and shuffle over to the door opening it without peering out the little peep hole.

To my surprise I find Kid in his Reaper regalia with a dire expression on his face.

"Oh, hey! Whazzup?" I say taking a half step backward to invite him into the apartment.

He enters and scans the living room, evaluating his seating options. His life is ruled by such severe OCD that even selecting a chair can cripple him with internal conflict. Sometimes I chose to poke fun at his handicap, but today he seems too serious for any ribbing. I offer him a cup of tea as I know that tends to calm his nerves.

"I came to talk to you about our project in Professor Stein's class."

I roll my eyes. "I suspect that you are not particularly enjoying your time with Kirikou."

I shrug nonchalantly. "Yeah, well. Whadduya do?"

"You could tell Maka how you feel."

His eyes meet mine with an intense stare.

"What do you mean?" Best to play dumb I figure. Gotta stay cool.

Kid smirks at me. "Soul, I'm not going to judge you. You don't have to be embarrassed."

I groan. "Am I that obvious?"

Kid shakes his head. "No, but you haven't exactly been discreet either. I've always known that your protective impulses for her are not strictly the devotion of a weapon to a meister, but throughout the entire lesson today you were constantly distracted by what she was doing with the Twins. I sensed it as I was experiencing much the same problem. I feel so…naked without Liz and Patty."

"You….and those two?" I arch an eyebrow at the image that has popped into my head of Kid trying to somehow symmetrically pleasure the two sisters at the same time.

Kid raises his hands in protest. "Oh, no it isn't like that with us. Liz is dating some bartender and I think Patty might _actually_ want to marry a giraffe," he chuckles.

Sighing deeply he continues, "Besides things are considerably more complicated for reapers." His eyes stare past me as though a movie of his future is playing a millimeter to the left of me.

"I envy you," he says and for the first time, I realize something I have always known about Kid but never wished to acknowledge. Despite the fact he is one of the gang- he is always somehow slightly removed from the rest of the team. He stands apart from the rest of us because there seems to be some kind of knowledge or sorrow there that doesn't seem to belong in the psyche of a teenager. Unwelcome feelings flood me as I wonder how such an old soul has gotten trapped in the body of a young man. Not knowing what to say I remain quiet letting Kid say whatever is on his mind. Even though it is awkward to be talking about this with him it seems like the least I can do especially now that I better understand the burden he bears.

Kid smiles a little though it seems fake to me. "We have been incredibly lucky up until now, but at some point it is inevitable that our luck will run out and I fear that one of our friends will be lost."

I gulp glancing at his reaper mask that is sitting beside him on the couch. I haven't seen him with it in months. "Kid, do you know something?"

"No, if I had any information I'd gladly share it with you, but I've got nothing concrete. I've just got a gut feeling that the peace we are currently experiencing will be short lived and before long we will once again be fighting for the very right to live."

Kid's dramatic flare notwithstanding, I contemplate what he is saying and it makes sense. Life is too short to hide happy feelings like love and friendship. I guess a reaper knows that better than anyone. I guess I should tell Maka, but what if she doesn't feel the way I do?

"That said, I'm not only here as a friend."

"Oh? You need help on a mission?" I ask.

"No, I'm here as a teammate. I'm concerned that you may be compromising both your meisters by not working through these…feelings you have for Maka."

His words stab me like a knife but only because I know them to be entirely true. I've failed to protect Kirikou from taking hits because I've been paying more attention to Maka. He's right my hormones are getting in the way of things.

"For all our sakes, I'd encourage you to talk to Maka before it's too late. I find it highly improbable that we will not suffer casualties especially if we are for some reason paired up with our new weapons. I'm having a hell of a time getting that damn lighting rod to do what I want."

I snort. "Maka would kill me if she knew. It could mess up everything. I can't tell her."

Kid nods, "I understand your concerns, but for Kirikou's sake you need to get this out in the open. And there is a distinct possibility that your feelings may be reciprocated. I've caught Maka watching you more than once when Liz and Patty and the enemy should have been retaining her attention."

Now I feel really bad. Kid is basically telling me that Liz and Patty are being endangered because I can't get my shit together. Wonderful, but still I feel the need to defend my decision to wait for her to make the first move.

"Doesn't the DWMA frown on weapons and meisters getting involved?"

Kid laughs, "Weapons and meisters are 'involved' from the moment they are partnered. It is a multi-faceted and extremely complex relationship. The fact that all good pairings are between soul mates means that inevitably there are a lot of weapon/meister pairs that become romantically entangled with one another. It's the nature of the beast and everyone knows it. The only reason my father makes all the students attend that stupid assembly about the dangers of sex with your partner is because they don't want to have to repartner students every few weeks because they've been reckless with one another's hearts or gotten their partners pregnant- there was a rash of that a few years back. It seemed like half the graduating class was expecting. And don't tell me you forgot Black*Star's blatant abuse of the meister role when he tried to convince Tsubaki that they could improve their soul resonance by having tantric sex with one another?"

"I forgot all about that. I've never seen Tsubaki so mad!"

"As well she should have been, but Black*Star's ploys to get laid are entirely different from your desires for Maka." Oh, Shinigami this is awkward. Oh, and he's continuing…

"I know you love her very deeply," he says.

We sit in silence for a few moments. I don't know what to say to that. For years I'd immediately deny that I had any interest or attraction to Maka, but Kid's my friend. I'm not gonna lie to him and I can't think of any snappy comeback. So, I sit in silence wondering why I am willing to listen to advice on my love life from someone who as far as I know has never had a girlfriend…or boyfriend…or maybe even gone on a date. There's just something about Kid that gives anything he says great validity as though it were the word of Lord Death himself, maybe more so since Kid doesn't have the voice of a freak.

"Well, I'm off," Kid announces suddenly, setting his cup down on the coffee table. "I have to go hunt down my ladies and make them feel better about their failed attempts to resonant with Maka."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it. Women are so insanely difficult to work with. The other day I had to agree to let Liz paint my toenails just to get them to work on our cannon attack."

He complains, but I suspect he enjoys their company. Someday I will ask him how their unlikely triad formed, but right now I have too much on my mind.

Kid thanks me for the tea and puts a hand on my shoulder. "And good luck to you. Remember Maka is your friend. She will understand. Just promise me you won't wait too long."

I nod and watch as the mysterious meister positions himself on his hoverboard and takes off.

I pace my room deep in thought about how to best approach the issue with Maka. How do I tell her and how do I keep both her and Kirikou safe? I owe it to both of them to do what I can to protect them from harm.

I take a deep breath. I'm going to have to swallow my pride.


	5. Chapter 5: A Private Request

**Risenfromash:** As the story progresses I've had to make some creative choices about the level of technology in the Soul Eater Universe and I've decided youwon't be seeing cell phones or cars in my story. The modes of transportation are feet, motorcycle, and train and there are no phones. Since I don't recall there being cell phones or cars in the anime I just find it too jarring to include them here…

_**Chapter 5: A Private Request**_

"Well, hello, Soul," Lord Death's exuberant squeal greets me immediately upon entering his chamber as if nothing pleases him more than when his students request to meet with him in his suite. "What brings you to see me today?"

Lord Death has an odd way of emphasizing the wrong syllables when talking. I guess it can be kind of endearing but today his enthusiasm is bugging me. Best to cut to the chase, I guess. I've made my game plan and now I need to put it into action.

"I have a request," I try to act nonchalant even though I know full well that this might be crossing some lines…

"Oh, reeeallllyy? And what can I do for you, young man?"

"I want to be assigned solely to Maka. I don't care if she has other weapons or not, but I want her to be my sole meister."

"Well, that is not an unusual request for a weapon-class. Most DWMA students have a preferred partner, but I believe that Professor Stein has been _intentionally_ having you work with other meisters so that should you need to do so in the-"

"Event of an emergency we can pair with anyone…. I understand that, Lord Death…but the truth is I don't think I'm good enough to be able to do that."

Lord Death chuckles, "My, what low self-confidence you have, my boy! Of course you have the ability!"

I refuse to act ashamed. I'm doing this in the best interest of my classmates. Yeah, I'm going to be super happy getting to be partnered with her in Stein's class once again, but it isn't about finding a way for Maka and I to spend more time together. We are simply at a point in our lives where the two of us need to figure some stuff out and being apart from one another is making it worse for everybody. This doesn't have to be a forever thing, just until we…er…I get my head on straight.

"It's not that I think I _can't_ do it. I…I don't think I'm good at it."

"Everything takes practice and every meister works better with certain weapons-"

"Lord Death," I interrupt. "I want to be paired with Maka so I can keep her safe."

"But another weapon can do that, Soul, and, you of all people should know how capable Maka is of protecting herself."

I take a deep breath. It is now obvious that Lord Death has no intention of making this easy on me and that's ok, because I shouldn't be needing to have this conversation, but shit happens.

"Sir, in an emergency I will fail any meister other than Maka. It's become my instinct to be _her_ weapon and to watch out for _her_. In class I'm getting so distracted worrying about her that I'm screwing up big time. Kirikou isn't going to learn shit paired with me." I pause. I hope that I'm really doing this for everyone's safety and that I'm not simply using that as a convenient excuse to get back with her.

"Please, let me solely be paired with her and I promise I will work twice as hard to ensure we are the best meister/weapon pairing in the DWMA." I blurt it out and stand there nostrils flaring, glaring into the black holes that cover Lord Death's eyes.

"I seeeee," Lord Death lifts one of his enormous hands and taps his chin with his squared off finger. "What I hear you saying is that you believe you have the _ability_ to pair with anyone, but are mentally unable to disconnect from Maka enough to provide protection to your new partner."

"Yeah, something like that." I feel ashamed and dumb. As an aspiring Death Scythe admitting to Lord Death that I don't want to be partnered with anyone but Maka could be seen as an insult since my ultimate goal is supposed be being paired with him, but there is plenty of time for that in the future. Right now I'm a desperate guy taking desperate actions.

Lord Death paces some and shakes his head from side to side.

"I will need some time to consider the repercussions of your request," he says finally and I take that as my cue to get the heck out of there before he starts asking too many questions or tells me to man up or something.

Turning to leave I mumble a thank you and begin to head out.

"But, Soul," I look back over my shoulder. "If I grant your request it is going to be _your_ responsibility to tell Maka why you are only paired with her. Open and honest communication is important in any relationship, never more so than between weapon and meister."

I nod. I'm as obvious to him as I am to his son.


	6. Chapter 6: Candy isn't Dandy Enough

**Risenfromash: **I hope you are enjoying this. I am enjoying writing it.

_**Chapter 6: Candy isn't Dandy Enough**_

It has been almost a week since I spoke with Lord Death and I've heard nothing more regarding our conversation and my little request. I'm impatient and getting really agitated because I imagine with each passing day the likelihood that Lord Death will do this favor for me lessens. If the answer is no I wish that Lord Death or one of the other million DWMA employees would have the decency to tell me. A part of me feels like marching into his office and telling him off for being so inconsiderate. Doesn't he know that this is tearing me up? I need to know because if this doesn't happen I have to come up with a new plan for how to enter into the awkward conversation I am going to have to have with my meister. I can't stand not knowing what the fuck is going on!

Every time I fail Kirikou all I can think of is that screw ups like that could cost one of my teammates their life and, therefore, I need to get my shit together. We aren't playing games here. At the DWMA we're into some serious shit. We don't have a football team or a basketball team- all we have to pride ourselves on is our ability to kick demon ass and right now we are all struggling, probably none more so then me.

After a frustrating morning of less than stellar sparring practice, I'm relieved that it is finally lunch and I'll be able to have a break from Kirikou. I find myself constantly comparing his style of meistering to Maka's and on almost every technique I mesh better with her. I know it's an unfair comparison because Maka and I have had years to form a bond that transcends all sorts of barriers to great soul resonance, while Kirikou and I have just gotten started, but still the guy could be better about adjusting his style to be more like what I'm used to. And then there's the problem of his condescending tone. He's used to being partnered with a couple of kids so he talks to me like I'm a little kid. Maka always talks to me like an equal- a real partner and he doesn't do that. He uses me like a tool and gives me little say in our plan of attack. It's soooo annoying. I half expect him to give me a lollipop as a reward for each soul resonance we do together. I know he isn't doing it intentionally but it's driving me crazy and I don't know how much longer I can take it before I snap and go off on him about it.

I shuffle over to our group's usual bench and am soon met by Patty and her meister. Patty is holding his hand and for some reason has a giant jar of red licorice under her arm. He is eating pieces of the candy like an automaton; as soon as he finishes one piece she supplies him with another. Liz is walking alongside them carrying all of our boxed lunches. I hop up to help her as she barks at Kid to get out of her way before she trips on him.

I wonder what's up because Kid wasn't in class this morning.

"Want a red vine?" Liz asks me as she gnaws on a piece. I nod and she hands me one while placing yet another licorice in Kid's hand. He wears a vacant expression as he chews on the red vine kind of like a cow chewing on cud.

"What's his problem?" I ask the girls. There's no point in asking Kid; he appears to be completely checked out.

Patty attempts a smile. "It's my fault. Kid wanted me to trim his hair a little in the back and I got it a little lopsided and, you know how Kid is, so then I trimmed a little from the other side, but it still didn't look right…"

Liz takes Kid's free hand and spins him like a top so I can observe Patty's handiwork. She has managed to trim him bald in spots and the bottom of his shag is completely uneven.

"It's hideous isn't it?" Kid moans. "I can feel the randomness of it reaching through my hair follicle into my brain, mocking me. It's like having a tiny demon back there, laughing at me."

"At least you don't have to see it," I remind him.

"But I know it's there. How will I survive?"

"Have another red vine, Kid," Liz says while forcefully plopping one into his free hand.

She whispers to me, "They're his favorite. I'm hoping this tub will distract him until the hair grows back what do you think?"

I glance down at the jar- about an eighth of the candy is already gone.

"When'd the massacre happen?"

"This morning right before we were _supposed_ to get here."

I whistle, "At this rate you'll be lucky if that gets you through the day."

Kid slumps down on the bench next to me. I open my mouth to say something to him, but realize all that is coming to mind are smart ass remarks so I remain quiet. Our morale is too low for me to poke fun at my friend and his hair is really, really bad. Much as I hate shopping we may have to drag him to a hat store to find something to cover up the botched trim job.

"Where's Maka?" Black*Star demands as he walks up and plops down on the ground by our bench. "I want to make sure she saw me _cream_ Hiro today. I totally kicked his ass! Next battle is gonna be all about me- I can feel it. I won't let Maka steal _my_ glory! I'll push her aside and do it all by myself."

Tsubaki seats herself next him on the ground, but doesn't appear to be having a much better day then Kid.

"Tsubaki, what's wrong?" Black*Star asks and I have to give him credit- he actually noticed that she was upset. Maybe he is maturing.

"Black*Star, quit bragging! Hiro and I were trying really hard!" Like everyone else Tsubaki has been frustrated by her lack of compatibility with her new meister though she has thus far been too nice to bitch about Hiro the way I've been moaning and groaning about Kirikou the last couple days.

"Fine. I'll shut up about it, but only until Maka gets here. Me and Harvar were resonating better than anybody!"

"Man, shut the fuck up," I order. "We're all on the same damn team. It isn't cool to be happy that the rest of us are having a hard time. Death, this project sucks ass."

"Well, the rest of you can wallow like a bunch of babies, but I'm so good with Harvar I might just keep him."

Tsubaki lets out a wail, "Black*Star, you wouldn't! How dare you! After everything we've been through!" and runs off.

"Black*Star, you are an _asshole,_" Kid states matter-of-factly in between bites of his red vine.

"What'd I do?" the loud mouth asks.

"Are you serious?! Black*Star, are you really such an idiot you can't figure out why Tsubaki would be hurt?" I can't believe my friend is so damn dense. What a dick!

Liz nods, "You said that'd you be happy to replace her. That's cold."

"I didn't say that?! I said that I might keep Harvar around. I didn't mean _instead_ of Tsubaki! Of course not! I'm gonna be a god and gods can have multiple weapons." He punches the air a few times with his giant, gauntleted hands but then seems to lose steam. "Soul, you don't think she actually thinks that's what I meant do you?"

"Maybe things sound different to meisters but it sounded like a world class dis to me. Kid, what do you think?"

"I think his holiness better go apologize or else it will prove he has no human decency."

"Now _that's_ cold," complains Black*Star.

I shove Black*Star in the direction Tsubaki went and whisper to him, "Go now, dumbass, or you're gonna lose any chance you ever had with her."

He practically flies after her. Yeah, he's got some relationship ambiguity going on with his partner, too. That's for sure. At least I'm not alone in that…but I'm still not gonna talk to anybody about it, not until I tell Maka. She's the only one who needs to know. This is strictly between her and me. I've waited a long time for her to make the first move and now I don't have a choice. Wereit not for the pressure of being a Demon Weapon I would continue to wait, but too much is riding on this. It's time I come clean and let the chips fall where they may, but it will be a lot easier if we can be partners. I think we need that solid relationship to ground us as things get a little weird on us.

Soul, why'd you have to fall for your partner? How will you be when you tell her you like her and she looks at you like you're nuts?

Speaking of which, where is she? I glance at my watch. Lunch is almost half over. Where the _fuck_ is Maka?


	7. Chapter 7: Homecoming

**Chapter 7: Homecoming**

After lunch we return to the classroom. Maka joins us after the lecture is already underway. It seems that today we are going to be trying a "stacking" maneuver where multiple weapon/meister teams attack simultaneously to compound damage. This actually sounds pretty cool because we haven't done anything like this before. For the first time in what seems like a long time I'm stoked to be here.

As we head out from the lecture hall heading to the gymnasium we use for sparring I can tell that something is bothering Maka. She actually seems kind of pissed. That's when I realize that her absence during lunch may have been because she was meeting with Stein or Lord Death regarding my little request. Then again, it's possible she could have missed lunch for some other reason entirely, but I'm sure there is something bugging her as she fights with the door to the gymnasium as if it's done something personally to insult her. Yeah, she's pissed about something…but as she walks up to me she doesn't seem mad at me, thank goodness. There will be plenty of time for that later.

"Hey, Maka. What's up?"

"Ugh. I am so mad!"

"'Bout what?"

"I thought that Stein trusted me. I thought I had proved myself and, yes, I know I've been struggling with my new weapon but isn't that normal? I mean everybody is, right? Am I wrong here?" The tirade of words is coming at me so fast and furiously that I can't manage to break in. I pull my hands from my pockets to signal I have something to say, but she plows on with more.

"Can you believe this? This is so embarrassing. I'm going to be the only one paired with my usual partner, like I'm incapable of being flexible. I'm versatile, aren't I, Soul? We don't stick with just one attack or style. We try everything. I'm no creature of habit and I've been studying how to work better with the Thompsons."

It never occurred to me that Maka would immediately assume that this was some kind of punishment, like a remedial lesson. I don't know what conclusion I thought she would jump to but I hadn't considered the impact this would have on her when her self-confidence is already breaking down due to her struggles to resonate with Patty and Liz.

I had assumed, apparently incorrectly that Lord Death would have told her the reassignment was because of my shortcomings not hers, but it seems that they have simply left her to speculate on the reason. This is not at all what I thought he had meant when he said it was my responsibility to talk to her about it. I hate seeing her so worked up about this, but I should have known that the first thing Maka would do was look to her performance. They did meet with _her_ after all. I can totally see how she would jump to the conclusion that this is because she has somehow screwed up. I'd like to tell her the truth but I feel like I'm going into this blind since I don't know what they told her. I decide to play dumb and figure out more about what exactly Lord Death or Professor Stein did tell her before I explain that this is in actuality all my fault.

"Hey, Maka, what the fuck you on about?" I ask nonchalantly

"I've just been informed that I'm to be paired with you for the rest of this assignment. They are reassigning some of the partnerships and determined that I _need_ to be partnered with you."

I'm beginning to understand firsthand how Tsubaki was feeling at lunch.

"Ouch, Maka! You could at least act a little happy to once again be my partner in crime."

Maka shuts her mouth and wobbles back and forth in an attempt to hold in all the negative crap coming from her mouth. "Of course I'm happy to be paired with you, but I gotta learn this stuff, Soul. I gotta learn how to work with other people. I mean, with you it's just so _easy_. I never have to worry about stuff. Our souls converge so naturally-it's like it's meant to be, you know?"

I nod. Oh, yes, Maka, I know and that's why I've been so scared to rock the boat by telling you how much I want more. How I want you in my arms every night and by my side every day. How I want to always be with you.

"Maka, have you ever thought that maybe it isn't about you?"

Her eyes once again flash with anger. "Duh! Of course it's about me! Lord Death invited me to have lunch with him so he could talk to me about it. Oh, Soul, this sucks! How am I going to get better if I can't shake things up like everybody else?"

It's rare to see Maka this agitated and it's not going to help during our duel. She needs to calm down or she is going to have her teachers and Lord Death doubting her. I grab her shoulders.

"Maka, get ahold of yourself. You have unique abilities and you're super smart. You don't need to learn the same way as everybody else. With the two of us working together we can learn everything you need to know, I promise."

"Yeah, maybe… I have been missing you like crazy. Patty and Liz can't help me strategize like you do and things you do for me automatically I have to _tell_ them to do. It throws me off. It's just…"

"You can't be happy we're back together because we work so well together it feels like too easy a path for you."

She nods. That's Maka for you- she will intentionally choose to take the path of most resistance if she is told by a mentor it will be character building.

"Don't worry," I laugh. "You want hard? I can argue and disagree with you about everything. If that's what you want. Forget the way these other weapons blindly do as their meister tells them. You know that isn't my style." I stand in front of her and press my forehead into hers. "Maka, I promise, I'll challenge you."

Her beautiful green eyes gaze directly into mine. "Oh, Soul! I've missed you so much."

I wrap my arms around her and close my eyes, drinking her in. Her scent, her touch, her spirit- I love it all. I even love that she's such a crazy chick that she is willing to make every project more work than it needs to be. We may seem like complete opposites and in many things we are, but we have one thing in common, a burning desire to be the absolute best weapon/meister team we can be and I love that every single day I can trust my partner to be working hard at it.

It's at a moment like this that I feel as though our lips are magnetic and I'm fighting a force pulling them together. I love her, I really love her. I don't even understand how I know I love her when I've never loved anyone before, but somehow I do. I am enamored with her and I want to be more than her weapon. I want to have that level of dedication to her…to us both on the battlefield and off.

I am so happy to once again be of use to her and to help her to succeed. I fear I may be grinning like a fool so I leap into the air, transforming myself before anyone can spy the doofy look on my face.

"Maka, we can do this together. You and me."

She catches me in the air and I feel great comfort when her strong grip is once again around me. I'm back where I belong.


	8. Chapter 8: Going Out

**Chapter 8: Going Out**

The afternoon sails by as Maka and I kick everybody's asses. She is on fire and everyone else knows it including Black*Star who throws a fit when we pummel him and Hiro with a modified Witch Hunter attack. I can sense Maka's self-confidence returning, though there is no doubt that she is still upset about what she sees as a dis from the school administration on her abilities. I figure I'll talk to her about it tonight, though every time I imagine the conversation my stomach starts churning like I've eating bad meat.

I try to figure out what is the least I can get away with telling her and what might be too much information. I'm in love with her- a definite TMI. Let's tone that down a little…I care very deeply for her and I made the request that we work together because I find it hard to concentrate being separated from her and I suspect she's the same way…and we are so awesome that we usually can accelerate our learning so the drawbacks of being partnered with others will probably…possibly be outweighed by the two of us being a team again.

I evaluate this statement. Do I sound needy and desperate? Possibly. Does it sound like something creepy or pervy that will send her running the other way? No. If I can focus my comments on an extreme level of _concern_ and keep the verbiage platonic I may be able to play it off like I'm not desperately hoping we can take our personal relationship to the next level.

Still, the only time I can manage to clear my mind of the anxiety I have surrounding talking to her about this is when I am in weapon form and she is "in the zone" swinging me around and resonating with me to kick mock demon-butt.

After class, I suggest we go out for ice cream. We have a particular shop we like to go to that has lots of non-dairy choices. I make sure to ask her this when no one else is in earshot as I know all our friends would jump at the chance to go grab a banana split or two and I don't want them to come with us, not tonight. I need a few minutes alone with Maka and I fear that at home Blair would come waltzing in just at the wrong time regaling us with tales of how she and Maka's dad were up all night having screaming orgasms together or something like that. Damn, horney cat! And if our friends come to Treats and Sweets with us we'll probably end up debating the best ice cream topping rather than having a serious conversation about the whole reassignment thing.

I figured we'd stop at Treats and Sweets on the way home, but Maka asks if we can stop by the apartment so she can take a shower and change clothes and I realize that we are both pretty gross because it gets really hot in the gymnasium and we've been sparring for hours.

"Is that a subtle hint that I stink?" I ask her.

"Not subtle and, yes, you do," she tells me.

So after grabbing our crap we head home to clean up with the intention of immediately heading back out to the ice cream shop. As we leave the academy, Black*Star shouts after me to ask if I want to shout some hoops tonight and I tell him that we can meet at the park about seven. Having some guy time on the court after talking to Maka will probably help me keep my cool as I suspect no matter what happens I'm gonna be kind of worked up…possibly in many different ways.

I hit the shower first and throw on some cleaner jeans that were wadded up on my floor and a clean t-shirt and then Maka heads into the bathroom.

"Are you two going on a date?" Blair asks pointing toward the bathroom to indicate she has noticed that Maka and I are changing clothes.

"No. We're just going out for ice cream."

Blair's lips twitch, "Can I come?"

"No!" I shout at her, hopefully not so loudly that Maka heard me over the sound of the shower running.

"I see," she giggles. "You came home to change clothes and put on cologne-"

"I am not wearing cologne! I don't even own cologne. It's deodorant."

"_Special _deodorant."

I mumble that it's a new brand and that's why it smells different, but she's not listening. She's too busy torturing me. "So, you came home to gussy up before just the two of you go out for ice cream. You gonna share a tall soda with two straws, too, on this one-on-one non-date?"

I moan. Why does this creature live with us?

"It's not a date, and don't you have a sleezeball to go fuck or something?"

"If you're referring to Spirit, yes, we will be going out tonight on an actual date."

"So, he's your boyfriend now?" I wonder how Maka will take that.

"No, we're friends with benefits, but we go out sometimes. Like a couple of young people I know."

I scowl at her. "Don't you dare start telling people Maka and I are dating. Spirit will freak out on me if he thinks we're an item. You hear that? Don't breathe a word of any of this to Slut Boy."

"Don't call him that!" she squeals.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just find it hard to see how you can consider sex with Spirit a 'benefit' when he'll give it to anyone."

Blair gasps, but I haven't crossed any line that hasn't been crossed before.

"At least I will admit I _want_ to have sex with him. Unlike a couple roommates of mine who are in complete denial with one another."

My eyes narrow. She knows too much. "How do you feel about sleeping with a bisexual is it hard because you can't fulfill all his needs? Cause you know there's some pretty convincing stories circulating at the school about your friend and the Professor."

She twitches. "Oh, I do not like that Professor Stein-"

"Jealousy can be an ugly thing-"

"Well, then you better watch out, because I know a bunch of guys who want to ask Maka out to the next dance. So, if you want to make a move-"

I jump forward and put my hand over her mouth. "Blair, shut up. Please shut up. I have to talk to Maka about some stuff-"

Blair's excited fangirl squeal is muffled by my hand but still audible.

Realizing that I'm not going to let her talk she transforms into cat form and looks up at me.

"Good luck, Soul. You two are so cute together!"

"It's not that big a deal- it's more about school than anything…"

I hear the shower shut off and Blair and I both take that as the signal that this conversation is over. She knows that I will _kill_ her if she keeps this topic up within earshot of Maka.

Someone rings our doorbell. I look at my watch. I told Black*Star I would meet him at the basketball court at seven. That's not for another couple hours. What part of that does that idiot not understand?

"What the fuck Black*Star you forget how to tell time?" I shout as I open the door. Standing in front of me is Tsubaki. She's wearing a long sundress, her hair is down, and her face is a red, puffy mess as though she has been sobbing.

"Oh, hi, Soul," she seems embarrassed that I've seen her like this. "Is Maka home?"

I nod. I don't think I've ever seen Tsubaki cry.

"I was hoping I could see her."

"She's in the shower. It'll be a couple minutes."

The door to the bathroom opens and Maka comes out dressed only in a towel. I try not to stare, but I do. Oh, how I do! But Maka is concentrating on Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki, what's wrong?"

"Maka, I really need someone to talk to," she bursts into tears.

Maka runs over to her and wraps her arm around her and leads her to the couch. She glances my way and I mouth the words to her that it's ok and I head to my room to give them some privacy.

I hear a lot of sobbing and whispering with a few gasps thrown in and I decide that the most polite thing to do is to block all of it out with music as Tsubaki doesn't want to talk to me about whatever is wrong. It's probably a girl thing and I would be no help anyway.

I put on my headphones and listen to jazz and fall asleep.

When I wake up I find the apartment empty. Maka left me a note saying her and Tsubaki were going for a walk and thanks for understanding. Yup, that's me, Mister Understanding. Oh, well sobbing girlfriend trumps sweet treats with roommate/partner/pseudo mate any day.

When the time rolls around for me to head to the park Maka still isn't home so I leave her a note.

_Maka,_

_Went to play b-ball with Black*Star. You can join us if you feel like it. Hope everything is ok._

_Soul_


	9. Chapter 9: Forbidden Fantasies

**Risenfromash: **One final warning- there is a reason why this story is rated M.

_**Chapter 9: Forbidden Fantasies**_

I am in the red and black checkered room, dressed in my suit, seated at the piano. My fingers dance across the ivories playing a seductive tune in A Minor. I think that I am alone, but then another figure approaches the piano. It is Maka but her usual dress has been replaced with one of black velvet with a slit that reaches up to her hip. She is wearing black spike heels and every step she takes drips with seduction. She stares at me lustfully and climbs onto the piano, lounge singer like. She runs her fingers back and forth above the empty music stand never once taking her eyes off me. She says nothing as I try to continue concentrating on my sonata, but in actuality I must bring it to a conclusion quickly as I am incredibly aroused.

My tickling of the keys becomes a pounding as I feel desire pulsating through me. I will have her and I will have her tonight. Right here and now. My hands fly wildly up and down to hit the final keys, my pelvis rising and falling with the music. The song is now over, but only the music has climaxed. My want of her continues to build. I stand up and meet her eyes. They sparkle mischievously and I think that she wants me, too, and that I will finally be able to unleash the years of pent up sexual frustration.

I approach her and put my hands on her waist, gently lifting her down from the piano. Doing so, I get a glimpse of her cleavage and I'm surprised how much her pert, little breasts excite me. The phonograph in the corner spontaneously begins playing and I pull her body toward me so that our pelvises are pressed into one another. My arm is wrapped around her back possessively. Were there other people in the room there would be no doubt that cutting in was unwelcome. She is mine. I am sure that she can feel my arousal through her dress and I imagine plunging it deep inside her. I am leading the dance slowly transforming it into a form of erotic foreplay. My hand slides down from her waist and grips her ass and her eyes grow big and the seductive quality they held only moments ago dims replaced by the wide-eyed innocence of a virgin playing games she doesn't completely understand. My dancing leads her to the wall, where I lean my body into hers compressing her between the wall tapestry and my aching cock.

She lets out a little shout and I smirk with satisfaction. My aggression has surprised her and so will my determination as I will not take no for an answer. I turn her as though to dip her upper body bringing her lower half even closer to me, but instead of helping her to right herself I ease her to the floor and pin her beneath me. Her eyes grow larger and she makes a sound that is in definite protest, but it's clear she doesn't understand that there is no turning back. Had she not wanted this she should not have come here, dressed like that, playing grown up games with me, because I am very much ready to play the way grown-ups do.

I use all my weight to restrain her beneath me as I reach around and unzip her dress. It is amazingly easy to peel her upper body from it. One hand works to remove the top portion of her dress while the other one reaches through the slit to clasp the edge of her panties and yank them down. She is crying now and repeating my name.

"Soul, stop, please, Soul," she is begging for me to stop, but I do not. Soon her breasts are revealed and she is trying to pull herself out from under me, but I have the upper hand, quite literally, as I take her wrists in my hands and hold them high above her head while I lick and bite her neck and bosom. She is screaming now and I chuckle.

"Now, Maka. You know you want this."

"No, Soul. I don't. Stop, Soul. _Please_." Her fear excites me. I have never felt such power.

I use one hand to gather together her wrists all the while making sure to keep her arms extended far above her head. This gives me a free hand which I will use to guide my cock into her. As I enter her she is screaming and trying desperately to break free. All I do is chuckle and comment on how tight she is.

"Maka, you don't need to make such a fuss. You knew this was inevitable and in time you'll learn to enjoy it."

Her protests turn into moans of pain as I move myself around in her. "No one is here to save you because that's _my_ job. After all you are _mine_."

As I continue to plunge myself in and out of her ever harder I think I see the Little Demon in the corner smiling. I turn away as I don't like being watched this is our private moment…the one I have waited so long for…the moment when I'm in charge.

There is a great crackling sound as our soul resonance breaks apart and the red and black room dissolves away. We are now in the real world.

Maka's face is twisted in agony as she drops me in scythe form onto the ground. I can see that her hands are blackened from the searing heat I produce whenever we aren't resonating at the same wavelength. The terror on her face is unlike anything I have ever seen. She pivots and starts to run from me, but I am fast. Already back in human form I dart forward and my hand grabs her ankle and pulls her to the ground.

She falls face first, getting a face full of dirt in the process.

"Why so upset?" I ask as though I don't know. "You know things in the black room aren't _really_ happening."

"But….but…Soul…you…" She looks as though she is searching for a way to explain my behavior.

"I fucked you."

She cringes at my abrasive language. "Would you prefer I say that we made love?" My tone lacks any compassion and drips with mocking.

"This isn't you, Soul. You aren't like this! You're a gentleman. Fight it Soul-"

I guffaw at her expression. "Now, Maka, don't pretend to know me and what I want from my meister. Besides, I'm pretty sure you had crush on me once upon a time. Now it's time to make your fantasies come true."

And I am on top of her, using my scythe arm to rip away every article of clothing that stands between me and her naked body. She is screaming for me to stop, but I ignore her.

"Really, Maka. Don't be such a cry baby."

As I enter her, I hear my alarm clock sound. I come too feeling extremely disoriented, rock hard, sweaty, and deeply, deeply ashamed. A part of me grapples to secure what is real. Last night, I went to bed before Maka got home, right? Was that last night that I went out with Black*Star to shout hoops? I think so. And I think Maka went out with Tsubaki…and, yes, Maka has met me many a time in the black and red room in my mind, but never in that dress. I've never led when we dance, which is very rare...but we have danced before, but I've never pinned her against the wall. I've never-

As the most horrific portion of the dream plays back in my head I am sickened. I would never do that to any girl and to see my Maka in such torture is unbearable. Where had these thoughts come from? They were so real, so graphic in every detail…Can't I control myself? I mean, I want her bad…but I can control myself, right?

I run to the bathroom and kneel in front of the toilet retching. I cannot accept that I have these desires within me somewhere. I am evil. I have had sexual thoughts about my meister and I had thought it was ok, but a line has been crossed even if it is only in my mind. I need to get away from her before I start acting the way I did in the dream. My job is to protect her and that includes from me.

I throw up and it leaves my mouth tasting of bile and day old food.

"Soul! Soul, are you ok?" Maka is outside the bathroom door sweetly showing her concern for me. "Do you need anything?"

I am too upset to face her. How will I ever be able to gaze into her eyes again when I've seen what her beautiful face looks like distorted by victimization? I don't know what to do. I think I need a shrink. I wonder if our school nurse could help me, but I can't tell a woman about this. How ever she would go about slaughtering me would be too good.

All I wanted was to be with Maka, but clearly my affection for her has grown into an obsession. I want to die. I cannot live with this shame and I cannot live with Maka's love knowing that I would dream of something this cruel. Maybe all those people who've told me over the years that I was a good-for-nothing are right. I'm no hero. I don't belong here.

"Soul, answer me! Are you ok?" Maka begins to pound on the door. She is nothing if not persistent, so I press the button on the doorknob to release the lock and she tumbles into the tiny bathroom practically falling on top of me.

"Oh, Shinigami! Are you OK?"

I don't answer because I am definitely anything but ok and I don't want to have to lie to her. She pulls my hair away from my face and runs a hand across my brow. Thankfully, she can't tell that the tears on my face aren't due to the nausea. If she knew how upset I am she would try to get me to talk about it. She would tell me that whatever the problem we could find the solution. That's what we do for each other, but this is one problem only I can fix. I've got to leave her. I am too possessive of her and too lust filled to have any good come of our partnership.

"I hope it's not food poisoning." She says examining my bloodshot eyes. "You better stay home today. You want to lay on the couch? I'll get you a barf bucket."

Less than five minutes ago I was raping her in my dreams and here she is acting as my nursemaid. Somehow it makes it even more horrifying because it solidifies in my mind just how much she trusts me. I could overcome her at any moment and have what I want…

I tremble in disgust. Sex is not what I want. I want her love, right? Right, Soul? I don't know anymore. I don't feel confident about anything except that I seem to be turning evil; perhaps it's the fault of the Black Blood. It could be acting up again but it doesn't matter the cause. I may not be able to fit it and if that's the case I need to get the fuck away from her fast.

She guides me over to the couch where she has laid a blanket and pillows and a mixing bowl in case I need to puke again.

"Soul, no offense, but you really look like crap. Maybe I better stay home, too, to make sure you are ok."

I shake my head. The only way for me to recover is for her to go away, far away from me, and quit being nice to me. Which won't happen because she's a nice person, far too nice and far too trusting.

I wonder how many men out there have these thoughts and a part of me wants to lock her in her room for her own safety. Something so pure shouldn't have to mingle with the depraved.

"No, Maka. Go to school. I'll be ok. I'll just stretch out on the couch and watch a movie or something."

"You sure, Soul? Because I can let Tsubaki know to bring our assignments home after class-"

"Naw. Just go."

She takes my hand and entwines her fingers in mine. "I'm worried about you. Are you sure you're gonna be ok? I hate to leave you like this."

I muster my strength to be able to say something halfway normal to her. "Go. I'm sure I'll be fine and we don't want to fall behind."

"I'll pick up some 7-Up on the way home. K?"

I nod. I will agree to anything to get her to leave. Maka lingers in the doorway trying to reassure herself that she is making the right decision leaving me alone for the day.

I watch her as she leaves trying to savor that last look she gives me as the only way I can think to protect her is for me to leave here as soon as possible.


	10. Chapter 10: Mementos

**Risenfromash: Thank you to all of you have reviewed and/or are following this story.**

_**Chapter 10: Mementos**_

After Maka leaves the apartment, a mixture of relief and sadness sweeps over me. By leaving I will save her the unpleasantness of realizing the truth about me, that I am self-centered and enjoyed her company and hunting demons for all the wrong reasons. Maybe she will eventually realize that I am just like the rest, a cock-driven horney asshole who really should never have been trusted. We were able to make it work for a while, but the demise of our happy pairing was inevitable.

A part of me is tempted to lie on the couch and talk myself out of leaving, but I love Maka too much for that. She deserves better than to live with someone who is harboring these kinds of violent and despicable thoughts. Besides, there is no reason to wait; the sooner I hit the road the more distance I can put between me and her and the entire demon hunting portion of my life. I figure it makes the most sense for me to head to Vegas or Reno; I can probably lie about my age by forging a couple documents and land a job playing piano in one of the many lounges there. The irony that I'm leaving my peaceful little apartment to go tickle the ivories in Sin City, an environment not all that unlike the red and black room is not lost on me, but at least Maka won't be there and hopefully, eventually I'll get over her. It's not like we were married or something.

I go into my room and look around- I don't own a lot of stuff, certainly not a lot worth lugging to my next life. I grab my jeans, t-shirts, some underwear, my guitar, and the standard issue DWMA Survival Kit. The school has made it incredibly easy for me to take off. The Survival Kit given to each student that goes on special assignment includes essential supplies for roughing it while away from civilization: bedroll, sleeping bag, mess kit, pocket knife, flint and steel, and a small, but well-stocked first aid kit. There really isn't much more I need. Maka would say a toothbrush and toothpaste, but I know darn well those are optional.

I open my night stand to grab the keys to the motorcycle. Inside the drawer is some random crap I have stuck there for lack of a better place: a birthday card from my grandmother, a couple photos, a few stray guitar picks, half a pack of bubble gum, and some miscellaneous junk. Staring back at me from one of the photographs are a younger Maka and me, shortly after we became partners. I can't believe how small we look. I don't _feel_ any different, but it's obvious we've both grown up tremendously since our first year at the academy. I try to remember what I felt for her then, before things got so damned complicated. Another photo is of a bunch of us at lunch… I'm stuffing my face with a huge wad of something while Kid is waving his arms in disgust at my appalling table manners. I'm gonna miss messing with him. He's a good sport considering we all pick on him about his OCD and all.

There's also a photo of me dressed up for one of the school's formal dances. It was taken on one of the school's balconies. I like to retreat there during big social events like the Death Bash because dances aren't really my thing, but I don't want to be a party pooper and not go so I usually escort Maka and then retreat to the solitude of the balcony and admire the stars and enjoy the cool evening air, instead of getting myself all hot and deaf out on the dance floor. Or at least, that's what I've done till now. I guess that's all over now. I sigh.

The other photo is from the beginning of this school year and it's of Maka and me. In this one I'm in weapon form and she's wearing her don't-you-dare-mess-with-me look. It's a copy of our official "partner photo" that goes in the yearbook to commemorate the school's meister/weapon teams.

A part of me things that if I really want to move on I should leave these things behind, but I can't shut the drawer and leave these things there. It seems disrespectful to those special memories and the people I shared them with so I grab the photos and stuff them in my bag along with a couple other mementos from my friends: a token from the arcade that one of our friends pierced a hole in with a lightning attack, a gaudy Death mask ring that I won as a prize at the school carnival one year, and a letter from Maka that she sent me when her and the girls went away for a couple weeks.

Maka is good at writing letters. She has the vocabulary necessary for good written correspondence and pretty handwriting that isn't too loopy but distinctively her own. I don't know why, but I find myself opening the letter. In it she talks about how they went whale watching and swimming and how she lost her bikini top in the pool and Patty had to swim way out into the ocean to get it. The letter is signed the way Maka always signs letters to me, "Sincerely with love, Maka."

I can't compete with her storytelling or her penmanship, but I know I can't get out of leaving her a note. If I don't leave a note to let her know I've left of my own free will she will assume something bad has happened to me and by tomorrow morning she will have the whole of Death City plastered with "missing" posters and the entire DC Police Force on the case. She worries about me.

I grab a ballpoint pen and some notebook paper from my drawer.

_Dear Maka,_

Great- that's a start. Now what to say…

_I'm sorry but I have to go. I know it will upset you, but know that I'm doing this for your own good. There is stuff going on with me that you don't need to be worrying about. Trust me when I say it will be easier this way for both of us._

_You will find another weapon you are great with. You really don't need me. Please don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You know I'm good at taking care of myself. Tell Blair she can eat all those cans of tuna in the cupboard and Black*Star can have my comics- they are in that box in the corner of the closet._

_I will never forget you._

_Love, Soul_

_P.S. When I've earned some money I will send you a couple hundred bucks for the bike because it really belongs to both of us, but I'm taking it anyways. Don't dare put the money into your savings account, please buy yourself something nice with it to make up for all the crappy Christmas presents I've gotten you._

There, done, but it doesn't seem right somehow. Maybe because a part of me wants to tell her that I really don't want to be doing this, but what's the alternative…stay here until I snap and do something I regret? No, thank you. I'm not going to be doing anything to please Little Orge. Staying would be nothing but selfish.

My angular handwriting resembles Stein's stitches and I briefly remember that moment when I thought Maka was a goner. That split second when I jumped in front of her- the moment I got infected with Black Blood. That single action has tainted our relationship with so many problems, but I have never once regretted it. I'd die to save her any day, but leaving is the only way I can think of to save her from me.

The lines on the page begin to blur as I cry. Damn, Soul, quit acting like a girl. I snicker at own self-deprecating humor. I am acting like a girl, an average girl, not at all like my Maka.

Maka is not like any girl I've ever met. If she were here right now instead of crying she'd probably be threatening me by brandishing a book or her fist. She'd be screaming at me or trying to bargain with me, all while trying to sneak inside my mind to meet me in the red and black room in hopes she could somehow convince me not to go, that she could prove that my inappropriate thoughts are due to my infection with the Black Blood and not really my fault.

But lucky for me, Maka doesn't suspect there is anything going on with me other than contraction of some stomach bug or food poisoning. I wouldn't be surprised if she stops by the library at lunch time to read up on which herbs to put in my tea to make me feel better.

I create too much work for her. This will be far better for her. She shouldn't be stuck with the albatross that is Soul and his antisocial, grouchy nature. All those dances we went to together and I never once danced with her or with anyone else. So many times I squelch her optimism or put down her bookish nature. We're a horrible fit for one another. What on earth was I thinking falling for someone like her?

I go out front and secure my knapsack to the back of the bike and toss my guitar over my shoulder. I take one last look down the street to the DWMA admiring for the last time its iconic Lord Death mask and candle design.

Being a part of the DWMA has been a ton of fun: the demon souls were damn tasty, the kids were cool, and we had a lot of really great adventures, but now it's time for me to move on. I should have known this wouldn't last. I had convinced myself this was where I belonged, but it was all a lie. I knew that deep down inside I didn't belong here. I'm a solitary creature by nature and being one of Lord Death's students was just too social for me. The school is one big family and I don't do well with that kind of thing. I need to find a place where once again I am alone in the world.


	11. Chapter 11: When Things Were Simpler

**Risenfromash: I will be updating the last chapter to reflect that the motorcycle has been dubbed, Brunhilde by Maka and Soul. I had contemplated giving it a name, but didn't end up doing it until this chapter…anyways, I'm sure in Soul's note to Maka he would have used the bike's name… so, I'll go back and change that.**

_**Chapter 11: When Things Were Simpler**_

It's been a while since I've gotten to go on a long ride, but I find it hard to enjoy it without Maka. Usually when I'm riding, Maka's right behind me, her arms draped around me, her face occasionally leaning forward to speak into my ear over the noisy, clunky purr of the engine.

It's hard to believe there was a time when she was frightened of Brunhilde, but I can't say I blame her considering that our first ride was a total spur-of the-moment thing and neither one of us had ever before been on a motorcycle.

_We had been pursuing a particularly elusive demon for several days and Maka and I were both tired and grouchy after unsuccessfully trying to corner the bastard multiple times. Maka was getting so frustrated she had even confided in me that she was considering returning to Death City to tell Lord Death that we weren't experienced enough to take on a demon of this skill level, but my pride wouldn't let me agree to giving up especially since part of the problem was he rode a motorcycle so he could cover a lot more ground than we could. For days we wandered the desert using Maka's Soul Perception ability trying to figure out where the demon was hiding himself._

_When we finally cornered him and finished him off I was all too happy to swallow his soul and be done with him. Seeing that his soul was no longer in existence, Maka collapsed onto the ground to relax for the first time in what seemed like forever._

"_Oh, thank Death. I thought we would never be done with that damn demon."_

"_Made a tasty desert," I commented sucking the last little bits of demon soul from between my teeth._

"_Lucky you, I'm starving. These rations aren't cutting it." Maka stretched out on the ground digging through our backpacks for something else to eat. "Ugh. We barely have anything left. Oh well, at least we can start heading home now. I say we order pizza as soon as we get back." She flopped onto her back looking up at the endless blue sky above us._

"_I second that motion! With extra anchovies!"_

_Maka cringed, "Only on your half."_

"_Half? What are you talking about? I'm gonna eat a whole one myself…" My voice trailed off as I noticed something unexpected. Our assailant's motorcycle had not disappeared. It was by no means a hog to be especially proud of, yet it looked like a well-maintained vehicle. I walked up and poked it with my pointer finger._

"_Funny. I thought this thing was ethereal."_

_Taking her eyes off the sky, Maka rolled over to see what I was talking about. "Oh, it's not, huh? I kinda thought that, too. I guess I should have known it was real 'cause no part of his soul was hanging out over there with it, but I didn't really think about it."_

_I threw my leg over the seat, positioning myself on the bike the way the Harley riders do outside of Death City's biker bar. It felt good to be seated on something with that kind of power. I grinned. I could imagine myself flying across the hot desert, my unruly hair thrown back by the wind, the sunlight gleaming off the motorcycle's shiny silver workings. It would be a nice change from slogging on foot and with a bike we could actually bring more gear on our little hunting parties in the future. I could think of a million reasons we needed this bike._

"_Soul, what are you doing?"_

_I thought the answer was pretty obvious. I was having a mangasm over this piece of automation, but I replied with a simple, "Nothin'," so as to not lay all my cards on the table at the beginning of the negotiation with my meister._

"_Un huh. It doesn't look like nothing. What it looks like is you think it's Christmas morning and Santa just visited."_

_I grinned from ear to ear. She knew me so well._

"_Well," I began the negotiation. "The responsible thing to do is not to allow this motorcycle to sit here abandoned. The oil and gasoline will eventually leach into the soil. It would be very bad for the environment. Wasteful. And since it doesn't have an owner-"_

"_It __**does**__ have an owner. At this point it's property of the DWMA."_

"_And __**conveniently**__ I happen to be a representative of the DWMA." I can only imagine how demonic I must have appeared with my eyes glimmering with desire as I ran my hand over its shiny chassis._

_Maka tipped her head. "We're supposed to notify the administration of any abandoned property of defeated witches or demons. Then Lord Death decides what is most appropriate to do with it. Maybe the demon has a family it should go to."_

_I blinked. This chick could not be serious! "That asshole hasn't had anyone who cared about him for a long time…but __**I'll **__be honoring his memory every time I ride on it."_

_I knew that appealing to Maka's sentimental side was a long shot, but I had to try every angle I had because I was bound and determined we would be __**riding**__, not walking, home and it can be really challenging to get her to deviate from DWMA standard operating procedures._

"_Well…" She said, considering it. I was wearing her down for sure! Time for the most persuasive argument of them all!_

"_Come on, Maka. Your feet are tired and so are mine. We've been hoofin' it for days and this way we could save our feet and get back to school sooooo much faster. Besides, I __**know **__you pocketed that history of witchcraft book from that werebeast we defeated last month and __**I**__ didn't say __**anything**__ when you didn't hand it over to Lord Death."_

_She approached me and the bike cautiously wincing with every step. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that our feet were killing us. We'd worked hard. We deserved a ride._

"_Soul, you don't even know how to ride a motorcycle. It takes people a long time to learn the control necessary-"_

_I turned the key that the demon had carelessly left in the ignition. I revved the engine and away I went. I flew forward but quickly got a feel for the bike's power. I eased into a curve and came back pulling right up in front of her. I smiled and reached out to her with my right hand._

"_Come on, Maka," I said leaning over so as to whisper into her ear. "Live a little. I know you want to."_

_She let out a little "eep" and blushed like she often does when caught giving in to her rebellious side which, I must admit, often has something to do with me luring her there._

"_You trust me, don't you?" I asked her._

_Her nod was slow and deliberate like she was in a trance. She was probably considering if it was a good day to die or not, but I just smiled wider and gave her arm a little yank to pull her up to join me on the bike. She situated herself with her hands on me and her feet finding comfortable resting spots on the side of the bike and then I slowly drove over to grab our gear. I cut the engine, hopped off and collected our packs and tied them to the back while Maka sat watching me never saying a word._

_She still looked frightened, but I suspect she had made a deliberate decision not to voice any of her concerns, because she had decided to trust me. If I said it would be fine she must have figured it was her duty to give me the opportunity to prove it to her. I smiled at her._

"_It's gonna be ok," I said mounting the bike in front of her. "I promise. Just put your hands around my waist here," I took her hands and guided them to my waist rather than to my chest where she had been clinging to me. "We'll be back to Death City in a jiffy."_

_I took off like a bat outta hell and Maka lost her resolve to remain quiet. She let out a scream I swear could be heard all the way to California._

"_Soul, slow down! Please, you're gonna get us killed."_

"_You're funny. You can face horrible monsters and witches, but riding this motorcycle is really freaking you out."_

"_Don't make fun of me. I have a long life ahead of me."_

"_It's ok, Maka. I promise I know what I'm doing. It's not that different from playing an instrument, it's about rhythm and timing. It's just got a little more power to it and it doesn't sound as nice." I turned my head slightly so she could see how calm and self-assured I was, but all she did was scream at me to look where I was going._

_After about ten minutes in which I had successfully not killed either one of us I told her, "You don't have to hold on so tightly."_

_She said something I couldn't make out over the sound of the engine and eventually her hands clutching me relaxed a little._

_It even seemed like Maka was beginning to enjoy herself so I made the executive decision of taking a scenic route home rather than the more direct route. I wanted to get to savor the moment because it wasn't just the bike that was making it a great day. I was enjoying being able to do this for her. So often she was the boss, but this time I got to have her sit back and relax and trust that I was capable enough to see that everything would be ok._

_That day I was in charge and besides, it's not every day you get a free motorcycle and a cute girl to ride on it with._

"_Hey, Soul," she leaned forward to talk to me. "Thanks. This is really nice. My feet were killing me," and she kissed me behind my ear and it was that kiss that confirmed for me something I had been noticing recently. I was beginning to thrill at her touch, just that little peck sent shivers up and down me in a way no human contact ever had. It was official, I was totally digging her._

"_I told you when you bought those damn shoes that they would give you trouble."_

"_Yeah, I know, but I couldn't help it. They look __**so cool**__."_

"_You sound like me," I chuckled._

_Maka laughed. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me. I mean, I am on a stolen motorcycle without a helmet with a juvenile delinquent."_

"_I am __**not**__ a delinquent."_

"_Did you or did you not graffiti the alley by the bakery?"_

_Crap. I hadn't known she knew about that. I decided it was best to stay quiet and admit nothing._

"_Did you or did you not try to cheat on our midterm by writing crib notes all over your body?"_

_Again, I said nothing._

"_And did you not 'accidentally' come into my room the other day when I was changing?" It was then that I blushed._

"_I told you I was sorry about that. I swear it wasn't on purpose," I mumbled and she hugged me tighter and rested her cheek on the back of my shoulder._

"_It's ok. Just promise me you'll never do anything __**too **__stupid. I don't think I could survive without you."_

_I grinned. That's a pretty awesome thing to have the girl you like say to you. I wanted to take her hand and hold it, but both of mine were on the handlebars so I tipped my head and rested it on hers, instead._

"_Don't worry, Maka. I'm not going anywhere without you. Promise."_

My heart aches. I remember telling her that. How many times have I assured her I wouldn't vanish like her mom or Crona yet that's exactly what I'm doing. It sucks that I couldn't live up to my promise to her, but it goes to show that she was right.

I'm a bad influence. She can do a lot better and I hope she does. I hope someday I hear that she has a great new partner and an awesome boyfriend, who treats her great and never hides things from her and communicates with her in an open and honest fashion, but I'm not that guy and I never will be.


	12. Chapter 12: Alone

_**Risenfromash: **_Thanks for all the encouraging reviews!

_**Chapter 12: Alone**_

The Nevada desert isn't exactly the most beautiful place in the world, but if you get past the overbearing heat, the lack of vegetation and the sand that will inevitably find its way into your crouch you'll find it grows on you. Problem is that around Death City everything looks the same and Lord Death intentionally prohibited the making of roads or thoroughfares near the city. He wanted his city to be remote and rarely visited so that his activities and those of his students could remain "under the radar" of the world's leaders. And it has worked well; unless you happen to live in the Nevada desert somewhere in the immediate vicinity of Death City it's unlikely you've ever heard of the DWMA much less know that a bunch of demon hunters are running around the world saving your sorry ass from the forces of evil on an almost daily basis.

But there are major drawbacks to Lord Death's plan, one of which is that navigation away from Death City can be really challenging. Other than the sun chuckling above you, there are virtually no landmarks or road signs to help you to get around…just miles and miles of similar landscape and believe me once you've seen one tumbleweed you've seen them all. I'm amazed that my first year here I didn't end up dying of dehydration in the middle of the desert, but thankfully I've now mastered the trick to getting around and it is that you follow the sun and then turn to the east until you meet railroad tracks and then you follow _those_ to civilization.

I've been riding for a couple hours with the last half hour being next to the railroad tracks when I realize that something isn't right…my gas gauge says I'm getting low and I was at over a half a tank when I left Death City. I groan. Finding a place with fuel is such a pain in the ass and I'm sure there must be some kind of a problem with Brunhilde, because I can't possibly have burned through that much fuel that fast.

I spy a small diner up ahead and figure I'll stop, check out what's wrong with the bike, and grab a bite to eat. I was getting hungry anyways having thrown up everything in my guts before leaving Death City.

I pull to the side of the diner, dismount and jiggle the handlebars. I can hear gas slosh inside the tank, but not nearly as much as there should be. Brunhilde is very fuel efficient. Never having had this problem before I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for, but I start at the front of the bike and work my way back checking each component to see if something seems awry. Then I see it. Something moved. I glance at the bike and realize that what I saw out of the corner of my eye was a drip of something falling from the bike to the ground.

Fuck! There's a fucking hole in the gas tank! It looks like a spot of rust has gone full layer…how could I not have noticed this sooner? If I had chewing gum I could plug it temporarily, but, of course, I left that back home…er, at Maka's place. Fortunately, it isn't a super-fast leak, but it looks like I've been dripping fuel for miles. I grumble and curse for a few minutes and then decide that I may as well get some food in me before dealing with this catastrophe.

Even though the diner isn't near a train depot there are quite a few customers seated inside at booths or the lunch counter which makes me guess this is probably the only eatery for miles. The aroma from the kitchen is pleasant and the whole place has a genuinely friendly feel to it, unlike those "home-style" restaurants in Death City that mass produce "Grandma's cookin'"

I don't enjoy sitting at lunch counters- it's far too social for me, so even though I'm alone I find a booth in the corner and slide in, tossing my bag and guitar on the vinyl next to me.

A middle aged woman with hot pink lipstick and blue eye shadow comes over. "How's your morning?"

"K," is all I say in response. Why do people ask how your day is when you know they don't care and just want to hear that you're doing swell. Shinigami, I hate people.

"Let me tell ya about the special. We have chicken and waffles or surf and turf-"

I shake my head. Hearing those words is making me nauseous again. "I'm not feeling so hot…"

"Well then, let's start ya off with a nice tall glass of water. It even comes with ice at no extra charge. My name's Isabel."

She walks off and a moment later reappears with a tumbler of ice water and a menu that looks like it was created on an old-fashioned typewriter. "Take a look and give a holler when you're ready. The men's room is down the hall and to the right if you need it."

"Thanks."

As I guzzle down the water I realize that there was something missing from my survival kit. My fucking canteen…why wasn't it there? Oh, that's right. It got smashed that night we were outside of Baba Yaga Castle. I was _supposed_ to have asked for a new one at the school supply warehouse, but I totally forgot. No wonder I'm so fucking dehydrated. Maka always double checks our supplies before leaving on a mission. She would have noticed this, but I didn't. I guess I'm going to have to start doing a double check myself.

I glance at the menu. Pancakes- nope reminds me too much of Maka. We have…_had_ them religiously every Sunday morning. Reuben sandwich- sounds nasty when so thirsty. French Toast- maybe. Eggs Benedict- too fancy and not big enough. I need mass quantities. Hashbrowns and eggs- bingo.

I scan the restaurant for the waitress, but I don't see her or any other server. I wait a couple minutes before getting impatient enough to raising my hand and shout out a little, "Hey?"

I hear some clattering from the kitchen and another woman appears, this one much younger, blonde, and super skinny. I'm guessing she's in her early twenties or late teens…it's hard to tell.

"Hi," she says to me. "I'll take your order. Isabel had to run- her son got into a fight at school or something."

"Oh," I don't know how to respond to that so I just begin my order. "I'd like 2 scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of hashbrowns."

"Anything to drink?"

I debate for a moment and then tell her that I'd better stick with water. She nods, takes my menu, and then starts to walk away then stops suddenly.

"Oh, my Gawd! Is that yours?" I follow the trajectory of her finger. She is pointing at the guitar. "Do you play?"

I nod not sure why having a guitar is something to get excited about. It's a relatively easy instrument to play. I only took it up because it's nice to play something portable- you can't exactly strap a grand piano onto the back of the bike or fit one into our apartment…_former_ apartment, I mean. Maybe she really likes my guitar strap. It is super cool, black with white Lord Death masks printed on it. Black*Star got it for me for Christmas one year, though I suspect Maka had her hand in picking it out. It was too perfect a gift to have been bought by a dude for another dude.

My new server leans forward and smiles sweetly. "Oh, gosh! I bet you're good." I have no idea how one would go about accessing musical talent by looking at someone, but she's paid me a compliment so I feel like I _have_ to say something in return. Ugh. I hate small talk.

"I'm OK. Guitar is just something I do for fun. I'm actually a jazz pianist."

She blinks and I realize she may not be familiar with the term. I hope she doesn't think I just said something to her about my dick. "I play piano," I rush to explain. I wiggle my fingers as though playing an invisible keyboard. I don't talk to most people about my piano playing, but there is clearly no piano here so I don't have to worry that she will get any bright ideas about making me put on a concert.

"Will you play me something?"

"Sorry, no piano," I reply automatically. That worked out well.

She laughs as though I am _super_ funny. "No, _silly_! On the guitar! That's why you have it right?"

Why I have it is a good question. I had this vague idea that I could play on street corners in towns and make some cash, but I hate playing for other people and now I'm wishing I had left the damn thing outside on the bike. I only brought it in to prevent some idiot from walking off with it.

I sigh. This chick has made no move to take my order to the kitchen and I suspect she isn't going to until I play. Oh, well. Best get it over with.

"Ok, but just one song," I tell her. I try to think of something to play, but she isn't shy and blurts out a request.

"Do you know anything by Brutus Black?"

I blink. She likes country. Of course she does, she lives in the middle of nowhere and works at a greasy spoon. Stereotypes have to come from somewhere, right?

So much for playing _good_ music. Country is bad enough, but Brutus Black is by far _the_ worst blight on the soundwaves in the last twenty years.

Oh, well. I'm hungry and it seems inevitable that I should have to sing for my supper.

I slide out of the booth, stand up and toss the guitar strap over my back. As I position myself to play, I hear other customers hush one another so they can hear, too. I'm amazingly nervous considering that this is no Carnegie Hall, but it's been a long time since I've played for an audience and I'm counting on being good enough with my guitar to make some money until I can find a more respectable gig playing piano.

I start playing the only Brutus Black song I know well enough to play from memory, "Me and You and the Guy Down the Road." It's your classic tale of jealous rage complete with threats both to the other man and the woman which seems downright nasty to me, but it seems to get this girl hot for some reason. She prances around in front of me mouthing the lyrics as I sing.

"Wow, you can sing, too! You're aaaaaamazing."

I can only imagine what she'd say if she knew I can transform into a badass weapon, too.

Eventually, I get my food, but I'm never able to rid myself of her. Turns out her name is Becca she is almost twenty and likes horses, the color lime green, and her grandmother's knitting. She talks a lot which is OK because I'm too busy stuffing my face to say anything anyways, so I smile and nod and tell myself that this torture will only last for a little while longer and then I can once again be alone.

But Becca seems to have promoted herself to being my agent as every table she waits gets told that there is a talented travelling musician in their midst. I start sinking lower and lower into my seat. This is super embarrassing. Unlike a lot of modern day pop stars I play music because I feel driven to do it and it's a healthy outlet for all my stupid pent up frustration and sorrow. I don't do it for fame, fortune, or groupies and I figured since I mostly play classical and jazz I never needed to worry about becoming a sell-out, but now I appear to be well on my way to becoming a Brutus Black cover artist. I've got to get out of here!

Maybe I can toss my money on the table and make a run for it, but she hasn't brought me the bill and I fear that I might not leave the right amount. Plus, she is somehow managing to never take her eyes off me. How can she pour steaming hot coffee and be grinning at me at the same time? Pay attention to what you're doing, woman!

Finally, she brings me the bill and I happily plunk money into her hand, tell her to keep the tip and that it's been nice meeting her, but I gotta go and I stand up ready to make a run for it… and then I remember the damn bike.

"Oh, crap. I almost forgot. Do you have a blacksmith or a mechanist around here? I need something on my motorcycle worked on."

She quivers. "That's your bike?! _Oh, my Gawd!_"

Oh, Shinigami. She is into motorcycles, too. I will _never_ escape.


	13. Chapter 13: Making Do

**Risenfromash: **I have decided to name each chapter in the way the anime names episodes (with a title and then some weird ass statement in the form of a question. Why? Because I think it's funny. And should any of you think that I'm dising country music unfairly- that's Soul's opinion, not mine. In my old age I've actually found myself listening to country music more and more…

**Chapter 13: Making Do; Fear of Loneliness Wrecks Best Plans?**

Becca referred me to a local guy, Tommy, who does metal crafting nearby in the town of Cactus Creek. I was told that his workshop was at the far end of Main Street, which was the only real street in town and that it would be obvious that I was in the right place as he tended to park a lot of his half-done projects in the yard in front of his shop.

I ride Brunhilde slowing down Main Street past a pharmacy with sparsely stocked shelves, a fire station, a thrift shop, a tack shop, and a dentist office until a crappy-looking shack that was probably a warehouse of some kind ages ago emerges at the end of the road. Out front are parts from trains, washing machines, and, I swear to Death, parts of a nuclear submarine, but maybe a wee bit of the madness is still lingering making me imagine things.

Sizing up the place I find myself desperately hoping that this guy is better at fixing things than he is at maintaining his workshop, because I'm no neat freak but this is ridiculous. I park Brunhilde outside the chain link fence that surrounds the workshop. The fence's bent hinges make it so the rusty gate is stuck in the open position. I take a step through the gate cautiously remembering that crazy golem creator Maka, Crona, and I fought with in the Czech Republic. If this guy is anything like him I'm just gonna buy a really big pack of chewing gum and hope that gum will hold it till Vegas.

"Hey, Tommy?"

From a dark corner I see sparks flying and the tink, tink of a blacksmith at work. "Hello?" I shout louder and the sound stops and a man emerges from behind a pile of gears. He is wearing a welder's mask and is short and wide and extremely hairy. From a distance one could mistake him for a gorilla except for the mask and the fact he has some kind of tool in his hand and I don't think our cousins in the jungles are that evolved yet.

"You Tommy?"

"Yeah, whatcha want?" he seems rushed but not unfriendly.

"Great. I've got a motorcycle I need to have repaired. She's got a hole in the gas tank and she's dripping fuel. Becca sent me. She said you could probably help me."

He grunts. "Let me see her." I walk out of the yard and grab Brunhilde and roll her into the gated yard. Compared to the rusted heaps here she looks like a gem.

He lifts up his protective mask and leans over to peer at the hole. He takes a big dirty finger and brushes the rusty spot delicately. "Do I gotta make her look pretty?"

"No. Battle scars only add character. I just need her to be functional as soon as possible. I'm headed to Vegas."

"Well, then I can fix 'er easy. I can weld a piece of metal about the size of a playin' card over the rusty spot. Like the way you patch a hole in a bicycle tire or a raft, 'cept with metal. If that's ok with you."

"Sounds good."

"But, I have sommother jobs I gotta finish up first so I can't get it done till tomorrow. That ok?"

I nod. Beggars can't be choosy, after all, but I was unrealistically hoping I'd be out of this town before nightfall. He takes a few bucks from me as the down payment for the repair and tells me I can pay the rest when I pick up which is excellent since I don't have much money. As I leave the yard I pat Brunhilde's handle bars. If something happens to her I will be truly alone.

Strolling down Main Street I try to decide what to do with the time I now have on my hands. I find a green space ("park" is a bit of an overstatement for a grassy patch with three trees) and I sit down and start strumming the guitar…there's nothing else to do. At home I'd snooze or play a video game or just space out, but when I try to relax I'm too preoccupied with thoughts about Maka. Damn it, I already miss her. If she were here I'm sure she'd be making fun of me for being nervous about leaving Brunhilde and patting my hand like a nervous father dropping their child off for at school for the first time or she'd be laying out our plan of attack on Vegas…which clubs to hit and in which order. She'd be coming up with covert ways to learn whose piano players suck so I could go show off my skills. 'Cause that's what we do…er…_did_. We…_were_ a team.

Thinking about this is depressing so I get up and head back to the Cluttered Kitchen. The least I can do is let Becca know that I found Tommy and appreciate both of them helping me out. I stop at the pharmacy and pick up the latest issue of my favorite comic, Skeletoxin. He's this dude that accidentally fell into vat of caustic preservative. It melted away his flesh so now he looks like a reanimated skeleton, but he's super powerful, can spit acid, and has a way with the ladies. If I'd known I was gonna be having time to kill in this one horse town I would have brought some back issues with me rather than bequeathing them all to Black*Star.

The bell dings as I enter the café and I hear a squeal that has already become familiar to me.

"So, what'd Tommy say? Can he fix it?" Becca inquires from behind the counter.

"Yeah, he said it shouldn't be a problem, but it won't be done till tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."

"Oh, that's too bad," she says scurrying from behind the counter to come greet me.

"Yeah, I was really hoping to cover some ground today, but whadda ya do?"

The bell dings again and Becca frowns at me, an indication that she has to attend to customers and I breathe a sigh of relief and go sit down at the empty booth in the corner where I can observe the goings on, read my comic, or watch the TV mounted on the wall in the other corner. Right now a talk show is playing. Yuck! The topic involves baby daddies and cheating…I wonder if anyone would mind if I change it.

"Hi!" Becca appears before me without her apron. "It's my break."

I nod and say nothing. She comes next to me and swats me, "Scoot over."

I reluctantly slide over wondering why I couldn't have left well enough alone and have stayed at the park.

"Oh, I love this show! Have you been paying attention?"

I shake my head knowing that I'm now going to hear all about it. "Well, you see that blonde girl there? That's her boyfriend and he says he hasn't been with that other girl since before they were together, but I think the DNA is going to show that both her three year old and the baby she's carrying right now are his. I think she's had a thing on the side with him the whole time which is terrible because she knew he was with the other girl. Don't you think that's awful? I had a boyfriend who cheated on me. It was the worst-"

She continues to ramble on but I'm able to mentally mute her and then she's much more pleasant to be around. She's not bad to look at and the more excited she is the more her tits jiggle which is something, I guess. But, she wears entirely too much eye makeup. I hate that. Why do girls insist on globbing crap on their faces? I mean, I get it if you have a zit or a hickey to cover up or some gnarly scar, which is not all that uncommon at the DWMA, but this girl is really pretty she doesn't need all that stuff.

"Whatcha looking at me like that for?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I guess I was kinda spacing out."

"Long day, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"You want a coffee to help keep ya awake?"

"Naw that's ok. I'm a tea guy."

"Really? That isn't too girly for you?"

"No way. That's what the samurais drank. That and sake and I figure you probably don't have any of that around."

She smiles at me. "Nope, no sake, but I bet I could roust up a tea bag from the back room…if you tell me your name."

Oh, wow. I never introduced myself…that would be kind of embarrassing if I had been trying to make friends or hit on her or something, but since all I've been trying to do is get to Vegas I guess it's understandable.

"I'm…" I pause. I have a new life. I figure I could use a new name, too. "Rory."

As soon as I say the name aloud I _hate_ it. _Rory?!_ Where the fuck did that come from? Ugh. Oh, well. It's a little hard to make up another one now.

"Rory?! Oh, I love that name." That makes one of us. "Nice to meet you, Rory. I'll bring you some tea in a sec."

Becca brings me a cup of tea and sits across from me sucking a soda pop from an old fashioned glass bottle. I can't help but notice the way her lips hug the curves at the bottles tip. I much prefer her lips when they are doing this instead of flapping about stupid talk show guests. I ask her if there is a hotel anywhere nearby or if I can camp in the park.

"I don't mind sleepin' under the stars."

"Oh, wow! I'm way too scared of scorpions to do that!"

I shrug. On the list of things I'm scared of scorpions aren't as high as Maka's wrath, the Kishin, and Stein's final exams.

"But, my matress pad is crappy so if there were someone with a couch I could crash on-"

For a second I think she is going to invite me to her place and that makes me a little nervous for some reason, but instead she tells me that Isabel sometimes lets out her spare room and Becca and the cook, Henry, both seem to think it shouldn't be a problem for me to stay there. They even contact their boss to see if it would be ok for me to play in the restaurant and earn a little money that way. After dickering with him for a while we settle on him getting 10 percent of anything I earn as long as I'm willing to stay till close and help mop the floors and do dishes.

I play off and on throughout the afternoon taking requests. The old folks like swing tunes and bluegrass, the younger folks want me to somehow reproduce death metal on my acoustic guitar which I explain won't turn out that well, but everyone seems pretty happy and they are generous with their spare change. I have to admit that Becca had a good idea…if I do this tomorrow morning I'll end up with more than enough to get me to Vegas.

At the end of the night, Becca turns off the neon open sign and the cook heads out and the two of us are left alone with a mountain of dirty dishes. She claims the floor mop has a trick handle and will spontaneously fall apart if you don't have the right feel for it so I let her mop while I scrub dishes and dishes and more dishes.

"Did no one clean dishes today?" I shout.

"Naw, it's part of my job, but I was too busy talking you up," she shouts back as she mops by some of the booths.

"Well, thanks."

"No prob. Oh, I put your comic in your bag and hung them over by the fire extinguisher. Hope you don't mind."

"Naw, that's fine. They're probably safer there."

"This place is much funner with you around," she says as she pretends to ice skate on the wet floor.

"I don't think I've really done anything…"

"Of course you have. You've brought music and life into the place."

"For a day."

"What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow the bike will be ready and I'll head out."

"Oh, Vegas. Right…"

"Yeah, if you're ever in Vegas you'll have to look me up."

She stops mopping. "So, you're leaving tomorrow afternoon?"

"As soon as the bike's done."

"You got family in Vegas?"

"No. No one. It's a whole new start for me."

"Lucky you," she mutters sadly and turns to mop in front of the door.


	14. Chapter 14: Decisions, Decisions

**Risenfromash:**__This was an especially challenging chapter for me to write, but I'm really looking forward to polishing up the parts that come afterward (SoMa!)

_**Chapter 14: Decisions, decisions; Flirtation breeds contempt?**_

It's been almost a week since I ended up more or less stranded here in Cactus Creek, Nevada. The first day I was planning to sleep out under the stars, but then I remembered that the DWMA's idea of a mattress pad is a wimpy foam thing and so I ended up staying with Isabel one of the diner employees while waiting for my bike to get a hunk of metal welded over the hole in her gas tank. It's not a big job but for some reason the guy who is supposed to be doing it has made one excuse after another for why it _still_ isn't done.

I stomp into the Cluttered Kitchen after another unsuccessful negotiation with the local welder, Tommy.

"What'd Tommy say this time?" Isabel asks as she pours one of the regulars a cup of coffee.

"He said that something came up! And I told him that my foot would be coming up his ass if he doesn't get it done today. This is ridiculous. He even offered to give me the money I paid him back and I said it's not about the money. I need my bike."

I slump into my favorite booth and Becca appears in front of me with a cup of tea.

"Maybe this will help," she seems unusually timid for some reason, probably because she's not used to seeing me pissed off. I forget that some people don't know what a grouchy asshole I am. This temper tantrum would not have fazed Maka in the slightest. She's used to my mood swings.

"I'm sure Tommy will get it done tomorrow. I'll talk to him and tell him how important it is to you."

Yeah, maybe it takes having tits to get him to cooperate. I don't know. I'm just annoyed. I should already be in Vegas auditioning for gigs.

Business is unusually slow today both for food and songs, but I hang around helping Isabel, Henry, and Becca out when I can because I appreciate all the help they've been giving me , but by afternoon, I'm more or less bored out of my mind. The only customers in the place are some sports fans who are watching a ball game on the wall mounted TV and have been nursing the same cups of coffee for the past hour.

"Rory, can you come help me? These bags of flour weigh a ton and I'm beat," Becca shouts from the storage room. Henry is as absorbed in the game as the folks sitting at the lunch counter so I shout that I got it and head through the little gate in the counter back to the storage room.

I step into the room and the door shuts behind me. Becca is sitting on the deep freeze as I start looking around for the crap she wants me to lift.

"Did you need help?" I ask her confused as I don't see bags of flour anywhere. As I'm facing her, she spreads her legs giving me a view up her mini skirt. Oh, Death. She doesn't have any panties on! How did this happen? Does she know? I stand transfixed for a moment and she grins mischievously at me. Oh, so she does know.

"Come here, you!" she squeals pulling me towards her. I'm not stupid. I've known that she's been flirting with me, but I was not expecting anything like this because I'm pretty sure stuff like this only happens in porn movies and really, really good dreams. Awkwardly, I step towards her and start to wrap my arms around her. She can tell that I'm nervous, but all she does is giggle and ask, "Have you never done this before?"

I shake my head.

"How does that happen? How does a sexy guy like you not have girls every day of the week?" she whispers into my ear. Her hot breath so close to me sends little tingles down my spine. I'm pretty sure no one has ever called me 'sexy' before and I like it. This girl wants me! It's so awesome.

"Bec, aren't you worried that Henry will walk in on us?"

She laughs at me like I'm an amateur. "Naw. He's a _huge_ Jaybirds fan. Ain't nothin' gonna pull him away from that TV."

Her tongue laps the edge of my ear and I find my body immediately responding. I am getting so turned on so fast. I close my eyes and let her do what she will. As her tongue continues to explore my ear her legs wrap around me, her ankles crossing behind me so that I'm trapped, but I don't feel any urge to run. I put my hand on the outside of her thigh just under the hem of her skirt as she unbuttons her blouse and throws it open so that I can see the lacey pink and white bra she is wearing. It has a tiny, little pink bow in the middle. Her chest may be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

The nervousness starts to melt away and driven by instinct, I lean in to kiss her. Her lips are soft and feel better than I imagined they could; my hand slides higher up her leg.

Her hands have found my belt and she is loosening it. I can't believe this is happening, I'm gonna be leaving town tomorrow…but I desperately need to get over Maka. Maybe after this I'll realize that all those feelings I _thought_ I had for her were nothing more than the last vestiges of those silly crushes you have in elementary school or sexual frustration that needed a release I wasn't getting from her.

Fuck! Why am I thinking about Maka?! My lips pause and Bec begins to slowly and sensually plant kisses on my neck. I'm starting to freak out a little. Being here like this and thinking about Maka is making me short circuit.

What is my problem? I'm a hornball. I'm full of hormones and wild oats, right? I want to lose my virginity, right? It has to happen sometime and who better than with this sweet girl who is offering _no _mixed messaging. This will definitely be consentual. This girl wants me and she's already half naked so all I should be doing is getting busy having a little goodbye sex.

But something is bugging me. I try desperately to shut off whatever disturbance is rattling around in my brain. Is it losing my virginity while being surrounded by cartons of pie tins and napkins? Naw, who cares about setting? We're alone- that's all that matters and Bec is super hot and, oh Death, she is running her hand up my shirrrttttt…that feels so good.

But, she likes country music for Death's sake…and she talks a _lot_…and then there's that damn eye makeup. But I'm not becoming her boyfriend. We're just hooking up before I hit the road and she knows that, so no worries. Remember, Soul, this is what you wanted so be a man and hump. That's all you need to do.

"Oh, Rory," she moans. I feel her hand slide into my pants and she gently gives me a squeeze. I let out a groan and lean in to kiss her again.

"Oh, Gawd, Rory. I love you!"

I freeze. Did she just say she _loved_ me? _No, no, no_! This is supposed to be uncomplicated fucking, not anything more. This girl and I have _nothing_ in common. She doesn't even know my real name. She doesn't know anything about me!

I pull back as much as I can with her hand still down the front of my pants. "Um, Bec?"

I like Becca and she is smokin' hot, but if she's doing this cause she loves me and she thinks I'm going to be sticking around to play house with her or something there's a big, big problem. I'm headed to Vegas as soon as that idiot patches Brunhilde. That's the plan and that isn't changing.

"Is there something you want?" She asks me breathlessly. Oh, Death! She has got to go into the adult entertainment industry; her performance of "country-girl-ready-for-a-roll-in-the-haystack" would be an award winner.

She knows I'm hesitating, but she doesn't seem bothered by it. She pulls her hands out of my pants and touches my face.

"It's normal to be nervous your first time, sweetie, but you don't need to worry. You seem good to go to me," she says running her hand on the outside of my pants where my cock is standing at attention wondering what the fuck the rest of me is waiting around for.

"Yeah, well…it doesn't take much," I say and her smile sags and I rush to counteract my moment of foot-in-mouth disease. "I mean, I'm a guy… not that you're not great…"

She isn't looking super happy. I'm blowing this. First, I blow my relationship with Maka because we don't do anything sexual and I don't even have the guts to admit to her I want her that way and then I find a girl who is good to go and I'm an idiot who can't go with the flow and just have fucking sex with her?! Oh, Death, kill me now and put me out of my misery!

I take a deep breath. Stein told me once that the best advice he could offer his students was to tell us never to forget to breath. "Becca, you understand I'm gonna leave for Vegas as soon as I can, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

"Oh, OK. I thought maybe you-"

"I thought maybe I'd come with you…I could help you find gigs and stuff."

There it is. This isn't meaningless sex. She tried to disguise it as that by staging this little tryst in the backroom of the restaurant, but she thinks we have something and she doesn't even know me…not the _real _me. She likes Rory. The perfect guy she has created in her head, the one who actually enjoys Brutus Black songs and thinks her eye makeup looks classy.

"Bec, you don't know anything about me."

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't been entirely honest about things. My name's not Rory. It's Soul."

She shrugs. "Is that all? All artists have fake names. Stage names they call it. I don't mind." Her face plunges towards mine her lips sucking on my bottom lip. "Gawd, you are so sexy…ror-Soul! I can't wait to scream your name-"

I gulp. She is so hot, but I can't do this to her. I don't feel like that about her. This sucks.

"I think you should know my life is complicated," I say as she kisses my neck.

She giggles. "You're a musician. You're supposed to be tortured. I'll make sure you never get too depressed."

I guess there's no way to tell her. I just have to show her. I close my eyes and transform.

She gasps, "You're a Demon Weapon!"

There. That should make her think twice about falling in love with me. I belong to one of the most misunderstood and persecuted minorities in existence. I transform back into my human form.

Her eyes narrow as she sizes me up. "The eyes and the teeth make more sense now," she says, processing. "But you're not going to fight Demons anymore?"

I shake my head.

"Isn't it like your duty or something?"

I shrug. She hops off the freezer and pulls me close to her. She's taller than me so my face rests on the pillow of her bosom.

"Why are you running away to Vegas, Soul?"

"My partner and I-"

A look of dawning appears on her face. "The girl in your wallet and your bag- the one with the ponytails."

I nod. She must have seen the photographs when I've been rummaging through my bag for other things or that day she put my Skeletoxin comic away for me.

"I've been trying to convince myself she's your sister, but she isn't, is she?" Her face screws up into a sneer.

I shake my head again.

"So, she's what, your girlfriend? Ex? Fiancé?"

"Naw, nothing like that. She's my… _was_ my best friend and partner."

"Did she _die_ or something?"

"Shinigami, I hope not! No, she should still be in Death City fightin' the good fight."

She chews on her lip as she listens to me talk. "And you're hung up on her?"

I look at my feet. "I guess, but I like you. I do…and-"

"And you think screwing me will help you get over her."

When she says it like that I feel like a real shit.

"So, you two never went out?" she continues.

I shake my head.

"You never _made_ out with each other?"

Again, I shake my head. "Nope. We just spent a lot of time together at school and at our apartment."

"You _lived_ together?!" She clutches her chest and starts hyperventilating.

"It's not like we shared a bed or anything!" I rush to explain. "All students are housed with their partners. It's a crazy academy rule."

"Wait, let me get this straight. You liked ponytail girl and spent a ton of time with her and never told her…"

"Yeah, something like that."

All thought of sex now appears forgotten by her even though I am standing here in my boxers with my pants around my ankles and my face firmly held in between her two beautiful breasts. This has to be among my weirdest experiences ever and it sucks that I've killed the mood because now that I've told her the truth, I finally feel genuinely close to her.

A shout from the customers at the lunch counter brings Becca back to the real world and our opportunity for a quickie is over. She runs up front to see what's going on, buttoning her blouse as she goes. I take an extra moment to do up my pants as my quickly softening cock wonders what went wrong.

I wonder what all the commotion is about. The local sport fans are up in arms about something.

"Can you believe this?" One of them shouts. "They interrupted the game for some damn bombing at that crazy demon school!"

In horror, I look up at the TV. The words "Breaking News" are plastered behind a stern looking news anchorwoman who says, "We have confirmed reports of a terrorist attack at the DWMA, the remote school run by the man known to the world only as Lord Death. We do not have casualty numbers, but-"

They begin to play a video feed from a chopper above the school. There are things flying around dropping explosives on the academy and smoke is pouring from the building. Students, the size of ants due to the distance, are seen running this way and that trying to dodge explosions. They're all so small that I can't identify them, but there's no doubt that they are people I care about.

I have to go back. I have to make sure my friends are alright. I have to help Lord Death take revenge those who would attack the school.

"You should go," she says.

I nod. I realize now how stupid I was to think I could walk about from Maka and all the other people who mean so much to me and start a totally new life. They're as much a part of me as my music. I'm so stupid. What was I thinking?

Becca's eyes are tearing and I feel really bad to be leaving her like this, but I've got to go. I was always going to leave her. I'm not really Rory and I don't belong in Cactus Creek.

"So much for getting the bike fixed," I grumble. Hopefully, I can make it back to Death City before I completely run out of fuel.

"Bec, this isn't about you. You're really sweet."

"No, I'm not," she says not making eye contact with me.

I give her a hug. "I'll come back. We can talk about things. We can pick up where we left off."

"No, you won't. You and I both know you want _her_."

"No, I…"

"Don't lie to me!"

I shut my mouth so abruptly I end up biting my tongue.

She grumbles, "It's ok, Rory…I mean, Soul…I wasn't entirely honest with you either," and in my hand she places the key to Brunhilde. I stare at it.

A tear rolls down her cheek. "I paid Tommy to say he hadn't finished it. I wanted to keep you here with me. I'm sorry."

Now it all makes so much more sense. Poor, Tommy I've been bitching him out for days and it was her all along. I should be really mad, but I'm too flattered to be upset.

"You can do a ton better than me. I swear."

She rolls her eyes at me. "Go find ponytail girl, you lying sack of shit."

"Thanks, Bec. Thank you so much…and her name is Maka, by the way" I say as I grab the key from her hand and head out of Cactus Creek.

I don't stop to get my stuff from Isabel's. Even my guitar gets left behind. Maybe Becca will get lucky and find someone who actually enjoys playing Brutus Black for her or maybe she'll smash it to smithereens. Honestly, I don't care because right now I've got way bigger problems than girl trouble. I gotta get back to the DWMA, make sure Maka is ok, and help her and all my other friends kick some ass.


	15. Chapter 15: Love in a War Zone

**Chapter 15: Love in the War Zone; Do Feelings Cancel Hate?**

Behind me shoots a huge dust cloud as I push Brunhilde to the limit in my rush to return to Death City. Having seen footage of the devastation on the DWMA I am full of fears. Is Maka ok? Have people been be there. I shouldn't have left. I let everyone down…Maka most of all. Any time I think of her in that chaos without me…doing it alone or with another weapon I feel sick. She's tough, but I'm her best friend and her weapon so my _job_ was to protect her, _aide_ her, _support_ her, let her realize all the crazy-ass potential she has locked inside not run from her when shit gets complicated.

_I'm such an iddddiiiiioooottttt! _I spent all that time worrying about her and making sure I'm _always_ her partner and then what do I do? I fucking run away from her. Nice one, Soul. This is the dumbest thing I've ever done. It _far_ surpasses the time I stuck that metal bowl in the microwave and is even dumber than that notorious incident when Black*Star and I got so shitfaced that we returned to my apartment and couldn't figure out why my key wouldn't work in my door and beat on the door for twenty minutes before Maka heard us and came downstairs to tell us we were on the wrong fucking floor of the apartment building.

Wow! And you wonder why she's not into you.

What I did was totally and completely wrong and now I _have_ to make it right.

I crank the accelerator harder to give her more gas, but I'm already going as fast as Brunhilde can go.

_Shinigami, I need you to give me the chance to make this right. I have some things I need to say to her. I __**need**__ to apologize. I need her to know that I've been scared. She knows I'm a chicken shit when it comes to relationships. People stress me out, even her sometimes. I freaked out. I made a bad call, and I want the chance to make it right. Please, Lord, give me that chance. Oh, and please let all my friends be ok, but especially her cause I screwed up with her big time._

Eventually, I am chanting four words over and over again. "Maka, please don't be dead. Maka, please don't be dead." The words become my mantra. I want everyone to be OK, but she _has_ to be ok. If she has been hurt or…I can't think of it. I can't think of what I will do if I don't get to hold her again or feel her wield me.

_Maka, I'm on my way. I will find you. I will do everything in my power to make this right. Just, remember our promise to Stein. We won't die. I'm not so great at keeping promises, but Maka, you gotta keep that one for him __**and**__ me._

I have no sense of the passage of time as I fly across the sandy ground. The events of the past week all seem so surreal. Did I really just make out with some other chick? Becca seems a world away, like Cactus Creek was some other dimension of reality. I am once again completely immersed in life as a Demon Weapon. It's who I am and I was wrong to run from it.

I start noticing that the air has a thickness it doesn't normally have. It's gotta be smoke from the fires. It's giving the air a hazy quality and as I get closer to DC it even stings my eyes a little. The city must be a mess. I can see spirals of smoke rising from the city center. The academy!

As I enter the outskirts of the city I find the streets eerily vacated. I don't see any students or faculty here, just some citizens with suitcases and bags heading out of town. Looks like they've decided to chance their luck in the desert rather than stay here. That's bad. If people are bailing from their homes things are seriously fucked up.

The market square which should be filled with throngs of people purchasing produce and trinkets is abandoned. Stalls stand fully stocked with no salespeople anywhere to be seen. It seems that bombs are still getting dropped as I hear a weird whirring noise and look up to discover something headed my way. It looks like an Easter Egg with a lit fuse attached. I yank the handlebars to veer to the right and almost hit a mailbox but I get lucky and swerve back at the last second narrowly missing both the mailbox and the egg bomb.

It's treacherous driving the bike through here, but it's the most direct route to the school and that's where I'm headed because even though it's Saturday I'm betting that as soon as the attack started Maka ran to the school to help defend it from the invaders.

I zig zag through the town's narrow cobblestone streets till I reach the base of the huge staircase that leads up to the main entrance of the school. I hear a familiar loud popping sound and recognize it as the rthymic blasting of Death the Kid's guns. Evidently, he has once again partnered with his favorite ladies. I dump Brunhilde and run up the stairs two at a time. At the top of the stairs on the large veranda in front of the entryway I find Kid and Black*Star fighting off some kind of weird bird creatures that are dropping a similar, but different type of egg bomb. But Maka isn't with them. Looking up to the school's balconies I can make out some other meisters, but I don't see Maka anywhere.

"Hey, look who decided to come back and steal some of my glory? Welcome back, Drop Out!" Black*Star shouts as he flips himself through the air hitting a bomb in midair in an effort to have it explode harmlessly in the air rather than on the school itself. It appears to be quite the trick to hit it and get the fuck away fast enough to not have him or Tsubaki hurt.

"Thanks for joining us," Kid says sailing through the air on his board narrowly missing an egg bomb that blasts a couple inches below him.

"Where's Maka?" I ask.

She's supposed to be _here_ duking it out with the forces of evil. God damn! There's no way she'd be at the apartment…

"My Soul Perception…" Kid pauses to do a flip on his hoverboard as he approached one of the bird things. "Puts her in the northwest quadrant of town."

"What the fuck's she doing there?" That's probably the part of DC we venture into the least. There isn't a lot of interest there.

"I don't know, but she's surrounded by a lot of souls very new to this world and several of the enemy."

"Who's with her?"

"No one from the academy." He is too in the moment to sugar-coat the news. Fuck! She's fighting alone. What is she thinking? I'm gonna kick her ass myself.

"We can hold them here. Go find her," Kid instructs me as one of the Thompson sisters transforms into a double barrel firearm.

"Here, you'll go faster on this," he jumps off the hoverboard and gives it a little kick so it sails over to me as he lands on the ground, one knee and one hand meeting the earth. I wonder if he took gymnastics, because those moves are nothing they've toward us here at the DWMA. I hop on the board. "And take Patty with you," he says tossing me a pistol that is saying,"Wheeeeeeee" as it flies my way.

I lean to the left with the board and manage to catch the gun and it giggles happily.

"Good catch!" Patty says.

"Kid, I don't know how to shot a gun." Sure, I've seen him do it a million times and I play first person shooters and stuff, but I've never fired a gun in real life.

He appears amused as he lines up for a shot with Liz. "Don't worry. Patty will take care of you. _Now go!"_

As I start to sail around the academy I remember there's something else I've never done. I've never ridden on Kid's hoverboard before and as soon as I realize that I start shaking a little. Riding Brunhilde for the first time was easy. On a motorcycle you get to sit and you've got something to hold on to. Sure, I had to figure out that the clutch and gears were on one side and the gas on the other, but I felt in control. On this thing there's no handlebars and the slightest little nuance of movement and the thing goes that direction. It's like surfing without a wave. I find myself clutching onto Patty in gun form and wishing she'd trade places with me as she has more experience with this thing, but instead she's just squealing and shouting things at me like "watch out for the restroom sign" and "don't hit that trash can!"

I'm headed to the lesser known small staircase that leads from the academy to the northeast corner of town. I can't imagine why Maka would be there. Our apartment isn't in that quadrant and it isn't like her to not have come running to defend the school.

Fortunately, once we turn a corner on the DWMA campus the path widens and I breathe a sign of relief that hopefully the worst part of this roller coaster ride is over for me.

"I'm so glad you've come back!" Patty says. "Now you get to save Maka. It's sooooo romantic!"

I groan, "I'm doing my duty as her weapon."

"Uh, huh. You can keep saying that, but we all know better. You l-o-v-e _LOVE_ her. You're gonna get married and have a ton of babies aren't you?"

Out of irritation I inhale deeply and end up choking on the smoke. Coughing, I internally curse Kid for choosing to keep Liz with him and giving me the kooky one of the sisters as my back up.

"We're going to help her, you and me both. I'm sure she doesn't even need our help. But it's my duty to make sure."

Patty giggles. "That's right! Cause a damsel in distress is not your type. You like the feisty-"

"Patty, have you noticed we're under attack? Could we talk about my love life later and strategize now?"

She lets out a sigh like my request is a great imposition on her. "You and Kid take things _way_ too seriously."

I work to steer both the hoverboard and the conversation in more useful directions. "Ya got any idea why Maka might be over here by herself?"

"Nope. Not unless there was a poetry reading or something. She's been writing a _ton _of really emo poems since you left. There was this one that was really graphic about a person's heart being ripped out. She said it was inspired by Crona's life with Medusa but we all knew better. It was about how you broke her heart."

"Wonderful. That's really helpful right now, Patty."

"Thanks!" She says completely oblivious to my sarcasm as she right back up on her loopy train of thought. "Of course, she knew where you were the whole time. Her and Kid have been using their Soul Perception twenty-four seven to make sure you were ok."

I sail down the staircase wondering how Kid can stand this attitude in moments of extreme stress? I think I might slice Patty if she doesn't shut up.

Now at the bottom of the stairs in a small residential area I tell her, "We know she's around here somewhere so let's _**be quiet**_ and concentrate on looking for anything suspicious. You look right and I'll look left."

"Right-O, Capt'in!"

We cruise around several blocks looking around for any sign of conflict or large groupings of people.

"Soul, I hear something down that alley," Her torso pops out of the gun for a second to point me in the right direction.

I do a one –eighty and go back to the intersection she indicated.

"It sounds like crying."

I strain my ears and then I begin to hear it, too, and she's right it sounds like kids crying.

"Let's check it out."

"You got a good hold on me?" Patty asks.

"I think so. If I need to shout I just squeeze your trigger right?"

"Exactamundo!"

"Do I have to use my pinky?"

"Naw, Kid does that cause he's a big ole dork and wants to look cool. He thinks it makes him more symmetrical. He's such a goof. "

She can call him whatever names she wants but her admiration for her meister is obvious whenever she talks about him. Having pride in our partners is something we both share.

"OK, here goes."

We continue to use the hoverboard, but I've slowed our pace so that we are creeping. I can tell from the noise there is a crowd up ahead in the street. I hug the side of a building and peer around the corner to see what's up.

Patty and I both take a quick glance. We spy several bird mages more or less surrounding a bunch of kids. Most of them look to be preschoolers, maybe six at most. I see Maka in front of the kids standing between them and a birdman.

"I will not let you take them without a fight. Your fight is with Lord Death and the DWMA. It's shameful to involve innocents. These kids are so young that even if they _had_ magic it wouldn't have awakened yet."

One of the bird losers caws at her, "Now, now. You can't possibly believe you have any power over what we do."

"No, but I have power over what _I _do and I say you don't take kids as hostages without fighting me."

The birdman who appears to be in charge chuckles back at her. "Looks to me like we've already won. I don't see what damage you can do with your hands tied behind your back."

Fuck! They have her and I see no other grown-ups or DWMA students around. I do a head count. Seven bird dudes, something like twenty six or twenty eight kids, and three DWMA students, one meister without a weapon with her hands bound and two weapons who have little experience wielding one another. This is gonna be interesting.


	16. Chapter 16: When Your Hands are Tired

**Risenfromash: **I apologize that I'm not very good at writing action sequences. This may be in part because they also aren't one of my favorite things to read- I tend to just skim over them when I read, but at any rate don't worry SoMa is on the way

_**Chapter 17: When Your Hands are Tied; Can Endangering the Endangered Bring Peace?**_

It is not easy for me to stand by seeing my meister outnumbered. These bird people must be tougher than they look if they've been able to apprehend her; even without a weapon she's not one to go down without one helluva fight.

"Soul, it's not your fault," Patty says to me. Hearing another weapon forgive me makes me feel a little better, even though I can't help but feel responsible. My job is to keep her safe. That's the way it works and I let her down.

"You know Maka does what Maka wants," she continues. "She could have gotten another weapon if she thought she needed to. She could have run."

I grin. Maka running from the enemy, that's something, I don't think I've ever seen.

I shake my head in disbelief. "I can't believe they have her. Her punches are terrible."

"I think she saves the worst ones for you," Patty says matter of factly.

"That I would believe…So, ya got any ideas?"

"We gotta try to get closer and see how many of them there are. If we hide behind something till we have a clear shot we probably have a chance to take them down."

"Sounds good."

I step off the hoverboard and peer around the corner holding Patty, in gun form, close to my chest in the way I've seen action heroes in the movies. I wonder whether I look studly doing this or if it's obvious I've a newb at this.

The kids are scattered about the street in small clumps in front of a building adorned with a colorful sign proclaiming, "Auntie Em's PlayPlace DC's Best Drop-In Day Care Open every Saturday and Sunday for your convenience." The bird people must have gotten all the kids that were in there to come out into the street which seems like a pretty crappy plan to me as my very limited experience with large groups of small children is that getting them to do anything you tell them to is like herding a bunch of cats. Now the street is chaotic as some of the kids are unruly and resisting orders from the bird people and other kids are petrified with terror and seem incapable of doing as they are told. One group of little, little kids all seem to be bawling hysterically and the birdman nearest them looks like he would be happy to relinquish his post at any moment to rid himself of the headache. Then there is a cluster of tots with a couple of older kids who seem to be trying to protect the little ones who are probably their younger siblings and smack dab in the middle of it all there are a few kids that seem completely oblivious that they are in any kind of danger. Instead, they are happily driving little toy carts up and down the tiny groove that runs around each of the street's cobblestones, proving to me once again that kids are nuts.

The good news is that with this much going on the kids' captors will be easily distracted. They already seem a little overwhelmed. Perhaps, by choosing kids as their hostages they have bit off more than they can chew.

A few yards from me are some recycle bins and bags of garbage that I might be able to get to and hide behind if something distracts the birdmen. I wait a few moments until an especially loud wail from one of the children attracts the attention of the hostage takers. I use that moment to haul ass behind those piles of crap hoping that no one saw me darting from one hiding spot to another. I seem to have made it without being seen, though I feel like I'm panting so loudly that I'll give myself away.

There is still a lot obstructing my view, but I can now see Maka more clearly. She is standing in front of one of the bird men, an ostrich looking one with a thin, fuzzy neck and eyes that bug out of their sockets. After watching for a few moments, Patty and I are able to gather that this ugly ostrich dude seems to be the one in charge because he doesn't seem to be doing any real work other than barking orders at his minions.

The birdpeople each resemble different birds and their prowess also seems to range considerably. It takes only a couple of minutes of watching them for me to be able to rate each of the seven in terms of their smarts and strength. At least one of them appears completely inept while a couple seem to be formidable adversaries. The one standing on Maka's left is, of course, one of the more competent ones. He closely resembles a raven with black hair and a long, pointy beak-like nose and feet that splay out in either direction like a crow's. I'm guessing he's the one who caught Maka and has brought her to his boss for further instructions.

Maka's hands are bound, but thankfully not her feet. Clearly, they underestimate her because not only have they failed to bind her feet, which I know she can use as a weapon in the absence of her real weapon, me, but they've only got her held with a zip tie or some kind of fishing line, not manacles or heavy rope or chain. I don't even get the feeling that there is any kind of enchantment on the binding. Amateurs! We can get her out of that easy. DWMA students don't go anywhere without a very sharp pocketknife on their person somewhere. They probably took Maka's, but Patty and I should each have one giving us another chance or two to cut those bindings.

The challenge isn't going to be in getting her free or getting me to her, but in preventing collateral damage. There are God-damned kids _everywhere_. Every time I think I can see a path I could use to quickly get to her some kid has moved setting off a domino effect of other kids moving, falling over, running around or lying down. Just watching them makes me tired.

In my head I run through Maka's extensive repertoire of abilities to try to think of anything she can do that might help us out. With me in the vicinity I can enhance her spell casting even if we aren't in direct physical contact with one another, but I'm coming up blank for any way that can help us in this situation. I don't think we've ever run through a scenario remotely like this.

Still, I focus on Maka feeling like she must surely be able to help Patty and me in some way or another and as I watch her I swear I can see her fingers moving in a funny way. At first, I think she is trying to free herself and making the little motions one might while prying hands out of a binding, but then I see it again. Her pinky finger seems to deliberately extend twice in an exaggerated way and then does a weird little squiggly dance and then folds back up and extends twice again. It's fucking _weird_.

"What's she doing?" Patty whispers to me.

"I think she's trying to tell us something or tell someone something…I have to think."

"Maybe she's pointing at something," Patty supposes. I frown. I don't think that's it, but I'm also not getting whatever message Maka is trying to send either.

"But what's with that circle she's drawin-Oh, oh, I got it!" I'm so excited I have to work hard not to shout.

Our first year as partners the cool thing to do was to create a special handshake with your partner. Every meister/weapon team had one, but Maka and I refusing to be outdone created multiple secret hand signals. The secret sign language we created has more or less been forgotten by both of us except for the hand signal for, "This party/dance is lame. I wanna go home." Being one who doesn't enjoy social functions, I tend to use that one a lot. The one she's using now I haven't seen in years, but I'm pretty sure it roughly translates to "I'm only letting them think they have the upper hand" or "Don't worry, I have a plan" or "I did this on purpose."

I smile. "She knows we're here. That's a sign only _I_ know. I think she's trying to tell me that she let them catch her on purpose," I whisper.

"Well, that's dumb. Why would she do that?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I dunno, but if they're taking these kids as hostages they must be planning to move them, otherwise they wouldn't have taken them out of the day care."

"Oh, look they have a big slide in there!" Patty says excitedly.

"Patty, can you please focus?"

"Sorry, I just thought it was cool."

"Well, it _is_ cool, but we gotta figure out how to free Maka and help her to get all these kids free."

Patty nods.

"Hey, brats! We need all of you to group together," commands one of the bird men who looks like a parakeet with a blue and red Mohawk. The kids who are in clusters squish together a little more, but the clusters don't group together into one clump like he wanted. "No, not like that. Tighter." He tries to use his feathery leg to push groups of kids together, but they resist and some run the opposite direction.

At this rate Patty and I don't need to be too worried they are going to grab the kids and make a hasty getaway, but I gotta figure out where they think they are taking all these kids to. If they are taking them hostage why would they have taken them out of the day care center in the first place?

As if in answer to my question a shadow falls over us as something flies overhead. A few birds are carrying a suspended nest that has a top like a bird cage. The thing is so ginormous they can't set it down. They must be planning to lift the kids and put them in it.

The ostrich man in front of Maka grins with pleasure as the nest cage begins to hover over our heads.

"Aw, Maka Albarn, famous scythe master. What should I do with you after I have taken all these children away?"

"I don't think it matters because you won't be taking these kids anywhere."

The Ostrich Man chuckles. "I'm sure that talking trash works on your simple minded classmates at the DWMA, but it isn't going to intimidate me. Or perhaps you do not think we know that you are counting on your partner to come and help you out?"

He strides up to her with a goose step that brings his foot to his waist with each stride. "Where is the Soul Eater?"

She grimaces. "I don't know. He left about a week ago."

The sound of his laughter echoes off the buildings.

"You expect me to believe that? You are more naive than I ever could have imagined. Now where is he?"

"I told you. He dropped out and left DC. You can ask anyone. He left demon hunting and he left me."

"Oh, you must be so _sad_. I've heard you two were very close…very _protective_ of one another." The bird man slaps her across the face with such force her head flies to the right. I lurch forward out of empathy and almost upend the bags of trash in front of Patty and me.

Patty grabs my arm. "Careful, Soul! That guy is only doing this to try to get you to show yourself if you're here. Maka knows what she's doing."

I nod, but knowing that doesn't make seeing her get hit any easier. I need to come up with a plan soon or I'm going to find myself doing something stupid to try to free her.

"Maybe, I can create a distraction…of some kind and you can get over there to cut her loose," I suggest.

"What kind of a distraction?"

"I could lead them on a chase with the hoverboard…"

"No offense, but you're not terribly good with that thing."

I mumble that I'm no Kid, but I'm OK, and she frowns. I guess she and I have different definitions of OK.

"Well what would you suggest?" I ask her.

"I think we disguise you as a bird person, you blend in, and free Maka while I lead the kids to safety."

"Great! Patty, do you see a bird costume lying around anywhere?"

"It was just an idea…"she says in a tiny voice.

"Sorry, no it's ok. I'm open to anything, but we gotta act fast because I bet they are going to start loading the kids on that thing at any moment."

I become aware that there is a little kid watching me. He's two or three and has strayed from the groups at some point so that he is standing at an angle where he can watch me standing here whispering to my gun. This doesn't seem to faze him. He's just standing still clutching his blanket while sucking on his thumb. I can only imagine what the little guy must be thinking what with a bunch of bird men pulling him and his pals from their daycare. His face is super red so I'm guessing he was crying not that long ago. I put my finger to my lips to signal not to talk and he continues to stand there sucking his thumb for dear life, clinging to his blankie.

"Patty, I have an idea. Transform back into human form, but stay hidden."

Patty does as she's told and the kid's eyes grow wide and his thumb sucking pauses for a brief moment before restarting at an accelerated pace. Yup, he is definitely watching us. He takes a step backward but doesn't make a peep.

"That's our new recruit. You gotta lure him over here," I whisper to Patty.

"Soul, what are you gonna do? Maka isn't going to be happy with us if we endanger some kid trying to save her."

"He's already in danger," I state impatiently. "Just do it. You're good with kids."

Patty reaches into her pocket and pulls out some candy. Leave it to Patty to have sweets in her pocket. She kneels down and smiles and puts a piece of candy in her hand like she is luring a squirrel over for a nut. The little boy recognizes the distinctive foil package of a chocolate kiss and smiles and runs over. I snatch him and put my hand over his mouth just as the first piece of half melted chocolate goes in his mouth.

Patty looks appalled. "You're scaring him."

"I can't have him scream." I explain, though he seems to be content as long as he has candy to munch on. I set him back down making sure he is hidden from the bird people's view by the trashcans.

The little boy mimes zipping his lips and throwing away the key and smiles. Good. We have an ally.

I squat in front of him and look him in the eye. "Hey, kid. I'm Soul and this is Patty and that's our friend Maka out there with your friends. We want to help you get away from the bad guys. Do you want them to go away so you can go back to playing?"

He nods and Patty hands him another piece of chocolate.

"Ok, buddy. This is what I need you to do for us. Can we hide Patty under your blanket and have you walk with your blanket over to our friend Maka. The tall girl there?"

The little boy nods and puts out his hand for more candy. Patty places another piece in his hand. He happily chews it while he tosses his blanket over Patty. She now resembles a trick or treater in a simple ghost costume, but instead of being white she is covered in a loud print that shows monsters riding motorcycles and the entire lower half of her body is visible.

I shake my head and point to her legs sticking out from under the blanket. "She's gotta be a gun to make it work."

He shakes his head vehemently. Someone has taught him about gun safety. That's good. Normally, I would be very happy to know that this little boy knows weapons are not toys, but just this once I'm going to have to contradict some of the teaching his parents have done because I'm too big in weapon form to fit under his baby blanket. It has to be Patty and, unfortunately, she turns into a gun.

Patty takes his hand in hers. "It's ok. You should never touch a _real_ gun, but I'm _magic_. Sometimes I look like a gun, but I'm really not. Do you watch cartoons?"

I whisper to Patty that we're running out of time.

"I'm a superhero. Me and Soul and Maka we're all superheros and we fight bad guys." The little boy appears to process this.

"Please, will you help us?" I ask him. You know it's a desperate plan when it relies on a toddler and his blankie, but it was the best I could come up with.

He nods and holds out his hand for another piece of chocolate. Thankfully, she has another one. She must have deep pockets. The little boy takes the chocolate and sticks it in his pocket. I lift the blanket off Patty and he takes her hand as she transforms into a gun. I then take the blanket and carefully tuck it so that he can hold the gun under the blanket. He wanders out from the garbage pile and one of the bird brains shouts at him.

"Hey, how'd you get over there! You little brat! Get back here with the others. Damn kids." The kid lets the bird man come behind him and shove him back to the main group. He continues sucking on his thumb and plods forward toward Maka. He moves so slowly I feel like I'm watching a movie in slow motion. Then he abruptly changes course and for a moment I think that he has ADD and is going to completely forget the task I gave him. He walks up to a cluster of five little kids and I hear a girl say to him, "Eddy, hol my han. I scared."

With a popping sound he pulls his thumb out of his mouth, sticks his hand into his pocket, and pulls out the chocolate and hands it to her. Oh, he wanted to share with his girlfriend. How, cute…Ok, kid now go help out _my_ girlfr…meister.

"I gots to do sumthin'…I be back," he says and he turns around and resumes his walking toward Maka.

"They won't let us use the potty," she says assuming that is the 'something' he needs to do. She watches him as she unwraps the chocolate and puts it in her mouth and as soon as it's in her mouth she runs after him. "Down't leav me! I scared!"

The terrified girl goes to hug her friend and the blanket slips from Eddy's grasp revealing the gun. Seeing the gun she leaps back and a gasp is heard from the assembled kids. Even the birds look frightened.

"Hey, little boy. Where'd you get that? You put it down." This is working better than I could have hoped. They don't recognize it as a Demon Weapon! They think he's picked up a real gun from somewhere. Obediently, he sets the gun down on the cobblestones, grabs his blankie, takes his friend's hand and runs away. This puts Patty further away from Maka than I'd hoped but with the chaos of everyone thinking she's a real gun she is able to transform to human form, spring up, dart toward Maka, slice the tie around Maka's wrists before the birdpeople know they've been had.

"Patty, transform!" Maka yells and Patty transforms into gun form and is in Maka's right hand without ever falling to the ground. Maka swings the gun in front of her and takes her first shot at the ostrich guy's chest. "Kids duck!"

"Rain of Fire!" she announces her attack as I grab a metal garbage can lid to use as shield and dash towards her. She begins to swirl and a constant stream of bullets flies out at the enemy. The one closest to her tries to leap forward and punch her but I run into him full speed, knocking him down and pinning him under the garbage can lid which I now discover stinks to high heaven. _Lovely!_

Maka stops her spin and swings the gun toward me and the dude under the garbage can lid. For the first time, I see what it is like to be on the receiving end of her attacks. It's terrifying and for a millisecond I think she is going to shout me. I shudder at the appearance of her wrath and roll off the birdman taking the garbage can lid with me and she gets a shot to his chest.

"Soul, Patty, trrrrannnnnnsssfooooormmmm!" With her right hand Maka tosses Patty to the right as Patty transforms back into human form. Meanwhile, I run toward her left hand transforming into scythe form as I go.

Patty giggles as a bunch of kids clap happily at the magic they have just witnessed then remembering her duties, shouts for all the kids to get back and tries to herd them away from the conflict. The bird people shout, "Scat Attack" and start shouting hard bits of ingesta toward us. They sting like a devil when they hit and I'm sure we will have nasty welts from them, but unlike bullets they don't penetrate the skin. Thank, Death.

"Gross!" I say as one of the pieces of scat hits my eye on the scythe. "So, you got a plan?" I ask my meister.

"Nope."

"I figured as much. What were you gonna do if I didn't show up? Play Mother Hen to a bunch of whiny kids in a flying nest?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Come on kids let's go play!" Patty says skipping playfully to the door of the day care followed by a stampede of children.

There are still five bird people standing, but not for long. "On the count of three, resonant, witch hunter- one big swing. Got it?" my meister instructs me.

"Got it."

"One…two…three!" She swings me extra high so as to avoid any children still dashing about…and then it is over. The birds that brought the nest cage fly off taking it with them and I walk around the street swallowing 7 demon souls that taste not entirely unlike chicken.

"Could use ketchup," I joke as Maka lets herself slump a little from exhaustion. Patty emerges from the day care wearing a tall pointy hat with streamers coming off the top.

"Princess Patty, you stay here and keep the kids safe." Maka instructs after only a moment's rest. "I think their teachers are locked in the building somewhere. I hope. Soul and I will head back to the school and help out there."

"Sounds good. Have fun you twwwooooo!" She winks at us as I grab Maka's hand and lead her back to the alley where I dumped the hoverboard. I form loops with my arms and tell her to get on my back. She hesitates for a moment, so I toss her over my shoulder until she naturally settles into a piggy back ride as we cruise toward the school.

Unlike Patty, Maka is silent for the entire ride.


	17. Chapter 17: Confessions

Chapter 17: Confessions; Going into the Closet for Romance?

Back at the entrance to the school, the battle seems to be over, at least for the time being. Using Soul Perception, Kid is directing students and faculty to locations where there may be people trapped in rubble and debris, but he takes a moment to talk to us when he sees us come around the bend.

"Maka, Soul," he says nodding twice as he inventories us. Then with a sterner edge to his voice he asks, "Where is Patti?"

"Don't worry. She's playing babysitter to a bunch of kids they tried to nab," I explain, happy that I don't have to face his wrath.

"Ah," he smiles with relief. "Well, then she is in her element. I thank you."

"Thanks for letting me use the board," I say gently kicking it in his direction.

"Is everybody OK? Do we know who those creeps are?" Maka asks.

"There have been some injuries, a few are fairly severe, but no fatalities. So far it appears Hiro has it the worst. Both of his legs were crushed by a beam on the southwestern side of the school. Mira is doing everything she can. He lost a lot of blood so she's collecting blood to replenish our supply, but, unfortunately, neither of you are cleared to donate."

"Black blood?" I ask already knowing the answer.

Kid nods. "Unless we get into a _dire_ emergency they don't want to risk spreading the infection to others. I hope you understand."

I nod. "So, what _can_ we do to help out?"

"My father is holding a meeting at eighteen hundred hours. Until then I suggest you get some rest and visit the wounded. Oh, and Tsubaki's ankle got twisted. I don't know if she is still at the dispensary or not, but she may be on chrutches for a time." He looks up at the battered school and sighs. "They have wrecked the architecture! I'm not going to be able to get any sleep until this is put right again."

"We need to report to Lord Death about their plans to take kids as hostages," Maka tells him.

He sighs. "Honestly, my father is swamped right now. I think it probably best we discuss it when we come together as a group. Just make sure you check in with Marie. She's outside the dispensary and is in charge of tracking everyone who has checked in so we make sure no one remains missing. Were any of the kids injured?"

"No, and they didn't manage to take any, but I'm not sure about the teachers."

"I'll go over in a bit and check on things and escort Patti back. I'd hate for her to miss the meeting."

Maka pats Kid on the shoulder. "Thanks for letting Soul use your board. That was super nice of you. I bet you're shocked you got it back in one piece." She gives him a peck on the cheek and his normally pale skin blushes ever so slightly. Oh, Kid gets a kiss for lending me his board, but do _I_ get a kiss? No! What is she playing at? Is she _trying_ to make me jealous? I scowl and Kid's eyes meet mine in an expression of, "Idiot, you still haven't made your move?" Once again, my friend with the least dating experience is critiquing my love life. Feeling pathetic and miserable I follow closely behind Maka as we head to the dispensary.

There we find Marie a blubbering mess of emotions as she insists on hugging each person who checks in and expressing to them her relief that they are more or less in one piece. Maka and I offer our help to her as there seems to be a lot needing to get done, but like Kid she tells us that soon enough we will be given an assignment and that we best recover while we have the opportunity.

Inside the dispensary we find Hiro konked out on heavy duty pain killers mid blood transfusion so we stand for a moment by his bedside and try to match his soul wavelength for a time to give him strength. Tsubaki must already have finished having her ankle attended to because she's not there nor is Black*Star but we say hi to a couple of our other classmates who are prepping lacerations for stitching or cleaning up abrasions. The room is the most crowded I've ever seen it so after giving our obligatory well wishes to everyone who is awake and alert enough to accept them Maka and I head for the door so as not to get in the way.

Once out of the dispensary, the inevitable happens. Maka and I find ourselves staring at one another in the DWMA main hallway with an awkward silence standing between us.

I wish we could pretend that I never left, but I know we have to talk about it. Ignoring it is only going to erode whatever it is we have for one another and even though we are both tired and upset we had better get this discussion out of the way because soon we will once again be completely absorbed with battling evil doers.

Maka grabs my hand and says "Soul, we need to talk." Her voice trembles with something…fear? Anger? I don't know and that worries me a little. I have a sense that her soul wavelength is all over the place which isn't like her. Usually her rhythms are so steadfast and reliable it makes me feel kind of "zen," for lack of a better term.

She opens the door to a nearby janitorial closet and I follow her into it, shutting the door behind me. In the fantasy world I like to retreat into she would be taking me in here to throw herself at me much the way Becca did, but Maka is a very different person and as much as I'd like for that to happen I know it's not going to. Instead, I expect to have a very painful conversation.

What I do _not_ expect is the strong slap to the face I receive as soon as the door is closed. "That's for leaving without a word," she says to me.

I begin to remind her that I left a note, but she slaps me a second time. "And that's for using a little kid in battle. You couldn't have just shot those weirdos from behind the trash can?"

I mumble that I guess I could have tried, but her brain has already returned to the first thing she is pissed at me about.

"You listen to me, Soul. I can't have you waltz in and out of my life like that. I thought we were partners. I thought we trusted one another."

I hang my head. My face is burning from her slaps, but I know I deserve them. "Maka, I'm sorry."

"Do you know what you put me through?" She hits me in the chest and I stumble backward from the blow.

"Why did you leave?" she asks

"Well…" Where do I begin? "I think I needed some space to think about things."

"What things? What was _so_ important that you had to keep it a secret from me? I don't understand." She punches me in the chest again. "What did I do wrong?" she begins to sob and punches me yet again.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Maka. I had some stuff I had to work out is all."

"Why didn't you talk to me about it? I thought we were a team. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

She is shaking her head. "I don't understand. Why did you come back? Are you even staying?"

"Yes, of course I'm staying. This is where I belong."

"Are you sure about that? Because I don't want to have to live through this again."

"Yes, I'm sure. Now, can you say you're happy to see me?"

"Why did you leave?" she demands of me.

"Come on, say you're happy I'm back!" I nudge her playfully with my shoulder. "Maka, say you're happy I'm back!"

"Why did you leave?"

"Say you're happy to see me, Maka!" Now I am shouting at her.

"Why'd you leave?"

"_Fuck, Maka!_ Can't you say you're happy I'm back? What is your problem?"

"'What's _my_ problem?' What's _your_ problem? One minute everything seems normal and then the next you're gone, leaving me nothing but some 'dear john' letter? What the _fuck_, Soul?!"

"I said I was sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough. You _promised_ you wouldn't disappear on me. You know I can't deal with another person vanishing on me! What were you thinking? And now you're back and I'm supposed to act like everything is normal and OK?"

"I made a mistake. I admit that." I look directly into her eyes. Why won't she accept my apology?

"So, would you have come back if the school hadn't have been attacked? Or do I have to thank these bird brain assholes for you gracing us with your presence once again?" I've never seen her this angry or felt her wavelength so erratic.

"Maka," I say taking her hand in mine and trying to lower the intensity a bit. But she doesn't let me talk. She's too angry.

"If you had a problem you should have talked with me about it. We're partners; we work things out together. We don't run away from each other and not explain what is going on! I was crazy with worry-"

"I left you a note," I say it as calmly as I can.

"Yes, but you could have been coerced into writing it for all I know."

"Well, I wasn't. I was just being stupid." I'm not even trying to defend what I did and she's still angry with me. I guess I deserve this.

"Well, I'm stupid, too, because I thought you would live up to your promises."

"I shouldn't have made that promise."

"_Soul_, tell me why you left!" she shouts at me emphaticly. I grumble. This is a nightmare and we are both exhausted and stressed to the max.

"Look, I have to get over to the supply room to get a new survival pack-"

"I thought you only lost your canteen."

"I did, but now I left the rest of my pack at Isabel's-"

"She the one who left that hickey on your neck?"

"What hickey?"

"Right there-" With her pointer finger she pokes a spot on my neck. It's tender and I remember Becca kissing me there. In all of Patty's yakking she hadn't given me the heads-up that I had a bruise on my neck that looked suspiciously like a suck mark. Thanks, Patty. I hope you know you're gonna hear about this!

"For your information, Isabel is a woman I was renting a room from for a couple days."

"How exactly were you paying her?" Now Maka is just being nasty. This is ridiculous!

"I can't believe you. You won't tell me if you have feelings for me, but I so much as _look_ at another girl and you come _unglued_! For your information, _Miss Nosey Pants_, the mark on my neck is from Becca, a _very_ hot girl I met and that mark would be somewhere much more private if I'd let her! _She_ wasn't scared to tell me what _she_ wanted. So, for the last time can you _please_ say that you're happy I came back?! Because if you aren't I could just leave again."

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I would and then maybe I'll come back with an even _bigger_ hickey!"

"You pig!"

I am pissed. I swap my arm for a scythe and move towards her. "Say you're happy I'm back or so help me I will slice you!"

Maka gasps and grabs a nearby mop to fend me off. "You wouldn't. You would never hurt me!"

"_I don't know what I'll do anymore_," I shout.

She gasps.

"_Soul_, this isn't _you_."

"Yes! That's just it, Maka! This _is_ me. This is what I'm telling you. I am _not_ a good guy. I am sexually frustrated. I have a stupid Little Ogre in my head who is constantly trying to get me to do bad things and I was selfish enough to hope that you would take me back with open arms. Why'd I come back? _**Because I'm desperately in love with you.**_ Is that what you want me to say? You want me to grovel at your feet! _**Fine!**_ I left because I thought I could survive without you and I can't. I miss you too damn much. _**You're a part of me**_…you happy now?"

Her mouth clamps shut. She appears speechless.

"But for some _fucking_ reason every time I tell you that I love you, you choose to ignore me. Which tells me that you must not feel that way for me, but you don't have the fucking _decency_ to reject me. Not that it even matters, because I'm so damn _hung up_ on you that _I'm yours_ whether or not you love me back. I want you so bad that I'm _actually_ OK with being by your side forever with nothing more than what we have now and having you _hit me_ every time I look at another girl. _I love you that __**damn**__ much._ I don't think that's healthy, but if that's what you want that's what you'll have. You just have to decide what the fuck you _want_ from me. Do you want me to go or do you want me to stay? And you better make your mind up fast because in about an hour Lord Death is probably going to be sending us out on a mission together."

I turn to leave and then pivot back to face her again.

"Oh, and by the way, Stein and Lord Death didn't reassign you to be with me because you were struggling. _**I**_ asked them to do it for _**me**_ because _**I**_ couldn't stand being away from _**my**_ meister. _**I'm**_ the one who couldn't handle the assignment. _**I**_ needed to be back with _**you**_."

I whirl around turning my scythe back into an arm and open the door. "I'm going to the supply room. I will see you in the Death Room at eighteen hundred hours."

And I stomp down the hallway past a bunch of our friends who have gathered outside the closet to eavesdrop on our argument.


	18. Chapter 18: What the

Chapter 18: What the…; Two faced love?

As I stomp down the hallway away from Maka I become more and more pissed. _**Why won't she say she's happy to see me?**_ It infuriates me to no end! God damn her!

But it isn't until I'm half way down to the supply room that I realize _**why**_ it pisses me off so badly. There has been something nagging at the back of my mind all afternoon, but it kept getting shoved aside with all the fighting and bombs and duties, but now it is at the forefront of my mind and I _have_ to go yell at her about it. I spin on my heal and march back to the closet passing our friends who are doing a crappy job of pretending they aren't standing there solely in order to pry into our personal affairs.

As I open the door to the janitor's closet, I hear her crying, but my heart doesn't soften at all. I'm not going to be nice or pull my punches just because she's crying. Yes, I made a mistake and it was a big one, but she is being unreasonable and acting like a crazy person…or a crazier person than usual, at any rate.

She's sitting there on the floor of the closet, her head on her knees crying.

I tower over her and shot, "And _one more thing_ I'd like to know. If you knew where I was the _**whole **_damn time I was gone and you missed me _**so badly**_ then why the _fuck_ didn't you come after me? Every time Crona runs off you and I gotta drop everything and pile on Brunnie to bring _**his**_ sorry ass back, but I take off and you do _**NOTHING**_! What the hell, Maka? What am I supposed to think?"

She lifts her head and her bloodshot eyes meet mine. Each orb has a trail of tears pouring from it like a little creek. "You think I didn't? No wonder you're so angry."

Huh? Now I'm confused. I stand there unsure whether to keep yelling or not.

"Soul, I **did,** or I started to anyways, but Lord Death wouldn't let me."

"What?"

"He said that he would only allow us to be partners again if you returned to Death City of your own volition. If I ran after you and brought you back with me or convinced you to come back he wouldn't partner us together ever again. So, I just had to wait and pretend I wasn't dying on the inside. I knew you'd come back some day, but I was worried it might not be for years…" Her head goes back down as her body once again begins to quake with sobs.

I plop down next to her, my energy for arguing quickly running out on me.

"Aw, Maka. I'm sorry. I didn't know." All interest in yelling at her is gone now. I bring my arm around behind her and pull her shoulder closer to me in a side-by-side hug. As takes a huge breath as crying and breathing tends to be hard and then wraps both arms around me, basically climbing into my lap so that she can buries her head in my chest. Puddles of tears and probably some snout ones form in the wrinkles of my t-shirt. She's a pretty big mess.

I rub her back. This has been really rough on her. I probably would be homicidal if I were in her shoes. She needs to get all this upset out so her wavelength can return to normal. I will her to get all this anxiety out as my wavelength starts to become more predictable.

"You know, Soul, this isn't entirely your fault," she says her voice muffled by my chest.

"Sure it is," I say with amusement while rubbing her back more vigorously.

She tips her head to look up at me. "No, it's not."

I laugh. How is she going to spin this so I'm not one hundred percent an asshole?

"I knew you were in love with me," she says quietly in between sniffles.

"You did?" I take a moment to ponder this. I guess she was smart enough to know that all my teasing about her tiny tits and her addiction to reading were simply misguided attempts to conceal the feelings I had brewing for her deep inside my core.

"I guess I must be pretty obvious."

She shakes her head. "No, I've known for a long time, maybe even longer than you. I could read it in your soul, but I didn't know what to do. My Soul Perception gives me the ability to learn some very personal things about people, secrets that aren't mine to know. So, I decided all I could do was wait until some day you admitted it."

"Oh." I sit there digesting this. She's known all along?

"And I told myself it wouldn't be until the day you confessed your love to me that I would tell you that I feel the same way about you."

My eyebrows lower as my brain works. It's been a hard day. I may be misinterpreting what I just heard, but I'm pretty sure she just said that she loves me? Could that be right or am I imagining things again? No, I'm pretty sure that's what she said. All of a sudden it is as though a grey cloud that has been hovering over me for a long time has evaporated into a beautiful spring day. I feel physically lighter.

"Maka, I'm really, really sor-"

She silences me with her lips and as they mash into one another, both of us trying to figure out which way to tip our heads so that our noses don't collide, her tongue slowly enters my mouth and it is quite possibly the hottest thing ever.

My arms snake their way around her in a much more intimate way than before because now I have the green light and my mission is to get her to stop crying. It's way too hard to see her like this.

My hands roam more than they ever have before as the desires I've been keeping in check are freed. She scoots herself on the floor a little so that as I lean forward she can lean back, not to get away from me, but in a sexy, submissive way. Soon she is laying on her back with her knees bent and I am in-between those sexy legs of hers, a hand on either side of her supporting my weight as I lean down, never fully releasing her from the kiss I've waited sooooo long to have.

Her arms wrap around me pulling me closer to her so that our bodies rub against one another as we kiss and I feel that wild, crazy need building inside of me. Every part of me wants to lay claim to every part of her. Death, I want her so bad!

I pull away from her lips and pry myself from her arms.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

I gulp. "Maka, I left 'cause I was scared and I was trying to protect you…"

"From what?" she actually giggles. I've never seen her giddy. It's adorable…but kind of weird.

"Me."

Her face scrunches. "Soul, I only _tease_ you about being a delinquent. You've never done anything _bad_."

"No, but I worry I might not be able to control myself around you."

An impish grin appears on her face and she arches her back in a very suggestive way. "Maybe I don't want you to-"

"_Maka, I dreamt I fucking raped you!_ That's the real reason I left. I didn't trust myself and I still don't but I was so scared of what might be happening to you and to everybody here that I came back."

Her face is frozen in a look of shock for a brief moment before it relaxes. She touches my arm gently. "Soul, you would never do that! That's not who you are. You're really a gentleman, you just happen to have a very vulgar vocabulary at times."

I smile at her, but I'm not going to let her talk me out of my concerns. Sure, now I know she has those type of feelings, too, but all that means is I may be put in more and more situations where I have to resist urges that parts of me want very badly to give into.

"Under _normal _circumstances I wouldn't worry about it because you're right, I'm not that kind of guy. But, Maka, we both know what the Black Blood can do. It's powerful stuff." I recall the dream and how I took her provocative dress and seductive behavior as an invitation to do more than she was OK with. I remember her crying out my name, not in the ecstasy of love making, but in the tortured cry of someone being traumatized. I quake with upset as tears begin pouring from my eyes. "It was _so_ real. I couldn't even look at you."

"That's why you were sick before you left…"

"Yeah, it was awful. I hurt you so badly." I look away. We love each other but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not to be trusted I have an evil influence inside me. One I have to fight.

"Soul, I wish you had told me," her words mirror the gentle touch with which she brushes some of my hair from my face so she can see me as she talks to me.

"I'm sorry but that's not a conversation I knew how to start. 'Hey, Maka, I'm a horny bastard and I had this dream where I forced myself on you.' There are some things that are too hard to talk about."

"Not between us," her voice is firm. She is sure of herself. "Soul, we can't control our dreams and our thoughts…only our actions and those are guided by our soul, which is who we truly are deep inside…and I know you would never hurt me like that."

"Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say." I grumble, "I'm horny as hell."

She pulls me close to her and whispers in my ear, "And you think I'm not? I want to ravage you…"

Giving a disbelieving snort, I wipe my tears on the back of my hand.

"I mean it Soul," she takes hold of my face so that I'm forced to look at her as she talks. "I love you…I love you _so_ very much."

I smirk. "That's hard enough for me to believe. But you _wanting _me? Really, Maka? You're just saying that to make me feel better."

Without intending to, I have provided her with a challenge to prove to me that she has some kind of desire for me beyond the hand-holding and maybe not entirely platonic snuggling on the couch we currently enjoy and Maka never one to back down from a challenge has me flat on my back before I know what's happened. She is straddling me, her emerald eyes sparkling before she arches her back, closes her eyes and begins to grind her pelvis on my groin.

"Maka!" I shout in surprise. I thought she was more innocent than this. She stops moving and gives me an incredibly pouty look.

"Something wrong, Mr. Soul Eater?" she asks me.

"No, I just wasn't really expecting that...er…this." Far from disliking it, I ache for her to do it more…I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that my meister is not just cute and attractive and sweet, but sexy, really, really sexy. We may still be in school, but this doesn't feel like school girl stuff this is passionate, erotic stuff…and, man, is it ever hot. I cannot let anyone know she can be like this or every male in the school will be chasing after her.

"It feels good, right?" she asks with worry. All too eagerly my head bobs up and down in a crazed nod. Yes, I definitely want her to do that more. She smiles with genuine delight and then the sweet school girl once again morphs into a vixen. I gulp. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't witnessed it. It's like Jekyl and Hyde only way, way sexier and significantly less violent.

Then again, Maka has always been full of surprises. The biggest one being that she chose me as her partner and now appears to have chosen me for something even more intimate than that.

"Are you still nervous?" she asks. I make a noncommittal face in response. "Well, if you're worried about losing control than it makes sense that I should be on top." This is weird as hell…Logical Maka is speaking to me while Sex Kitten Maka is causing the bulge in my pants to feel on the verge of explosion.

"Besides, I'm your meister so I'm in charge," her finality about it makes me agree with her. As meister she gives the orders and I happily follow her lead. I lean back and put my hands behind my head. I really want to watch this show, but it feels so damn good I find myself closing my eyes. I'm trying super hard to play it cool, but after another minute of her lap dance I start to lose it. I let a little groan slip past my lips and her face is immediately in mine.

"What was that, Mr. Eater?" she says playfully. "Did you say, 'Oh, Maka, you are so hot, I want you so bad and I will never leave you again?'"

One of my eyes which had involuntarily closed opens just a crack to peer at her. "How can you read all that from a grunt?"

"I've lived with you a long time and that was a groan not a grunt."

"Same difference," I say shutting my eyes again.

"No, there's a big difference. A grunt is what you do when I ask you which outfit I should wear or you discover that your toothbrush has mysteriously vanished. A groan is what you do when you want to moan but are trying to play it cool."

"I was not trying to play it cool."

"Oh, you totally are. You're afraid to have me know how much you're enjoying this."

"Scared, huh? Why would I be scared?" I run my hand up the outside of her leg. When my fingers reach the zone they have never before passed I find that I hesitate out of habit but then I quickly resume their quest to get up under that teeny, tiny skirt of hers. Once underneath I gently grab her ass and give it a squeeze…and she _lets me. _There is no whack on the head with a book or slug to the chest with a powerful fist. Thank you, Shinigami!

I sit up a little to draw her into another long kiss. It is even hotter than our first and it leads into me licking and kissing her chin and neck creating a visible trail of moisture from her lips to her cleavage. My head is nuzzled into her neck, my tongue tracing circles on her nape when there is a banging on the door.

"Ignore it," I mutter as I continue on my quest to kiss every inch of her.

Knock, knock, knock. There it is again. Maka is panting like she's on the brink of something wild. I'm not stopping. Fuck whoever is banging on the door. _We are busy._

One of my hands is exploring her chest on the outside of her clothes, while the other is roaming around near the elastic waist on her panties.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Soul, don't stop! Oh, Shinigami, don't stop!" she pants. My kisses illicit a guttural moan from her, something I've never before heard from my meister. It's a sound that signals my body that she has primal needs which I am well-equipped to relieve. I like this new sound very much. I unbutton the top button of her blouse and begin kissing this new inch of flesh that has been revealed to me-

**Knock, knock, knock. **I can't take it anymore. I will _kill_ whoever is on the other side of that door. And if it's Black*Star I will make Lord Death bring him back from the dead just so I can have the joy of killing him a second time. Reluctantly, I untangle myself from Maka, rise from my position on the floor, and fling the door open while shouting, "For fuck's sake quit being a dill hole! I'm trying to have a moment with my meist-"

"Hello, Soul, Maka." It's Professor Stein and he has an enormous smirk on his face. "I see you're settling back in nicely. Let me remind you that janitorial closets" he taps the plaque on the door "are places for janitors to keep cleaning supplies. I realize this can be a confusing point for students. Oh, and Soul you are of course once again on academic probation. So I expect you to work extra hard on our next several assignments. Welcome back."

Mortified, I turn back to face Maka and both of us start laughing our asses off.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Before Battle; Does the Soul Smile?

Maka and I remain in our little sanctuary holding one another; neither one of us in a particular hurry to return to the world of missions, death threats and freaky looking bird people. Finally, it seems our wavelengths are back in sync with one another.

Her head is resting on my shoulder when she comments, "It's funny how things feel easier now."

"Yeah," I agree. This feels so nature that I think we may have managed to navigate this relationship evolution without losing anything we had before except for some of the misconceptions I had about my meister and her…desires.

"So, uh is there anything I need to do differently now?" I realize that's a very vague question, but I hope she'll get my meaning.

"Like do you have to act different somehow?"

I nod. "Am I supposed to? Is there something I should do different?"

She considers this for a moment. "I don't think so. What about me?"

"No way. I like you just the way you are…but I wouldn't mind some more of…" I give her a sultry look as I trail off and her laugh is musical rising and falling like an arpeggio.

"Oh, there will be plenty more of that," she assures me by giving me a kiss.

"Good." I must be grinning like a moron.

"But," she continues. "I think it may be best if we keep things on the down low…"

As much as I'd like to hang a sign around her neck that says she's property of Demon Weapon, Soul Eater, I suspect that she is right. Our lives will be far less complicated if we more or less keep this afternoon's revelations between the two of us.

"Yeah," I grumble my agreement. "Our friends are immature morons. I'm pretty sure there is a betting pool on whether we're having sex right now or not."

She sighs, "Yeah, I kind of figured. Though it looked like Professor Stein might have run them off for us."

"I've always said he's my favorite teacher."

It's convenient that I'm usually Maka's date to all the school dances and functions because we can continue to accompany one another without it being immediately obvious to everyone that something more has developed between us. Because we both know it's not really our friends we are worried about. It's her father. His relationship with his daughter is strained enough without her choice of a boyfriend making things worse and from day one of our partnership he has believed me to be a bad influence on his little girl.

"I say we don't lie, but we don't advertise it, either," Maka suggests.

"Sounds cool to me."

Now that we appear to have a game plan for our personal life, we reluctantly return to work mode. "So, what else do we need to do before the meeting besides hitting the supply room?" I ask her.

"You know, Soul, I could have gotten you a replacement canteen."

"I said I'd take care of it. I'm taking care of it. It just slipped my mind."

"Soul-"

"I know it's been awhile, but I'm perfectly able to take care of myself."

Maka tips her head. "How long's it been?"

I shrug, "A couple weeks maybe."

She frowns. "It's been six weeks."

"Like I said. A couple weeks."

She whacks me. "Death, when are you going to get more responsible? I knew you left without it. You're lucky you didn't die of dehydration in the desert, you idiot!"

"Oh, listen to you! You went into battle against seven of those bird weirdos without a weapon or comrade. What the hell were you thinking? I can't leave you alone for a minute."

"Five days."

"Same difference, Little Miss Calendar."

She laughs. "Speaking of which, what time is it, anyway? We'll need to pick up my stuff from Kid's before we turn in for the night."

I say nothing. So, she's been staying at Kid's…interesting. I guess it makes sense if they were trading off shifts keeping an "eye" on me with Soul Perception.

"Soul, you aren't honestly sitting there wondering if something is going on between me and Kid are you?"

"Course not." I'm lying a little bit and she probably knows it. I mean he's smart and good looking. He practically has his own fan club a the school with all the girls hoping to some how weasel their way into being his partner or girlfriend.

She wraps an arm around me. "Well you don't need to worry. I stayed at his place because I couldn't stand being at home without you. But, Patti and Liz have been driving me batty! They keep making me do _girl_ things."

"You must have hated that, because you're so obviously not a girl." I say intentionally staring right at her tits. She grimaces. "Quit making fun of me. You know what I mean. They made me watch _chick flicks_ and I burnt myself on Liz's curling iron. _And_ they were threatening to set me up with a first year."

"Sounds like I got back just in time." Her abhorance of things most girls enjoy amuses me. Wait, what was that last thing? "What first year?" I ask.

She blushes. "The librarian's son."

"Him? You're like twice as tall as him. He's like a midget or something. And I'm pretty sure he's a pervert." Note to self: escort Maka on all her trips to library from now on. Ensure he is not making recommendations of romance novels to my meister or offering to take her alone into the stacks for any reason.

She shakes her head. "You be nice to him, Soul." I avoid her eyes. "I mean it. I could understand the jealousy when you didn't know how I felt about you, but now you do so you're going to have to learn to trust me and stop being so insecure all the time."

"I'm not insecure."

"Yes, you are. You are always thinking that I want someone who is well-read or pretentious or something."

I shrug. "Sue me for thinking I'm gettin' the better end of the bargain here."

She grimaces and shuts her eyes. "Well, at least you don't have to make out with someone who has a hickey on them from the last person they made out with."

"Sorry."

She squirms a little like there is something she wants to say or ask, but she doesn't.

"Maka, what's on your mind?

"Nothing."

"Liar," I can read her like she reads books. "Just spill it…There something bothering you about while I was gone?"

Her eyes flit around the room as if she is too extraordinarily embarrassed to meet my gaze. "How far did you…?"

"I promise you, you're seeing the worst of it on my neck." She appears relieved. She doesn't need to know the part about Becca not having any underwear on. I mean, that happened before I even got in the room, right? Not my choice. Not my problem.

"Why didn't you?"

I roll my eyes. "She liked country music."

Maka starts laughing like I've said something hilarious. "Oh, well that's a crime."

"It is in my book. I had to play a Brutus Black song on my guitar."

"We can't have that."

"Nope. _We_ can't. Besides, she wasn't my type."

"Oh, really and what is your type?"

"_You_."

She rolls her eyes. Fine, she can think I'm joking. I'm not offended, but in another fifty years when I'm still by her side she'll realize I wasn't messing with her. There's no such thing as lip service from me. I call it like I see it.

A glance at my watch reveals that we have only about ten minutes before the meeting.

"Crap, we better get going. If we get there early we might actually get a chair."

Maka appears annoyed with me. "What is it with you and the chair thing?"

"Lord Death always holds these meetings in the Death Room and he knows there's a bunch of us, but he only has like six chairs. It's rude and I bet you anything Kid will get a chair."

"Do you want me to grab a chair and take it with us?"

"No! I don't need a chair. I just think it's poor form on Lord Death's part. He's a _God_! He could cough up some more damn chairs."

"I think that sometimes you just look for things to get angry about."

"I do not."

"Oh, you so totally do."

I stand up and offer her a hand to help her up from the floor. We brush ourselves off, because ironically the janitorial closet is very dirty.

"Do I look decent?" she asks me. To me she looks the best she's ever looked, but to the rest of the world they might think her a little disheveled. I help her straighten her skirt and before I do up that one blouse button I undid, I kiss the skin that will be covered.

She gives me a once over to make sure I'm ok.

"Is my gigantic grin gonna give us away?" I chuckle not really expecting an answer.

"I can tell you're smiling, but no one else will guess."

"Why?"

"You tend to scowl all the time so when you smile it just looks like you're normal…neutral or stoned."

I put up my hands. "Oh, _please_ not that again. I refuse to pee in a cup one more time! I know that was your damn father's doing."

"Undoubtedly," she says kissing me. "Now let's go get our assignment and if we're lucky it will be a mission where we get to be alone."

Now I'm sure my grin extends from ear to ear. Me and Maka back in the demon hunting business. Alright!


	20. Chapter 20: In the Death Room

**Risenfromash:** Thank you to all of you have reviewed. Sorry, I don't have the time to individually send you messages of thanks, but it brightens my day to know that you are enjoying this… and critical reviews are welcome as well as I'm always trying to improve as a writer. Peace to all of you.

_**Chapter 20: In the Death Room; News to take Sitting Down?**_

The meeting is held in Death's Room and is attended by many of the top ranked meisters and Death Scythes and us. It always cracks me up that despite our relatively low star ranking we always appear to be part of the elite team protecting the school and carrying out Lord Death's wishes. It's an honor, though not a big enough honor to get us a chair at the meeting.

I find a spot to the side of the clump of witch hunters and plop down. I'm on strike with this standing bull crap. I'm taking this news sitting down. It's been a long day. Maka sits down in front of me and gently taps my knee to indicate I should spread my legs so she can scooch into a loose spoon with me. I cross my fingers that Spirit will not pick up on this new found level of familiarity because a couple weeks ago I swear I'd be getting a damn nosebleed having her up next to me like this.

She touches my hand and pulsations shout through my body. I think I may have a new challenge on whatever mission we get sent on and that will be to keep my head in the game because I keep getting distracted by her scent and that incredibly cute way she looks all intense when awaiting Lord Death's reports.

Spirit turns around from where he and Stein were having a conversation, and glares at me which means that Maka and I are probably are going to be sent on a mission alone. He does this every time he knows we will be alone together which is ludicrous since we live together…but it isn't just about his daughter's chastity. He has a hard time trusting that I'll protect her. Ironic, since one look at the damn scar across my chest would proof to most folks that they don't need to worry about that, but I think in Spirit's world we never would have gotten into a situation where I would have had to do that in the first place. I think Maka is lucky that he lets her be a meister, because he's so protective of her I find it hard to believe he's never considered yanking her out of the DWMA and sending her to some normal school.

The sound of Tsubaki walking in on crutches brings me back to the present moment. She waves at us and walks our way while Black*Star goes over to Lord Death's little table and yanks a chair right out from under a Death Scythe who was about to sit down in it. He places the chair next to us and helps her ease down into it and then stands next to her holding her crutches. She thanks him and Maka is just starting to ask Tsubaki how her ankle is feeling when Lord Death starts the meeting.

"Hello, everyone! I'm glad to see you are all so well! Now I don't want to start this meeting on a _downer, but_ I think it only appropriate we get an update on poor Hiro's condition. Mira? Mira?"

Mira emerges from the crowd and informs us that Hiro is stable and will be pulling through, but may be paralyzed. The news hits everyone in the room hard. We accept injuries and pain without question but permanent things- like death or losing the use of legs…those enrage the group. No one has the right to take from our student body like that. The wavelengths in the room begin to mimic and build upon one another in a kind of communal call to action.

Several students raise their hands and suggest magical remedies or techniques we could try to use to return functioning to his legs, but Death holds up his hands.

"I assure you that Mira is very knowledgeable and will be doing everything she can to help Hiro, but we have a great deal else we need to discuss so let us just be satisfied that no lives were lost and get to talking about what we must do to take down these 'birdbrains' as some of you have taken to calling them."

"So, I've assembled a small team to fill us in on what we know."

"Thank you, Lord Death." Spirit and Professor Stein stand at the front of the room by Lord Death and Spirit begins. "Our adversaries come from a group that works on the fringe of the Witch organization, Bracken. This particular group is made up of demons that have over the years melded their souls with those of birds in an attempt to gain the special abilities of avians. Some have the ability to fly, others are flightless having melded with flightless birds or simply being unsuccessful in gaining all the attributes they were hoping to obtain. We observed a number of different fighting styles from the group. Some are able to drop egg bombs. This was the main way they did damage to the school."

"Kid, what attacks were they doing at your post?"

"Something called Caw-culator which seems to utilize numerology to increase the power of their attack. Also, Feather Freedom which will cause them to shoot feathers toward you like an arrow. Some of them even seem able to 'trickshot' the trajectory of the projectile."

"Alright, other attacks?"

"Maka and I got hit with Scat Attack," I offer. "They spit hard bits at us even ones that didn't look like birds of prey."

"Good. Anything else?"

A few other people offer a couple other attack styles they witnessed, Wings of Fury, which involves creating a powerful wind through the flapping of their wings and Poultry Pizazz some kind of attack that tries to interfere with a meister's ability to resonate with their weapon.

"Wonderful," Lord Death says. "You've all done very well!"

"The name of the organization these birdpeople belong to is called Avian Flu. What we know about them is scant. We are not sure of their leader's name or whereabouts, but we don't believe he was among those who attacked the school today. This was a mission he sent minions out on."

"What were they hoping to accomplish?" Marie asks.

"We believe they were hoping to gain access to the library."

I whisper in Maka's ear, "Sounds like they're even more voracious readers than you." She hushes me by swatting my leg, but her hand remains on my leg lingering there like it doesn't want to leave.

"We are not sure what texts they were hoping to acquire or destroy. The bombings appear to have been a diversion tactic as a small team of them were trying to gain entry into the library during the surprise attack."

Maka raises her hand. "They also were planning to gain leverage by taking hostages. They broke into a day care in the northeast sector and tried to take all the kids with them."

"Mmmmmmm," sqeaks Lord Death. "Hostages, eh? They do fight dirty. That's for sure." He taps his chin with his fingers as though in thought and then continues, "Our challenge is to uncover what exactly they are trying to extrapolate from us, learn the location of their headquarters, and the whereabouts of their leaders and put an end to any plans they have of once again engaging with us."

Then without further ado, Lord Death begins rattling off assignments to meister/weapon teams.

"Maka, you and Soul will track down and engage one of the main operatives, a creature known as Falconer. We suspect that he is orchestrating much of this from a location in Northern California."

"Black*Star and Tsubaki given Tsubaki's condition we feel it best the two of you remain here to assist in the protection of the library and my private vaults. It is highly possible we have a spy amongst us and that they may try to infiltrate us."

"Kid, Patti, Liz you three will-"

"Lord Death," Black*Star cuts in. "I don't get why we have to have an assignment here…Tsubaki's leg is gonna heal fast. We can handle an assignment further away."

"Of course, the leg will heal, but I don't think sending someone out on a remote assignment is wise when they are currently suffering from morning sickness."

Tsubaki visibly tenses, but Black*Star is obviously tuning out Lord Death as he forges ahead with his verbal argument that they should be given a different assignment. "Come on, Tsubaki…don't let him do this to us. We're a great team! We both know I need to be out there taking on the tough guys! We're the best team they've got!"

An animalistic growl begins to emerge from Tsubaki, as Black*Star continues to ramble on about how great a team they are and how he could beat every bird with one hand tied behind his back.

"UUUUUUURRRRRRGHGGGH! Black*Star, I'm pregnant!"

And with that every head in the room whirls to stare directly at Black*Star.

"What the fuck did you do?" I shout at him though I immediately realize that is probably the _dumbest _thing to say at a moment like this, because it's pretty obvious what he did.

Black*Star looks extremely confused and then raises his arms and starts to chuckle from way down in his gut. "Tsubaki, you know how this stuff works, right? I mean for you to be pregnant we would have had to have sex!"

Tsubaki rises from the chair and yanks the crutches from his hand her face wearing what truly could be described as a look that could kill. As she positions the crutches under her armpits she says to him, "Black*Star, I know how babies get made, but I guess you don't because you seem to think I couldn't become pregnant without your help."

"You couldn't!" Oh, my God…he is so dumb. I know Black*Star can be dense, but he's so blindsided by this he doesn't even get what she is telling him.

"Let me spell it out for you," she says angrily. "I am pregnant. I had sex. It just wasn't with _you_. It's only hard for an egomaniac like _you_ to figure out!"

"Are you telling me someone snuck in under my watch and got my woman pregnant?"

Tsubaki's nostril's flare with anger and I half expect her to switch into her weapon form and clobber him. "Black*Star I may be your weapon but I am _not_ your property and I am most certainly _not_ your 'woman'." She turns her head to address Lord Death. "I'm sorry, Lord Death, but you are going to need to reassign me. I want to work with a different meister." And with that she heads out of the meeting under the guilletin arches at an amazingly fast pace for a person on crutches.

The shocked silence hanging over the room is abruptly interrupted by Kid.

"Father," he scolds. "What were you thinking? She hasn't told people yet!"

With those words everyone's heads whirl toward Kid, who is standing with one of his partners seated on either side of him in a perfectly symmetrical grouping.

"What's everyone looking at me for?" the young reaper asks with bewilderment.

"Why you little piece of shit! How could you knock up Tsubaki! I'll kill you, you son-of-a-bitch," Black*Star screams as he runs across the Death Room toward Kid.

Chaos erupts in the meeting as Maka and I attempt to hold Black*Star back from attacking Kid while Liz and Patti step in front of their meister protectively. They're yelling and we're yelling and everyone is trying to do anything they can to get Black*Star to calm the fuck down.

Regardless of how bad Kid's statement a moment ago may have sounded I know there is no way Kid has been sleeping with Tsubaki. Didn't he and I just have a discussion the other day about his lack of a love life?

"Back off Black*Star, Kid's not the father," Liz says staring at Black*Star threateningly.

"Black*Star, don't lose your cool, man!" I speak directly into his ear as he attempts to shake Maka and me off him.

"Yeah, you moron, Kid would never do something like that," Patti squeaks and turns to gaze at her meister affectionately. "Kid's a gentleman."

"Then why's he know? How come _he_ knows and I don't?" Black*Star snarls.

"Maybe because you're an ass," I offer and Maka hits me with her free hand.

"I was trying to be helpful," I tell her.

She frowns at me, "No you weren't." I grin. No, I wasn't and I _should_ be serious but Black*Star is being such a jack ass that I couldn't help myself, besides someone needs to try to have a sense of humor about all of this, right?

From behind his partners, Kid explains, "I have Soul Perception, you idiot. Maka, my father, and I couldn't _not_ know. Our Soul Perception is so advanced that we have the ability to see the baby's soul. I'm sorry. My father didn't know she hadn't told you."

Black*Star stops fighting against the restraint from Maka and me. "It has a soul?" he asks suddenly much more calm.

"It's not fully formed yet," explains Maka. "But there's a little hazy dot floating in its mother's belly that will eventually become a full-fledged soul."

Black*Star's shoulders slump and he throws me and Maka off of him and we each go flying backwards in opposite directions. "Well, if it wasn't Kid then who was it?" His eyes scan the room and come to rest on me and I shake my head frantically. Thankfully, he believes me and comes to stand next to me.

"What the fuck?" he says vigorously rubbing his hands through his hair. This whole thing is a little too daytime soapish for me, but Black*Star and Tsubaki are my friends so I figure as much as I'd like to pretend none of this is happening I can't. I care about both of them so by default I am involved whether I like it or not.

"Come on, Black*Star, let's go get some air."


	21. Chapter 21: Hard to Hear

Chapter 21: Hard to Hear; The Creation of a Soul?

I practically have to take Black*Star's hand to lead him out of the Death Room, he's so stunned by Tsubaki's news that it's as though he has been hit with one of those special attacks that make you get all confused. It's hard to see my friend like this. Yes, he is an egomaniac and a male chauvinist and it's a mystery to all of us how Tsubaki has put up with him thus far, but I really feel for him. I wish this were a video game so he could get a do-over.

There's so much about all this that seems unreal. We're not kids anymore, but we are about as far away from being ready to have kids as you can be. I haven't even seriously thought about whether I even want to have kids and one of my friends is going to have a baby? The whole thing is freaking me out. I feel like I need to buy every condom in Death City to protect myself from this horror. I'm probably going to have heart palpations the next time I'm messing around with Maka and they aren't going to be the good kind. Having a baby is so permanent…like Hiro's legs…at the DWMA we aren't good at dealing with things where you don't get second chances.

I take Black*Star to the gym and grab the basketball that is always under Professor Boomer's desk ready for use by any student needing to let off some steam. I dribble out to the court and throw the ball at Black*Star who almost misses catching it because he's so out of it. He takes the ball and shouts, but his brain is clearly not in the game as the ball hits the rim and bounces back toward him and he doesn't go after it. I run over and grab it and intend to shout it towards him but he abruptly turns away shaking his head, "I don't get it, Soul. I thought we were happy."

I can't help myself; I burst out laughing totally messing up the trajectory of the ball. "Dude, she's your partner not your wife!" We take turns shooting, not playing a game, but keeping ourselves busy while talking.

He looks at me with shock. "What do you mean? We're partners. We're meant to be together. That's how it works. It'd be like you or Maka going off with someone else. It's not supposed to happen." Oh, I am _super_ glad that Maka and I kept our happy news private because having us _finally_ become an official "item" might reinforce Black*Star's delusion that Tsubaki is automatically his lover simply because she's his partner.

"Black*Star, quit being stupid. Being partners doesn't mean you can't date or fool around with whoever you want. Maka and I have always been free to do whatever." Until today of course, when the ethereal "Property of Soul Eater" sign went around Maka's neck and my blood pressure lowered by twenty points, but nothing is going to make me admit that to him.

"Yeah, right! You throw a _fit_ any time another guy hits on her. I saw you go all scythe-arm behind her back when Akira was coming on to her that one day at lunch."

I make a basket from the three point line but he doesn't even notice. "I admit it…I've intimidated the competition, but you're assuming you've already won."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ugh! Am I really going to be forced to have this conversation? We play basketball and video games together. We don't talk about _feelings_. That's what I do with Maka. Maybe I can get Maka to talk to him. They like to fight with each other and that way _she_ can be the one to tell him how calling Tsubaki "his woman" made him look like a troglodyte in front of the entire DWMA.

But, unfortunately, Maka is not here and I am. I sigh, besides maybe it will be easier to hear some of this from someone who has been in his shoes…sort of in his shoes. I mean, I love my partner, but I'm not stupid like he is. I'm stupid in my own special way.

"You haven't asked Tsubaki to marry you have you?"

"No."

"Have you two made any kind of promise…agreement… pact… vow… to that effect?" I think of as many synonyms for the word "promise" as I can from the vocabulary lessons Maka bought me.

"No."

"Yet you called her 'your woman' in front of everybody, like she's a piece of property. Black*Star, _I_ was offended and I'm a _dude_. It's not cool to treat her like that and you came off like a damn meister chauvinist. Demon weapons are _people_ not tools."

"But, she _is_ my woman. She takes care of me and keeps me company and cooks for me and stuff. I need somebody and Tsubaki makes sure this soon-to-be-god gets three square meals a day and gets to have fun and-"

He sings her praises to me yet he treats her like that in front of everyone else? What a fucking moron. I'm definitely going to have to teach him this lesson myself man to man.

"Have you ever thanked her?"

Black*Star is silent and I take that as a no.

"Look, I understand feeling hurt because you didn't know she was seeing someone, as partners you kind of expect to know stuff like that about each other, but that doesn't mean you don't owe her a _huge _apology."

"Great," he says sarcastically. "She's the one who breaks up our partnership by getting knocked up and _I'm_ supposed to apologize? That's bullshit. I'm not even the dumb one who had sex without a rubber."

"She went out with some dude and didn't tell you. Big fuckin' deal, man. So your heart is broken! Get over it. She's your friend and she's going to be having a fucking _baby_. She needs your support right now. Quit bein' a douche. It's not cool. I know you care about her."

"So, you wouldn't be mad if Maka had done the same thing to you?"

"That's just it! Tsubaki didn't _do_ anything to _you_. This isn't about you. Black*Star, you are so full of yourself and how this screws up your plans. Well, you know what? Before I left town she showed up at our apartment bawling- her entire world is falling apart and you're more worried about getting the glory of great combat and having someone to cook meals for you. Who's fucking going to take care of her? I'm no expert on the subject but I think being pregnant is supposed to be a really big deal. Like doesn't she need help or something?"

He grunts at me. "You into her now, too?"

I groan because he successfully steals the ball from me and because he's so damn dense I can hardly believe it. "This is about her. Be her friend," I tell him.

"Easy for you to say. Everything you do for Maka is because you want to sleep with her."

"That is not true. I do stuff because I'm her partner and her friend. I care about her."

"And you have the fuckin' hots for her," he says to me emphatically.

"Yes! I have the hots for Maka, but I guarantee you I would never ditch her if something like this happened."

"I didn't ditch Tsubaki and you know it. She ditched me. You heard her. _She_ asked to be reassigned."

"She might need some space for a while, but just because she's temporarily working with someone else doesn't mean you should give up on the friendship you guys have. Black*Star, you're a better friend than this and we both know it. You're just mad because you know she was a virgin and you thought you were gonna make it with her first-"

"What are you talkin' '_first_'? I'm supposed to be her one and only. _Ever_." Oh, wow that's super realistic.

How do I explain to him that none of us know if she _has _or has _ever _had romantic feelings for him? I think he has mistaken her constant companionship as a signal she wants him because most people can't hang around him that much because of what an annoying prick he can be.

"OK, Soul, if you're so damn smart about women and the meister/weapon relationship, you tell me what you would do if Maka came home and said she got knocked up by some dude you didn't even know. You telling me you'd just sit there and talk to her all patient and nice?" He says mockingly and tosses the ball at me aggressively.

"Yes," I say without hesitation while fumbling for the ball. He quirks his eyebrow, questioning the truthfulness of my answer. "And then when she wasn't around I would drink myself into a stupor and probably stay in bed for days feeling sorry for myself," I add.

"See? " He says feeling vindicated.

"And then I'd try to learn more about the guy and if he was cool I'd do whatever I had to do to learn to live with her choice, because I wouldn't want to lose her from my life completely."

"You sure you're not gay?"

I roll my eyes. I hate it when he makes gay jokes. It's so not cool.

"You know what I'd tell Maka if she did this to you? I'd ask her what the fuck she was doin' sleeping with some dude who wasn't you, because you're so awesome."

I lean my head back and laugh. OK, now I remember why I love Black*Star, he _totally_ feeds my ego. "Sorry, dude but there is _no way_ in hell I'm scolding Tsubaki for sleeping with some dude. I know you've wanted her since the moment you laid eyes on her, but her love life's none of my business."

"Then what the fuck are you doing lecturing me for?"

"I said her _love life_ is none of my business. Being a shitty friend is totally my business cause-"

"Don't go all Hallmark on me, Soul. Fuck, what has Maka done to you? You are so damn whipped."

"Thanks man, I appreciate that. 'Cause the high points of my day have been standing here talking to you about feelings and holding you back from throttling Kid for something he didn't even do."

Black*Star stops with the ball under his arm. "There is no way you mean half the pansy-ass shit coming out of your trap right now. Speaking of pansy ass… whaddup, Kid?"

Kid has entered the gym and approaches us a half smile on his lips. "Nice to see you, too, Black*Star. You going to apologize for jumping to the _crazy_ conclusion that I dated and laid Tsubaki behind your back?"

"In his defense it did sound kind of bad what you said," I admit.

The reaper rolls his eyes. "Yes, well, it wasn't as big a faux pas as my father's. I can't believe he announced to everyone Tsubaki was pregnant like that. I feel so sorry for her."

"So, I take it you don't know who the father is?" I say.

"No, in fact it wasn't even Tsubaki who talked to me. Maka told me that Tsubaki wanted my discretion as I would probably stumble upon the truth at some point very soon."

Black*Star hangs his head and mumbles, "Dude, I'm sorry about earlier. I know you would never date Tsubaki."

"Why do you say that?" Kid says. "I might decide I want to. Knowing that everyone thought she would be into me is a great ego boost and she's so gorgeous and thoughtful and-"

"You wouldn't," Black*Star growls.

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot she's 'your woman'," Kid says teasing him.

"You call Patti and Liz 'your ladies' all the time!"

"Yes, because they are my _ladies_…and my companions, but I don't require them to be in some kind of romantic entanglement with me. They are simply my weapons and my friends."

"Oh, no! I'm not going to let you lecture me, too," Black*Star complains.

"Oh, good! Thank you, Soul, for having laid the ground work for me to expound upon all the reasons why Black*Star owes Tsubaki an apology."

"You know what? Both of you guys fucking suck."

Kid smiles. "As do you, my friend, as do you. Now come with me and we'll go together to apologize to your friend, Tsubaki. Not your _woman_, your _**friend**_."

Black*Star grumbles as Kid takes him by the arm and leads him out of the gym. I follow behind after tossing the ball back under the desk all the while hoping that Black*Star doesn't somehow manage to dig himself an even deeper hole with the girl he wants to be with for the rest of his life.


	22. Chapter 22: Guilt, Pity and Shame

Chapter 22: Guilt, Pity and Shame; Wavelengths on a rollercoaster?

Kid tells us that we didn't miss much after we left the meeting, other than Lord Death rattling off more assignments and Joe complaining that he can't figure out how to get his favorite barista to come on assignment with him.

"I'm guessing Father will probably partner you with Harvar again since you two worked well together," he tells Black*Star.

Black*Star's lips curve downward in what I can only assume is supposed to be a manly version of a pout. "But, I'm supposed to be with Tssssuubbbakkkiiii." His whining grates on my nerves.

"Well maybe you still can be if you talk to her," Kid says. "She's in the courtyard with the girls and now that you've both had some time to think maybe you'll come up with a different solution."

I don't say anything because I'm not sure there's enough time in the world for Black*Star to get over the fact his partner is carrying some other guy's baby, but then again you never know every once in a while my hyper, over-the-top boisterous bro does something that surprises me. Like when Kim found that orphaned kitten that needed to be bottle fed and Black*Star took care of it for a whole day so she could have a break from the every four hour feedings or that time he snuck into Professor Boomer's office and filled the entire place with balloons…but the truth is he had Tsubaki's help both times. There's a lot that is different between the relationships each of us has with our respective partners, but both of us are better people thanks to them.

We slowly walk toward the courtyard talking, but never about our upcoming missions, the birdpeople, or the baby. That's all too heavy. Right now, it's all video games, basketball, and rap music.

We step outside and are hit by the warm, day Nevada air. It's hot today, but there is a nice breeze for once. It's not quite dusk yet, but it will be getting dark soon. Were I able to stop time I'd be happy to sit out here on a blanket snuggling till the sun went down, but I know that all of us have a lot to get done before we leave on our assignments tomorrow. Not that you could tell if by looking at us.

Patti and Liz are sitting on the grass facing a backless bench on which Tsubaki is stretched out on her back. Maka is standing near them and they seem to be talking fairly normally. Women must be more resilient than men because I'm still shaken up by this explosive news and Kid soul wave length reveals he is on edge perhaps out of fear that he will once again say something that will have Black*Star trying to jump him again.

As we walk up to the girls I sense a segregation that I'm not used to what with all the boys grouped together and all the girls together. I imagine many school dances are like this and perhaps that's why I don't enjoy that sort of thing. I don't like being disconnected from Maka in this way it makes it seem as though we've had another fight, when we should be totally OK with one another right now.

"Hey, Black*Star," Liz says cluing Tsubaki that we are here.

The group is curiously silent.

"Tsubaki," he starts.

"Oh, what do you want?" she asks him angrily holding a hand over her brow to shade her eyes from the sun.

"I wanted to make sure you're ok."

"I'm fine," she says without a hint of sarcasm. "Other than the ankle and having a baby on the way and having a partner who is a total and complete asshole I'm doing great."

"I'm sorry about earlier. I was really surprised. I didn't even know you had a boyfriend and it's not like you're easy or something. I mean, I've been trying to get in your pants for-"

Kid ever so subtly adjusts his stance so that he is standing on Black*Star's foot with his entire weight. The tactic works and the doofus quits talking. I realize now that perhaps we should have given our friend more coaching about _how_ exactly to apologize, because if Black*Star's not careful he could dig himself an even deeper hole than the one he's in.

"Black*Star, I know you think you're having a craptastic day," says Patti. "But, I think Tsubaki has you beat."

"Yeah, I know that," says Black*Star but then he says nothing more. He just stands there looking at his weapon as she lays there on the bench more or less ignoring him.

This all feels super awkward; I don't think any of us know what to do. I'm sure some people would say we should leave Tsubaki and her partner…er…ex-partner alone to talk, but I can only imagine that would lead to a yelling match rivaling the one Maka and I had today. Kid and I can't abandon him when he's as befuddled as he is.

Deciding to promote himself to mediator, Kid begins to ask questions that Black*Star would be asking if he weren't stupid as shit.

"Tsubaki," his voice is calm and gentle and lacking any judgment. "Do we know the father?"

"No," Tsubaki says still facing the sky rather than the rest of us. "You guys don't know him. He's from my village. We weren't close or anything, but our families have known each other for ages."

Kid nods and apologetically asks, "I know it's not our business…but I think Black*Star would like to know if you are in love with him?"

She is silent for a time and I wonder what kinds of thoughts she must be having. Are they about the baby? About this guy? About Black*Star? About her future? It's kind of terrifying to think about it all. She emits a squeak and then her body starts quaking. She sobs. "I thought I was… I trusted him-"

Black*Star walks up to her and gently takes her face in his hands so he can look directly into her eyes. His voice is the quietest I have ever heard it, "Tsubaki, did he make you?" This is a side of Black*Star I've never seen before and I wonder how often it makes an appearance for her. He's like a completely different person. She closes her eyes and shakes her head.

"No, it wasn't like that. A part of me wishes it had been so I wouldn't feel so stupid. He pressured me, but it was my choice. I don't know what came over me. What a fool I am! What was I thinking? I barely knew him."

Liz runs over and scoops Tsubaki's torso into her arms wrapping herself around her sobbing friend. "It's ok, Tsubaki. Trusting people doesn't mean you're stupid. It means you know how to be a friend."

Tsubaki grunts. "Yeah, some friend. I met Kyo, that's his name, the other day for lunch and I told him…about the baby." She pauses, her eyes staring off into the distance obviously reliving that difficult moment. "He seemed to take it OK but he kept saying that we didn't need to rush anything; that we had plenty of time to decide what to do and that seemed reasonable enough. Then when we were almost finished with lunch he excused himself to go to the bathroom. I waited twenty minutes." My heart begins to sink…I have a bad feeling about where this is going. "Twenty minutes! And then I went and stood outside the men's room until another guy was going in and I told him that I was waiting for Kyo to come out and could he check that he was OK because he'd been in there a long time and then the man came out and apologized because there wasn't anyone in the men's room. He had left me. I freaked out and ran out of the restaurant, but then I realized I hadn't paid, so I had to go back in."

Then in between sobs she says, "I…even… had to… pay…. for his… lunch."

I've heard stories about men doing some heartless things to women, but this is terrible. I'm ashamed to be male. I feel ashamed for having ever had a sexual thought about a girl. What a total and complete shithead! How can somebody do that? I'm sure it's scary as shit to hear you're going to be a dad, but how do you just walk away from someone you helped get into a bind like this?

I see her meister's muscles tensing as his jaw locks and nostrils flare as though he has been challenged by a witch. He moves one of his fists behind his back and it forms a fist so tight that the entire thing is white. He says nothing, but I suspect that it is because like me he is speechless. Are there words strong enough to describe our anger at this person who would be so careless with her? All I know is Black*Star may not get to murder this asshole because if I find him first I'll kill him myself.

"Star, I'm so sorry you found out like this. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. I couldn't have you disappointed in your partner."

"Tsubaki, don't you _dare_ say another negative word about yourself," Maka orders. "You are one of the sweetest, nicest people I have ever met and you treat everyone with patience and compassion. Please, promise me you will be compassionate to yourself. Stuff happens. One way or another it will all be OK."

I smile ever so slightly and let my eyes linger on my meister. She's gifted. I'm all thumbs when it comes to words, but she a musician of vernacular. I can stand here with my hands in my pockets saying nothing and she can read my soul and express what I wish I had the words to say. It's one of the things I love about her, perhaps never more than at this moment when I am so out of my element.

Liz rubs her hand up and down Tsubaki's arm. "Besides, Tsubaki it's not like you're the first girl to get taken in by some asshole. I don't think Kid has ever told you that when he first met me and Patti I was with this guy who I thought loved me, but at least once a week he'd go out and get hammered. Then he'd come home, and he was an angry drunk. Sometimes Patti would have to transform just so we could protect ourselves. He'd throw things and yell horrible things. Once he pushed me into a wall so hard I thought he broke my arm. We lived that way for a long time till we met Kid and he taught us that wasn't how people who care about one another act."

This is the first time I've ever heard Liz talk about her past, but somehow it makes perfect sense to me that Kid would chose for his partner a couple girls who deserved a far better life. I wonder if that ex-boyfriend of hers was the first victim of his now famous upside down, double-handed gun shots.

Tsubaki sits up and says, "Thanks, you're all so sweet… I've been so worried about what you'd think of me."

"_I _think its super cool that you have a little buddy," says Liz grinning and leaning toward our friend's belly. "Hello, little baby bud!"

"Well, I'm glad _someone's_ amused," Tsubaki says sweetly. "But, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know if I'm going to keep the baby or put it up for adoption," with each thing she lists her speech, normally slow and even, speeds up like a whirling amusement park ride and her soul wavelength becomes more lopsided. "And how I can manage going to school and missions and a baby and I'm so stressed out and what if I get really sick I mean I know some women who are fine for the whole time but I also know people who've been on bed rest for months or almost died having a baby and I'm scared."

Black*Star hops up and shoves Liz out of the way, stealing her spot on the bench next to his weapon. He wraps his arms around her in a tight hug. "Tsubaki, don't get yourself all worked up. You're smart you'll figure it out and I'll be here to help-"

"But, Star, you need to go and do your mission-"

"HMPFH!" He lets go of her and crosses his arms. "What do you take me for Tsubaki? Of course I'm not going to partner with someone else. Sounds to _me _like you need me now more than ever. You need a _real_ man who'll take care of you and that's what I'm gonna do."

She smiles in spite of the tears still glistening on her face. "That's really sweet, Star, but I think it's better for everyone if you and Harvar go on the mission and I stay behind and help out here. You're right, you need to be out there. Lord Death needs you where you can do the most good and that's not here. It's out there kicking ass. And right now I _need_ to be here. I'm starting to get really queasy. I've thrown up every night for the last week."

"At home?" her meister scratches his head. "How did I not hear you? Is my godly hearing failing me?"

She shakes her head and looks down at her feet guiltily. "No, I didn't want you to worry about me so after you turn in for the night; I go for a walk and throw up in the park… or the gutter somewhere…"

Black*Star's eyes about pop out of their sockets. "Tsubaki!" He scolds. "You know better than to go out alone late at night! I can't believe this. You shouldn't be having to deal with-"

"Don't you dare _pity_ me, Black*Star. This was my _choice_ and I will _not_ have you pitying me. I need some time and space and I will decide what to do and then I will let you know, but you need to go do your own thing for a while and go on living your life while I decide what _my_ future will be like." She rests her hand on his knee and very softly asks him, "Can you do that for me? Please, Star?"

"Errrr…ok…if that's what you want, but you're not going to do anything stupid while I'm away are you?"

"What could I do that would be stupider than this? It's not like I can get knocked up a second time," she says with a sad little laugh.

"I'm serious. You're my wom-_weapon_ and I need to know that you will take care of yourself while I'm gone. Otherwise I _need_ to be here. No more midnight walks alone. No more hiding stuff from your friends. You need to concentrate on making yourself feel better and doing whatever _you_ need to do so that you feel good so we can be together again. I don't like seeing you sad, Tsubaki."

"Thanks," Tsubaki says and her eyes tear up, but this time I can tell they aren't sad tears.

"Yeah, Tsubaki, anything you need. We'll do, ok?" I say and she nods.

"Don't worry guys, I'll be fine. I promise," says the mom-to-be. She stands up and each of us gives her a hug and Black*Star is smart enough not to try to kiss her or grab her ass when it's his turn, which is a relief to me since I feel responsible for him for some weird reason.

Then she takes a deep breath and smiles, "What are you all standing around for? You have missions to prepare for! Go, make me proud! I have to go to the library and start investigating what they might have been trying to steal."

None of us move; we all linger there looking at her as she musters her strength to deal with all she has on her plate these days.

Shaking her head at us, she says, "Oh, good grief, I'm not dying…" For a moment she pauses as if the thought that a new life is coming into the world as a result of this heartache has just hit her. "Quite the opposite…so, get going or I'll go kusarigama on you!"


	23. Chapter 23: What Every Man Wants

Chapter 23: What Every Man Wants; Maka Misbehaves?

I feel an entire world away from the worries I had when I woke up at Isabel's house this morning. I can't help grinning when I think that tomorrow I will get to wake up knowing that my meister is in love with me. Despite all the bad stuff that has happened today it still feels as though a weight has been lifted off of me. No more worries about spending my life hopelessly devoted to a girl who only likes me as a brother. Of course, I still must be careful or I could lose her as a friend, but I don't think that could ever happen to Maka and me. I heard something one time that said lovers were one soul living in two bodies…and while I know that's a bunch of hooey I do feel like we have a very special bond.

As we head for home, Maka holds my hand, which is nothing new but somehow now it means a lot more because I know why she's doing it. She loves me! I am so damn lucky! Oh, I can hardly wait to get her home and-

"Oh, no!" I suddenly stop walking and shout.

"What?" Maka asks from her spot now a step ahead of me.

"Sorry, I forgot. I left Brunnie by the main staircase. I gotta go back and get her." I guess I'm too in my head right now to be thinking about what I actually need to be. Oops!

"Wow, you must be stressed out." Maka says playfully. "What kind of father forgets their child?" She teases me endlessly about my obsession with our bike. She claims that it isn't normal to carry a photo of your motorcycle in your wallet, but she has no facts to back her up on that.

"I'll meet you back at the apartment," I say starting to dash back.

"Naw, I'll come with you. I could use a ride. It's been awhile."

As the front staircase comes into view I feel my stomach getting tied in knots. There's caution tape up around areas where chunks of the walls of the staircase have been blasted off and Brunnie isn't visible.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, fuck no!" I run to where I parked her and find her covered by a pile of rubble.

I run my hands through my hair in anguish and turn away sickened by the sight. "Shit, shit, shit…" I'm overwhelmed. Oh, Death, what am I going to find under there?

"Damn, shit, fuck…" I mutter as I take in the devastation.

Maka reaches me and takes in the scene. "Soul, cussing isn't going to help," she says leaning over and heaving a good size rock off of where I'm guessing the rear wheel is.

I was counting on us using the bike on this assignment what are we going to do without it? I'm spoiled. I can't go back to walking! Shinigami, this sucks!

"You gonna help or is unburying our bike a meister job?" she teases as she picks up another sizable chuck of stairwell.

"Oh, yeah, sorry…" I say setting to work.

"Brunnie really is your baby isn't she?"

"Yup. The best kind-no midnight feedings, no dirty diapers, no wailing,"

"I dunno when her brakes were going out I think that was worse than a baby crying."

That was pretty bad. For three days Brunnie was making this high pitch squeak every time we needed to use the brakes. Fortunately, with me at the helm brakes don't get applied very often.

It's hard work uncovering her because we can't tell what might be crushed or tangled amongst the junk on top of her. Maka sits down for a moment to catch her breath, sweat pooling on her forehead. "This isn't even a legal parking spot. Why the heck did you park her here?"

I look at her. Has she already forgotten the chaos when I got here?

"I was in a bit of a hurry. I had a meister to protect."

"Oh, sorry," she turns a bit red being reminded that I was probably more or less in a state of panic when I dumped Brunnie.

"No prob," I say not taking my eyes off the bike. "I cannot believe no one noticed her when they were putting up the caution tape. They need to be more observant. She could have been another bomb or something."

Maka says nothing but gets back up and starts working on a part near the seat.

Once uncovered we find that Brunhilde is battered, but more or less intact. The seat cushion has gotten ripped and she dented all to shit, but the only thing I think that will prevent us form using her is the rear wheel. It's bent super badly.

"What's this?" Maka runs her hand over the patch where Tommy fixed the leak.

"She had a leak in the gas tank. I got this guy to patch her. He asked me if he needed to make her look pretty and I said not to worry scars add character, but I think she's got more than enough character now." She's a wreck. I sit down. "Ugh!"

"I don't think it's that bad. The mechanisms seem intact…"

"Yeah, but what the fuck can we do about that wheel?"

"We could bang it back into shape."

"She's not a bicycle, Maka. She's gonna need some work."

"I have an idea."

We walk up to the biker bar, The Rolling Rage, park Brunnie out front, and walk in.

I try to look like it isn't totally odd to have a couple teenagers wander it. In Death City, the police department tolerates the DWMA students entering bars, but they get a little testy with us when we actually drink. Therefore, DWMA students have created their own underground network of establishments that will serve us or sell to us black market style. Everybody even Maka who gets so uptight about following the rules manages to let things slide on this one because you kind of need to unwind when your homework consists of risking your life to save the world from evil. That being said, I don't know of any DWMA students who come to this bar. It's pretty hardcore and most of the students want a livelier atmosphere with pool tables and karaoke and the like.

"What brings you in today?" says the bartender. He's probably in his thirties, muscular with tattoos of snakes all over his arms. They remind me of Medusa and I shudder a little recalling the witch's cruel nature. "Something we can do for you?"

I nod. "I got a problem with my bike. It got hit by a bunch of rubble-"

The guy appears to be talking to Maka and not to me as he ignores me completely as I speak. I take a look at Maka and see that she is looking especially attractive with her hair tousled and a layer of sweat, dirt, and grease on her. It's probably a look bikers are into. It doesn't matter to me. I hadn't really noticed beings as I'm into her no matter how's she's dressed.

"You fight those birds today?" The man asks her.

"Yes, she did. She took on seven of them all by herself," I reply. I'm never slow to brag about my meister's abilities because she's way too modest.

A number of very large guys raise their glasses in a little toast to her and then return to staring into their drinks.

"Well," she explains. "I was only alone for a little while. Then Soul came and helped."

"Which one of you's the meister?" The bartender says waggling his finger back and forth between us.

"I am," she says with pride.

He closes his eyes and I fear that he is having some kind of S &amp; M fantasy. He opens his eyes and scans me up and down and frowns. I must not fit his image of someone worthy to be with my meister.

"Anyway, I was hoping that maybe you could help us. We're leaving on assignment tomorrow and our motorcycle's rear wheel got bent super bad. She was parked by the main staircase and-"

"You like bikes?" he leans forward and asks her.

Oh, Death, really? He's going to blatantly hit on her in front of me? _I'm right here, dude!_

"Yes, I do," she answers politely. "But I like them better when we can ride them. It saves us a lot of time on our assignments."

"How long you been in to motorcycles?"

"Well, really only since we…acquired this one. She's our baby."

"You got a name for her?"

"Brunhilde, like in Norse mythology. She was one of the Valkyries. The name roughly translates to 'armor' or 'protection' and 'battle'. It was Soul's idea. He likes classical music and Wagner's Ring Cycle is one of his favorites."

He glances my way for a millisecond and then is back to paying attention to Maka. "Well, that's good. All bikes gotta have names and its gotta be a woman's name. You get a better ride that way. They like it if you talk to 'em and love 'em." He says this slowly, as he strokes the bar with a rag but he's watching Maka in a way that makes me very uncomfortable. I'm not sure how much longer I am willing to stand here while this dude talks to my meister about his theories on 'riding.'

"I _love_ riding," Maka replies as though she hasn't caught the innuendo at all. "It's great to feel so much _power_ between my legs."

My jaw about hits the floor. Maka! Don't encourage this asshole.

"I bet you do," he says once again glancing my way as though he suspects I'm a limp dick. Oh, fuck you, asshole. I would totally beat the crap out of you if I wasn't desperate to get my bike fixed. I grumble. I haven't been Maka's boyfriend for a full twenty-four hours yet and she's already having to whore herself out for our benefit. Wonderful.

"Well," he says stepping out from behind the counter and walking over to place a hand on her shoulder. "How 'bout you show me the problem and maybe me and some of my buddies can pull an all-nighter and get her fixed up for yah."

"Oh, that would be wonderful. I'd really appreciate it." Maka smiles and turns to lead him outside to take a look at the bike and the bartender finally acknowledges me with a curt, "You can wait here." I don't. Fuck that. I'm not letting him alone with her. This is ridiculous; he's probably older than her dad.

He gives Brunnie a once-over and whistles, "Woowee, you weren't kidding when you said that wheel was messed up."

"Is it repairable?" she asks.

"It's repairable. When you say you gotta leave on this mission?"

"_In the morning_," I say ignoring the fact he was clearly asking Maka and not me.

"Well, we'll get her fixed for ya. It'll be done tomorrow morning."

"Oh, thank you so much. What can I ever do to repay you?" Maka gushes and I cringe. I half expect him to unzip his pants right here and now. I feel dirty.

"Nothin', you kids worked hard today. I'm sure things would have been a lot worse without all the meisters out there."

Oh, and he's a meister chauvinist. I might have known. I _hate_ people like that. The weapon is just some damn tool, disposable, right? What an asshole and I'll bet you anything he thinks I'm gay because I'm a dude who is a weapon and I like classical music.

"Thanks so much. We'll be here at eight. That isn't too early is it?"

"Naw," he replies leering at her. "Whatever you need, baby doll."

We walk away and I swear I can feel his eyes watching us. I'm sure they are fixed on Maka's cute ass. I feel like puking. Between having to stand by while that guy flirted with Maka to seeing Brunnie's battered body, I'm really not feeling good.

"Was that entirely necessary?" I ask her when we've gotten out of ear shot.

"What?" she asks feigning innocence.

I make quote marks in the air with my hands and make a girly voice, "'I like feeling power between my legs.'"

"It worked didn't it?"

"Yeah, a little too well. I think you just filled his spank bank."

"Oh, I doubt that. You're so sensitive, Soul. You forget that just because you're hot for me doesn't mean every other guy I meet is trying to get into my pants."

"Yes, they are. _Every_ guy is always trying to get in to every girl's pants. That's how it works, Maka. You can deny it all you want, but I'm a guy; I know."

She shakes her head. "Maybe if I were some super model or something, but I'm very average."

I take her hand and pull her toward me, "There is nothing _average_ about you." I give her a kiss while pulling her close enough to me that she will know without a doubt just _how_ hot I am for her right now.

She moans happily. "Soul, wait till we get home."

"I'm trying…" I say trailing kisses down her neck. Oh, man I want to lay her down and screw her in every way imaginable…

"Hurry," she says running away from me in the direction of our place.

By the time we get home I am so turned on that I struggle to get the key in the lock. I open the door and we practically tumble in. She shuts the door behind us and locks _both _locks and then proceeds to jump me. She wraps her legs around me and her arms around my neck. Her lips lock onto mine. We are wild. My lips kiss any part of her they can find, unwilling to let go until I absolutely have to. She starts to rub her groin on mine and I start moaning. If she does that there is no way I'm going to be able to hold her. I lean against the wall for support while she's still wrapped around me. Her lips move from mine to my ear gently exploring every nook and crevice with her tongue.

"Maka…" I begin to say something but words seem unnecessary when I have the ability to show her with my body so I start allowing myself to buck my hips, thrusting myself towards her core. I want her so bad for so many reasons, but all I can think of right now is how badly I'd love to strip her naked, carry her to my bed, and pound her till she screams my name so loud the neighbors hear.

She breaks away from kissing my flesh, panting like she's run a marathon, but she's not spent. She's not even taking much of a break as I feel one of her hands starting to worm its way toward my waist. I slide down the wall to sit on the floor, never letting my lips leave hers. Now both of her hands are working to undo my belt and unbutton my pants. She unzips me and her right hand dives into my underwear squeezing me and stretching me out to my full length. God, it feels good to have some more room.

She takes a gander at me and whispers, "Soul, I can't believe how big and hard you are." She sounds concerned, "Is it from the Black Blood?"

I laugh. "No, it's all you, Maka." And then I whisper in her ear, "I want you super bad."

Sitting there making out with her I realize that we still have our jackets on and so I start shaking my arms to get mine off as it's _way_ too hot, plus it's a little ridiculous to have my coat on and my pants down. As soon as I get my coat off Maka is pulling my t-shirt off over my head. I toss it across the room paying no attention to where it lands.

With purpose she begins kissing my face, then my neck making her way down and the further down she goes the more I get tingles that go right to my hard on. I can't help but move in response to those gentle kisses and licks and the way one of her hands is caressing my most intimate areas. She kisses my naval and I am about in hysterics and then she follows it up by kissing the head of my cock. I shiver. She brings her tongue to my base and runs her tongue down my length and then repeats the route with kisses. I'm watching her, totally blown away by how sexy she is. She's got to be nervous, but she doesn't seem it at all.

She pulls me into her mouth and I am met with the sensation of plunging into some place warm and wet and the shock of being inside her. I don't dare move I just sit there letting her set the pace and do whatever she wants. She gently pulls me in and out of her mouth and the more she does it the more easily I'm gliding in and out. I can feel precum leaking from my tip as she pulls out till only my head is in her mouth and she begins to run her tongue around the crevice between the head and the shaft. She finds an incredibly sensitive spot and I buck without meaning.

"Sorry!" I exclaim, but all she does is smile, as much as one can manage to grin with a dick in their mouth. While she goes to town on me her emerald eyes meet mine and it is then that I start to lose my cool and feel myself coming undone.

"Oh, you are so hot!" I moan and she is. She is every fantasy I've ever had wrapped into one. She's smart and funny and apparently not appalled by oral sex. Her tongue is encircling me over and over again while her hands slide my flesh back and forth and back and forth. Much more of this and I am going to be past the point of no return.

"Maaakkkaaa," I manage to croak out. "I'm gonna. You should stop or let me…"

She makes no move to release me but begins to do everything with increased vigor. Oh, Death! I am going to cum like I have never cum before. I'm starting to feel it and I buck forward grunting in the most primal of manners. At any moment I expect her to let go of me, to release me from the long hot kiss she has engulfed me in yet her body continues to move with the rhythm of mine. Perfectly in sync, she refuses to let up or let go of me. I want to view this moment, but I can't because when it hits me, my head tips back and my entire body arches so that my cock is higher than anything else and still she is holding it, licking it, sucking it in as I draw back one last time and then like the wild recoil of a shotgun plunge further into her mouth spurting my juice into her.

Jolts of energy course through my body as I begin to relax, but she is still making love to me, softly kissing me until I am settled down and comfortable and only then does she release me, bringing her face to mine.

"Are you ok?"

I nod. I'm better than OK. I'm fucking fabulous. That was the most amazing orgasm of my life. I didn't know that _anything_ could feel that good. I want to make sure she's alright, but I don't have words yet. I only have use of my eyes which are taking her in, seeing how her lips are shiny from bodily fluids and how her eyes are sparkling with the knowledge that she can make me feel good.

Instead of talking, I lazily wrap an arm around her and pull her toward me to snuggle, kissing the top of her head. Her breath contains the faintest hints of my aroma and I can't imagine anything hotter.

We lay there for a while before she scolds herself. "Shinigami, we had better get some stuff done."

I nod, but I don't let her escape my arms before I give her one more long, passionate kiss.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," she says.

I nod. I don't think I have the strength to stand up yet and I tell her so. She grins sheepishly and runs off before I can see her blush. She's so silly. One moment a sex kitten, the next the sweet bookworm I've known for what feels like forever, blushing at the mere thought that a boy might desire her. That's my girl.

Mentally, I add "Giving Head" to the mental list I keep of my meister's abilities, but this one will be our little secret. I can only imagine the horror on Professor Stein's face were I to write it down on the evaluations Maka and I have to do on each other twice a year. "Maka Albarn, Soul Detection, Mastered-3 star, Survival Skills, Intermediate- 2 star, Fallatio, Proficient- 4 stars." I grin.

Oh, Maka, you're the coolest person I know.


	24. Chapter 24: Bad Liars

**Risenfromash: ** While on a hike with friends I realized that scat is animal poop and not regurgitated food…so the name of one of the Avian Flu's attacks makes no sense. Sigh…oops! I think I may need to change it to Pellet Pummel…but pellet just isn't as exciting sounding.

**Chapter 24: Bad Liars; All My Bags are Packed?**

Finally, I regain functioning of my physical form and pull myself up, dust myself off, put everything back in my pants that normally resides there, and start packing. We have a shit-ton of stuff to get done, but it takes us a lot less time than it used to. When we first started going out on these overnight assignments we would take a ton of crap with us we didn't end up using, but now we are more confident and know that as long as we have our essentials we'll do ok.

Maka emerges from her room with her backpack and sets it by the door where we pile up our supplies as we ready ourselves for going on assignment. I walk over with a pile of rations and lift her bag.

"Un-uh," I say sensing it is heavy. "We've gone over this. Three paperbacks or one hardback. No more."

Maka pops her head out from her room and replies, "Yup, that's what I did, exactly."

She's such a bad liar. She's not making eye contact. If we are ever in a pinch and need to lie, it better not be her doing it or our goose will be cooked.

"No, you didn't. I can tell. You want me to open it up and check or you gonna fix it?"

She knows better. She knows our rules.

I hear an exasperated sigh as she comes running out of her bedroom. "But, Soul, it's a _series_! And what if I finish one and don't have the next? I'll be dying-"

I shake my head. I am unsympathetic to her plight. Were it not for this she would have us lugging around the entire Library of Congress. "Should have bought 'em in paperback."

She makes a pouty face. "But, Soul…" She's trying to get me to give in, but I'm really a heartless bastard. She just doesn't realize that for some reason.

"Nope, you're breaking our rule. Meister Maka Albarn, what are _your_ essentials?"

She rattles off a list that includes what Professor Stein would agree are essentials, plus a bar of her favorite soup, one hardback _or_ three paperback books, her special reading lamp thing, and three pairs of slipper socks.

My "special" essentials are my music player and headphones, extra heavy duty sunscreen cause I burn like a mo'fo', and chocolate which I dowel out to my meister as a treat whenever I notice her starting to get bitchy.

I have to admit this must be a really good book series because normally she doesn't put up such a fight. I walk over and put my hands around her waist and pull her close to me. "How 'bout you save them for when we're back and pick something else then. Because I don't think we're gonna have much down time anyway."

"I know, but we have that long train ride."

I lean in to her ear and, in the best attempt at a seductive voice I can muster, whisper, "Besides Maka, I'm going to be keeping you busy." Then I follow up by slowly and sensually kissing her under her ear. She lets out a little embarrassed "eep" grabs her backpack and runs back into her room.

I laugh. This is going to be so much fun! We've got an evil doer to thwart, ground to cover, and I finally have the green light to do all the things I have been dreaming about!

_Knock, knock._ Somebody's at the door. "'Ello," I say swinging the door open widely.

"Hey, Marie." She's never been to our place before.

"Hi, Soul!" She says warmly. "Since you and Maka left the meeting early you didn't get your briefing packet. So I brought it over."

"Oh, sweet. Thanks for saving us the trip." I take the manila envelope from her hands expecting her to immediately depart, but she continues to stand in the doorway. I guess she must have more to say or something. I try not to appear annoyed about this even though I am. I'm exhausted and I'm _busy_. I have a meister trying to sneak more than her allotted number of books in her bag and I can't figure out where the fuck she stuck our other box of rations. I've checked the kitchen cupboards and the shelf above the washer…

"You want a cup of tea or something?" I ask trying to be polite, even though I'm hoping she will decline.

"Oh, that'd be wonderful!" Marie bustles in and seats herself on our sofa while I turn the kettle on. "You sure you're gonna be ok on this mission? I don't want you guys to get hurt."

"Aw! We're not little kids anymore. Besides, Maka and I have taken on way worse than Falconer. What's your assignment?"

"I'm in charge of advising the threesome that will be investigating why Avian Flu was trying to infiltrate the library. That's the group Tsubaki is in. She and Hiro will be working with Ox."

"They think Hiro is actually going to be able to help? Do they expect him to make that quick a recovery?"

"Well, _no_, but Frank feels that it would be good for him to continue to exercise his mind. Keep him focused on recovery and not self-pity. The _poor, poor_ thing. I can't stand seeing him all alone so every time I go in there I snuggle up real close and hold him. He likes it."

I bet he does. The little perv! I'm sure he loves resting his head on Marie's built in pillows. I'll have to give him shit about it next time I visit him when the girls aren't around. Bet you anything he's gonna milk this for a while even if he does regain use of his legs.

I bring Marie a cup of tea, still puzzled as to why she is hanging out when we all have more important stuff we should be doing.

"Where's Maka?" Marie asks.

"In her room finishing packing," then in a loud voice that Maka is clear to hear I continue, "Her partner is making her redo it because she was not complying with DWMA standards."

"Like hell I wasn't!" she says marching out of her room hugging her backpack to her chest.

Maka greets Marie while she thrusts her bag into me. I take it and test its weight by dangling it.

"Much better. Thank you, meister," and I set it on the heap by the door.

"I just stopped by to drop off your mission packet," Marie tells Maka. "And I wanted to ask…is it true you can see souls even before they're born?"

"Yup," says Maka a huge grin on her face. "You want me to guess how far along you are?"

Fucking Shinigami! Marie is pregnant, too! I'm getting out of here before they start talking about breast feeding or something. I stomp into the kitchen and make a big show of opening every cupboard a second time in the search for the missing rations, but both women are ignoring me completely. Oh, sure have your little female chat, not like there's anything to get done before we have to get up at four in the morning to get on the bike before catching a train…

Maka runs over and sits next to Marie. "I sense a soul conceived in love…and…social…or…curious…maybe? It might be a meister. I can already sense that it is trying to reach out to other souls."

"Really?" Marie squeals. "Oh, I'm so happy, but Frank certainly isn't. He's been such a grump ever since I told him. You know what he said to me? He said, "I suppose this means we're in a relationship now." I mean what am I supposed to think about that? You don't think he still has some deep seeded desire for Medusa do you? I'd hate to think that the only reason he's not with her is because she's a witch. You know what I mean?"

Marie asks many questions but gives my meister little or no time to respond.

"And on top of all that he got all grouchy and refused to let me go on his mission with him. He's taking your dad instead which I think is completely wrong because I'm doing _just fine_, but you know Frank he doesn't listen to anyone."

"Oh, you know the Professor he isn't very good at saying what he's feeling. He's probably just freaking out."

"I think he's worried I'm going to want him to get married and he doesn't believe in it. Frank has all kinds of untraditional ideas and sometimes I don't know what to make of them. I guess I'm just a simpleton because all I've ever really wanted was to fall in love and have a family."

"Well, I'm really happy for you and I'm sure Professor Stein will come around."

Marie chats with Maka a little while longer and then apologizes for keeping her and takes off.

As soon as she's gone I turn to Maka. "What the fuck? She's having a baby, too?"

Maka shrugs, but she looks absolutely delighted. "Must be something in the water."

I point at her. "I don't know what the fuck that means, but whatever you do don't drink it. I'm not having my meister grounded because of something as stupid as having a baby."

Maka laughs. "Soul, don't you want to have kids someday?" This is a type of question that up until even a couple days ago I could have answered truthfully without fear of the repercussions, but now that Maka and I are officially an item this is a loaded question.

"Uh…I really don't know…" I admit. "I take it you want them." This is a heavier conversation then I want to have eighteen hours into our relationship.

She shrugs. "I don't know, but I think Professor Stein is going to be such a great dad! Don't you?"

"If he doesn't dissect it."

She whacks me on the arm. "Why do you always have to see the bad in everything?"

"'Cause it's funny."

Maka and I continue in our preparations and she shows me that the extra ratios where on the bookshelf next to our textbooks from last year. I don't know _why_ I didn't think to look there, silly me. And finally we are done. Our bags are packed, we've reviewed our packet from Lord Death, and we are ready to depart before the sun is up tomorrow.

I'm heading out of the bathroom and just about to say goodnight to Maka when I hear a pounding at the door.

"What the fuck? When did this become Grand Central Station?" Shouting at the door I say, "We don't want any! Go away!"

"It's Black*Star!" My friend shouts back with his usual level of intensity.

I groan. What now? "Come on in. It's open."

Black*Star jumps over our pile of supplies and says, "So, you hear who they partnered Tsubaki up with?"

"Yeah, Hiro and Ox . Marie called it a '_threesome_'." We both snicker. Marie is so innocent. It's hard to believe she's even had sex. I can't believe Professor Stein goes for her type. She's so…domesticated.

"Yeah, well I know Ox says he's really into Kim, but what else do you know about him? I know you investigate all the guys at school to know who you can trust Maka with-"

I wave my hands wildly and mouth the words, "Shut the fuck up!" to him but he continues.

"Maybe I should paralyze him from the waist down, too, just to be on the safe side." I fear he is seriously contemplating it so I try to reassure him.

"Dude, I know you're nervous, but Tsubaki will be fine."

"I'm not so sure. Last time Black*Star let her out of his sight she came home with a bun in the oven."

I sigh. I am tired of his drama and babies and bombs and meetings without chairs. I want to go the fuck to bed and fucking _sleep_. "Don't you have something you need to be doing?" I ask him. "Like sleeping? Packing? Or getting Harvar's opinion on all this?"

"Naw. I'm fine," he says making himself comfortable on our couch. Great, he's not taking the hint.

"Maka," he shouts from the couch. "Can you get me a soda?"

Maka appears from her room in her nightgown and glares at me. It's a warning to me that if Black*Star doesn't quit being…the way that he is…that she might smack him over the head with a book. She is _also_ exhausted and ready to settle in for the night.

"How 'bout you take that soda for the road? Maka and I have gotta get to bed. We have a train we have to catch early."

Black*Star frowns. "I wish I was coming with you guys."

That feeling is _not_ mutual. I'm so glad that Maka and I are flying solo for this mission that it's not even funny.

I grab a can of soda from the fridge and smack it into the palm of his hand and try to shove him toward the door.

"You trying to get rid of me?" he asks.

"You're just _now_ figuring that out? Yes, Black*Star! I need to get some sleep and Maka does, too."

"Oh, alright. But if you hear anything scary about Ox you'll let me know right? Oh, and you know what else, that Kyo asshole skipped town. I asked around. Little fucker!"

"I'm sure he was terrified that you would kill him," I say placating him.

"You think so? I hope so! I hope that once he realized it was Black*Star's woman he was messing around with that he trembled in fear." He pauses. "Good luck. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Yeah, you, too, man."

And with great relief I shut the door and lock it. _I am dead tired._

I walk to Maka's doorway to say goodnight. "I'm gonna turn in. Ya need anything?"

"Nope. I think I'm good."

"Ok. Night. Love ya." I say and give her a kiss on the forehead before heading to my room and climbing into bed.

I hear a tapping at my door and with great resistance I drowsily come to. Oh, fucking god, it's not morning already is it?

"Soul?" I hear Maka's voice outside my door. I grab my alarm clock and struggle to get my brain cells to interpret the time from the placement of the hands on the clock face. Thankfully, it is not morning. I must have been out for about an hour so I still have plenty of time to get more rest.

"Yeah, what is it?" I ask.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." I sit up in bed. "Somethin' wrong, Maka?"

It's dark so I can't make out her features just her silhouette in the doorway.

"I was just wondering if it would be OK if I sleep with you in your bed tonight?"

I smile. She has chosen her words carefully to let me know this is not a sexual thing and even though it meant waking me up to ask she didn't just barge in and hop in bed with me because our rooms are our personal sanctuaries. We've slept together plenty of times: on the couch, while on missions, one time at Kid's place when we were all stayed the night, but we've never snuggled with one another in our beds. That was sort of off limits until now. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep our rooms personal retreats for ourselves, but I much rather have her in my arms than preserve my man cave.

I lift the blankets to welcome her into my bed. "Whatcha asking for?"

She slides under the blanket and I wrap my arms around her and spoon up next to her happy to have her company.

"Goodnight, Soul."

"Night, Maka."

And I am immediately dead to the world.


	25. Chapter 25: Befpre the Sun Rises

_**Chapter 25: Before the Sun Rises; Does Soul Have What it Takes?**_

My alarm clock starts doing its obnoxious little dance across my nightstand. I reach over to silence its daily seizure and whack Maka in the face in the process.

"Oh, God! I'm sorry! I forgot you were here…I mean I'm not used to-" Super suave, Soul.

Maka mumbles something and rolls over pulling the cover up over her head. Someone is not wanting to get up this morning. I beam. Maka is in my _bed_. I _like_ this. My whole body feels warm and alive and all I have to do to get hopelessly turned on is look at that lump of blankets with the knowledge that under there is my sexy meister attempting to catch a few more minutes of shuteye before we hit the road. It's funny how just thinking about it makes me high. Shinigami, I am so in love. It's almost embarrassing to be this excited. I'm never this excited about anything. Soul, get a handle on yourself remember you gotta stay cool, but I look around. There's no one here but me and my unconscious meister in my bed. My bed! I do a little pseudo-moon walk across the room because no one can see me so I can actually dance.

I'll let Maka sleep a little longer and then after my shower I'll come wake her up with a kiss. On the past, she's accused me of not having a romantic bone in my body. I'll show her!

Opening my bedroom door to head to the bathroom I almost trip on Blair in her four legged form as I strut out of my room. She's sitting _right_ outside my bedroom door swishing her tail back and forth.

"Well, well," she says flying into my room as though she's a lioness trying to take down a gazelle. She hops on the bed, sticks her front paws under the blanket and begins kneading my meister.

"So, how is _he_, Maka? I've wondered, you know? I mean, does albinism change anything down there? Come on! Spill! I want details. Size, length, positions!" So much for my plan of letting my meister get a few more minutes of rest.

"For Death's Sake, Blair, leave Maka alone. She's tired."

Blair smiles evilly and stretches her back with the flexibility only a feline can. "I bet she is. Were you a naughty boy and wore her out?"

Blair runs over to me changes into her human form, naked, of course and continues, "Cause I'm ready to start my turn any time." She bats her eyes at me and I groan. This is not funny. I don't have the time or energy to deal with her teasing.

"_Nothing_ happened, Blair." Maka mumbles as she rolls onto her back, her head emerging from beneath the covers.

"Ohhhh….poor, Soul. How disappointing for the both of you!" Blair coos at me knowing full well what Maka meant. "You know I heard about this herbal remedy that-"

Oh, great. That's all I need, Blair playing nurse to my nonexistence impotence. I decide to let Maka deal with our friend's warped sense of humor and I head into the bathroom cursing the day we welcomed that fur ball into our home.

When I come out of the shower I find that Maka has made a kettle of tea and Blair is back in cat form seated in the exact middle of our dining table.

I grab my cup of tea and bark at her to get off the table as Maka grabs a towel and heads into the bathroom. "That's gross, Blair. I don't go stick my bare ass where you eat your dinner."

Blair doesn't even pretend to listen to me. "So, are you and Maka boyfriend and girlfriend, now?"

I take an especially long sip of tea while I consider how best to answer this question. We had said that if we got asked point blank we wouldn't deny it, but neither of us really want people to know yet. It seems like people expect couples to act a certain way and if we're just meister and weapon we can do what we want without the constant scrutiny of the school newspaper's gossip writer, Maka's Dad, and Lord Death who seems overly involved with our love life.

"I don't think we like to use that terminology," I say.

"You aren't trying some stupid friends with benefits thing are you? Because that sort of arrangement would never work with you two."

"We're exclusive if that's what you're wondering. Which means you can stop pretending to come on to me."

"About time! I was beginning to wonder if those rumors about you and Kid were true."

I roll my eyes. "For the last time, it was a _dare_! For Shinigami's sake, there is nothing weird about two straight guys kissing when you're playing Truth or Dare. Everybody does stupid shit when they play that game." I will kill Patti. It's been _two fucking years_ and I still occasionally overhear people refer to me as Death the Kid's boyfriend. I swear some people read too much yaoi.

"You sure Kid is straight?" Blair asks.

"I dunno. I've never bothered to ask, because unlike you I'm not nosey about what people do in their bedrooms."

Blair swishes her tail and saunters across the table toward me. "I'm far less interested in what people do in their _bedrooms_ than what they do in dark alleys, on top of washing machines, or in _janitorial closets_."

"_Fuck_, how do _you_ know about that?"

"I hear things."

"Well, Maka and I would really appreciate it if you keep this to yourself. We'd like our privacy. You know how the kids at school get about things."

"Or how your future father-in-law gets."

I don't say anything. I know she's testing me. If I jump too quickly to say that we're not getting married just dating or messin' around she may assume I'm using Maka…

After a sizable pause, she continues. "Oh, I see. You _do_ like her an awful lot don't you?"

"_Duh_. You know how I feel about her."

Her oblong pupils stare at mine. "I thought I did. Till about a week ago when you broke her heart. You _ever_ hurt her like that again and I will cast a spell on you so terrible and cruel you'll wish you weren't born."

Even though Blair is threatening me I find it comforting to know that Maka has other people watching out for her. "Fair enough, but you don't need to worry. I won't be leaving again. I made a mistake."

"I'd like to believe you, Soul. I really would, but relationships are hard. Things can get very complicated."

"Is that why you reject any form of commitment and amuse yourself sleeping with sluts and causing nosebleeds in teenage boys?"

Her head tips down and she suddenly starts grooming one of her paws. "Yes." She actually sounds sad. God, I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I thought we were bickering like usual.

"Blair, I'm sorry," I rush to apologize. "I didn't mean anything by it. I swear, I was just joking around. I'm a dick. You know that."

She laughs, but it sounds hollow. "No, you aren't sweetie. That's just a stupid persona you put on so people don't think you give a shit when you do."

I contemplate this. If it is a façade, it's a subconscious thing.

She sighs. "You've got me pegged. You're actually very observant about people." She pauses, her gaze focused somewhere past me with the intensity only a cat can achieve. "Sometimes, I get so jealous of what you two have."

I set down my coffee cup and walk over to pet her behind her ears. "Blair, I know we give each other a lot of shit, but I hope you don't think I actually feel that way. You've got nothing to be ashamed of... and it's not my business to judge, anyway. Honestly, if I hadn't fallen for Maka I'd probably be doing the same thing…except not with teenage boys." I need to quit talking before this somehow fuels the rumors.

She transforms into human form and I give her a hug. She gives me a peck on the cheek. "I gotta get going. I'm meeting some hot toms over at the market. Be safe, kay?" She cautions me with a wink and I suspect she isn't meaning only with the mission.

After Maka finishes getting dressed we move quickly to get over to the motorcycle shop. The bar isn't normally open this early which is only a few hours after last call, but when we get there and knock at the door we find it immediately opened by the bartender we met yesterday.

"Well, hello lovely Miss Meister…and weapon. Come around back we got your Brunhilde back there."

Behind the bar is a garage with an accumulation of motorcycle carcasses that must have taken decades to accumulate. Metal blares out of the stereo and the walls are covered with posters of bikes and scantily clad chicks draped over motorcycles or running on beaches.

I notice the bartender appears to be wearing the same shirt as yesterday. I suspect he has not gone to bed yet. A couple other men and one woman clad in skin tight black leather are also in the garage though what exactly they are doing is unclear to me.

"Here she is. She ain't pretty, but she'll get you to the train station and beyond." Brunnie has a 'new' rear wheel and despite the fact that it's been salvaged from a totaled bike it's still in better shape than any of the rest of her. I walk up and run my hands over her. Instead of the smooth feel of steel she is rough from damage, but she still feels good to me. The bikers have taken some black duct tape with Death masks and used it to tape up the tear in the seat cushion.

"Nice," I say under my breath more to Brunnie than to anyone else in the garage.

"Thanks," Maka and I say in unison as though we'd planned it that way.

The bartender shakes his head. "You're an interesting pair. You been out on extended assignments before?"

Maka nods, "We've been to Eastern Europe and Italy and all over the place locally. We almost got sent to Africa once, but at the last minute they ended up sending a Death Scythe from Australia."

"I see." I wonder what he's contemplating. Then again maybe I don't want to know.

"Well, here you go," he hands a large paper sack to her. "We made you a special lunch."

"Oh, thank you so much! This really helps me and Soul out."

"Anytime!" He says as I follow Maka out of the garage door with Brunnie. The bartender leans into me and growls in a low whisper, "I hope you take better care of your partner than you do your bike, kid."

I smile. "It was a tough choice, but yesterday I chose her over the bike."

He chuckles. "That would be a tough choice." He pats me on the shoulder and stares deep into my eyes, "Take care of your girls."

Never before have I felt so much pressure to take care of Maka. It's weird because it's been my job for a long time. From day one as her weapon partner I've said I'd die if it meant keeping her safe and I've meant it, but something feels different now. Maybe it's psychological, maybe I feel even more responsible now that we've admitted our feelings or maybe it's residual guilt from the poor decisions I've made in the past, but whatever it is I'm feeling more stressed than I usually do prior to leaving town.

We ride to our apartment and Maka starts carrying our gear and equipment out of the apartment while I bungee cord it to Brunnie. Strapping stuff down is my job because the one time Maka did it we lost a bag that had half of our food and we both got really cranky from hunger, so henceforth she hauls the stuff to the bike and inventories to make sure nothing is forgotten and I figure out how to get it all secured to Brunnie.

"We got everything?" I ask after I think she's brought the last load.

She shakes her head.

"Great," I grumble sarcastically. "What's missing this time?"

She grins from ear to ear and pulls from behind her back my damn canteen. "You left it in the kitchen."

"Are you serious? I swear I put it in my backpack." I seriously can visualize myself doing it…or maybe that was yesterday after I got it…

"Nope, looks like you were in the process of filling it and got distracted. Maybe it was when Black*Star stopped by."

"Yes, let's blame him. It makes me feel better about myself," I joke wrapping my hands around her waist. "We ready?"

"Not yet," she says then presses her soft lips into mine. A wave of heat rises from my chest and everything else melts away. It's just the two of us and nothing else matters. I savoir this, wishing there was some way to preserve this moment, because something about Blair's words have scared me. Relationships _are_ hard and I'm an idiot. What kind of a chance do we have of making this work?

We reluctantly part our lips and I stand there staring into those beautiful green eyes of hers.

"Soul, why are you nervous?" she asks me and I don't know what to say.

"Do I seem nervous?"

"Yeah. Is it something to do with me or with us?" Now she sounds scared.

"No, course not. I'm just worried about Brunnie holding up. I don't know how much more she can take."

"It'll be ok," she assures me. "Soul, remember we're a team. It's not all on you."

The corner of my mouth turns up in a half-smile. "Thanks, Maka."

"No, problem!" She says hopping on the back of the bike eager to get going.

As I climb on the bike I tell her, "What I mean is…thanks for taking me back, Maka."

"Oh, Soul! I'll always take you back," she replies resting her head on my shoulder for a moment before she settles back into her usual resting spot with her hands on my waist. "I _do_ reserve the right to give you hell first, however."

"I'll keep that in mind, Crazy."

I give Brunhilde a little gas and am relieved to hear the familiar purr of the engine.

Maka raises her fist into the air and shouts, "Falconer, you bastard, here we come!" and with a rev of the engine we gun it out of DC.


	26. Chapter 26: Missions & Make Out Sessions

**Risenfromash: **After feeling like I was having a hard time bringing a bunch of my plot points together for this story I had a breakthrough this week and am delighted with the result. For being patient with the story you've all earned yourself some citrus and a demon soul, but not Soul cause he's Maka's. I've made sure of that

_**Chapter 26: Missions and Make out Sessions; Misshapen forms?**_

After we've left Death City behind us I set us on a path that should intersect with the NevaOrCali Railroad line that serves most of California, Nevada, and Southern Oregon. Maka suggests that we review what we know about Falconer and I agree. I was so tired by the time we got to delving into our packet from Lord Death that I'm not confident I retained much of what we learned.

"Sounds good." I try to organize my thoughts. "Well we know what he looks like."

"Right, over six foot, long hook-like nose, huge bird tattooed on his back so that the wings spread out over his shoulders."

"Possibly red hair."

"Or brown. There's differing reports."

"We also know he's a bit of a chicken shit or doesn't mind using his underlings as pawns, because we don't think he was present in Death City at the time of the attack."

"Unless he was well hidden or disguised," Maka adds.

"We don't know if he can fly, do we?"

"No, there are unconfirmed reports of him bragging about flight abilities, but he could be bluffing and we don't believe he has the ability to use the egg bombs that were dropped on DC."

"I didn't see any abilities or skill set included in the packet. Do we not have any clue about his attack style?"

"I guess not. It makes me nervous."

I laugh, "Don't worry, Maka. You know we're good at making things up as we go along."

I can't see her reaction because she's behind me and I need to keep my eyes on the seemingly unending expanse of desert in front of us, but I sense that she is nodding in agreement.

"The plan at this point is for us to enter California and head toward the redwoods where it is believed he has a hideout. It may be kept hidden by magical means similar to a Soul Protect but to obscure the detection of objects or locations. Falconer himself is not able to cast Soul Protect so I may be able to detect him even if we are unable to find his hideout."

"Sounds good. Anything else?"

"Not much…other than that we need to check in with Lord Death for our daily debrief every day at thirteen hundred hours."

"Maka…can I tell you something?"

"Sure. Anything."

I hesitate for a moment. Maybe it's silly…maybe it's better to keep my mouth shut, but it's just her and I here..."Maka, I love you."

She says nothing, but it doesn't make me insecure that she doesn't parrot the sentiment back to me. She is mission-focused right now and that's the way it should be. Instead, she squeezes me a little tighter and gives me a kiss on the back of my neck and that's more than enough to make me happy.

It takes us over an hour to get to the train depot, but once we get there we discover that our train has been delayed so we've got a couple hours to kill. Maka finds a spot on the floor to cozy up with her book while I turn Brunnie over to the train's stewards. She's in such atrocious shape they make me sign a waiver acknowledging that she was damaged prior to her being handed over to them. I grumble about it, but I sign it, give my baby a little pat on her duct taped seat cushion and find where Maka has parked herself with her one hardback book. When I walk up she doesn't take her eyes off her book but lifts it so that I can lie down, resting my head in her lap and take a nap. I put on my headphones and watch her reading for a while wondering what great adventure she is mentally on while her body is here in the train station. I can watch her eyes moving from word to word a world away from the present moment undoubtedly experiencing great adventures.

Maka taps me. I lower my headphones. I must have fallen asleep for a while.

"That's our train," she says pointing to a locomotive headed into the station. "We'll be boarding soon."

I head to the men's room and purchase a bagel for myself and then join her in the line waiting to board. She grabs my hand, "Is it weird that I'm really excited?"

"No. It's always fun to get out of DC," I say taking an enormous bite out of my bagel. Though I wonder what has her more excited, hunting down Avian Flu members or the chance for the two of us to get to be alone for a while away from the prying eyes of our friends and her dad. I'd ask her but I don't want her to feel like I have expectations or something. I don't really want this to be different than the other assignments we've been on by ourselves, but it is exciting knowing that I no longer have to feign indifference to her sexiness.

"I say if we find Falconer and finish him off quickly we take a couple extra days-"

"Soul, you know we can't do that. There is still a lot that will need to be done."

I grumble and take a big ole bite of bagel out of irritation. "Yeah, I know, but **we** don haf to do everthin'"

"Soul, don't talk with your mouth full."

I swallow the rubbery bread and scold her, "Then don't start an argument when I'm eating."

She rolls her eyes. "And here I worried that us…" she searched for a word "doing stuff might cause things to change between us."

I grin- bagel bits stuck between my teeth. "Nope, nothing you do will get me to behave myself and follow the rules" and I whack her on the ass.

She turns beat red and glares at me and I smirk evilly because I may have embarrassed her, but I didn't get hit in the head with a book which means that on some level she liked it. I set a goal to figure out on what level she liked it. Is it subconscious or does she know she likes it and she just doesn't want to admit it or will I have her begging for it soon enough? The possibilities are endless.

The train ride is pleasantly uneventful. Maka takes a nap for awhile and I study a map of Northern California to get an idea of where we might want to go to start our bird hunt. By the time we arrive at our destination it's nearly noon and my stomach is rumbling like crazy.

I convince Maka that before we do anything else we should stop and eat lunch and she must be hungry, too, because she doesn't argue. After claiming Brunnie we head to a park on the outskirts of town for a picnic. The park is a large sprawling lawn cluttered with maple and oak trees that are in the process of losing their leaves and the sturdy fir trees with branches low to the ground that I used to use as forts when I was a kid. I throw down a blanket as ground cover and Maka grabs the paper sack that the bartender gave us. Its contents will be a surprise to both of us because she wants it to be and has swatted my hand every time I've tried to peek.

She peers into the top of the bag and exclaims, "Oh, this looks so good!"

She pulls out a sandwich on hoagie bread that is overstuffed with veggies and meat and cheese.

"Give me your cheese," I say needlessly as that's what we always do when she gets served cheese and I love the arrangement because it means I always get double cheese on sandwiches and burgers.

She nods and sets to work pulling it off and I reach into the bag to pull out my sandwich and instead pull out a bunch of grapes. Grapes are good. I set them aside and stick my hand in again and come out with a baggie of crackers. Ok, that's fine. I try again and get a small jug of juice. I fold down the top of the bag and look in. Where the hell is my sandwich? At the very bottom I find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which has been crushed under everything else. And here I thought me and that guy were starting to bond.

Maka happily takes a bite of her sandwich moaning with appreciation of her lunch, but stops chewing when she sees the pathetic excuse for a lunch in my hand.

"Is that your sandwich?" she asks and starts laughing hysterically spitting part of a tomato out in the process. Aw, my meister can be so dignified at times.

"It's not funny. That guy's a total dick!"

"Soul, you can have some of mine. I won't be able to eat it all."

"No, you just enjoy what lover boy made you and I'll sit here and eat this." I stubbornly take a bite of the smooshed sandwich. "Yuck, raspberry jelly! Gross!" I toss the sandwich out of my hand and reach over to grab hers.

Maka laughs harder. "Oh, wait is this what you want?" She waves her sandwich enticingly near my nose. "Because on second thought I think I'm going to eat the whole thing because I need all the calories. Being a meister is such hard work and this adorable guy made it for me. He's so hot I might just dump my boyfriend and date him!"

"Give me that!" I say ripping the hoagie out of her hand and taking an enormous bite before she can steal it back.

"I swear I didn't tell him you hated raspberry." She's giggling at me. She has some guy we barely know making a play for her by making…and I am not exaggerating here the BEST sandwich on the planet for her and she is laughing like it's just hilarious. I would remind her that she already has a boyfriend and that he doesn't find any of this at all funny, but I'm mowing down on sandwich.

"You think you're so damn funny don't you?" I complain.

"I do, because he was just one of those macho guys who likes meisters. He wasn't into me, Soul. He only took to me because I'm a meister."

"You wouldn't have a clue if someone was hitting on you," I say totally seriously.

"How would you know?"

"Because I hit on you for years!"

"I noticed," she says smiling.

"Well, _I_ couldn't tell."

She gets very giggly and lies back cradling her belly. "I'm stuffed. You can have the rest."

I take a couple more bites, but I'm finding her very distracting. She's laying there with her legs bent at the knee in that super flexible way she does where she can somehow manage to lay flat on her back with a leg out to either side. She's gotta be double jointed somewhere down there…

My mind is drifting, but its lunch time. We can afford a few minutes of goofing off before getting serious about finding Falconer. I flop down next to her.

"So, what do you think we should do after our meal settles?" I ask.

"I think we should head to the periphery of the park and I can see if I pick anything up."

"Sounds good. Have you tried yet?"

"Yeah, I did as soon as we got off the train." This doesn't surprise me at all. When we're on assignment she'll run Soul Detection scans of the surrounding area periodically without even mentioning it to me unless she finds something worth noting.

She rolls toward me. "Soul, why were you so nervous earlier?"

"I dunno, Maka."

"Yes, you do. You're just too embarrassed to tell me."

I gaze into her eyes. "Yeah, I guess."

Then to my great surprise she kisses me and this kiss is not some little peck. This is slow and deliberately sensual.

"Maka, darling, we're on assignment."

"Oh, you know you've been wanting to make out all day."

I nod. She's got me there, but I'm surprised she's willing.

"We can spare a few moments," my meister assures me with a twinkle in her eye and we lay there on the blanket in the shade of a big oak tree holding one another and kissing and saying absolutely nothing.

After a few minutes I find myself rolling her onto her back ever so slowly and subtly though I'm not on top of her…yet I'm off to one side with an arm stretched across her. I'm just starting to work my way down her neck when her little happy sighs turn into-"Demon!" she shouts and I jump to my feet.

"Where?" I look around. Unless it's got an invisibility cloak it isn't here.

She hops up and closes her eyes and extends her arm and like a dosing rod bobs around until she finds the correct direction. "That way. Maybe 250 yards or so? Maybe more. It's hard to tell. There's something odd about its soul wavelength…it feels like it lacks confidence."

"You gonna try to convince it to behave itself?" I tease her endlessly about her conversion of Crona, but she knows that I like the fact she is versatile enough to occasionally consider other possibilities besides the old fall back of busting heads. This adaptability is one of the ways my meister is so much better than Black*Star even though he's a lot stronger.

"No, it's definitely a demon…no saving this one…but…" she cocks her head a little to one side so that one of her ponytails brushes her face. "I'm curious what's wrong with it. Maybe it's been cursed or something. Come on, let's go check it out."

She takes off running in the direction she senses the presence and I chase behind her as fast as I can. Once out of the park we enter an industrial area. Everything here is monotone and in various stages of decay. It looks like at some point this must have been a manufacturing sector, but it has now been abandoned to dry rout and graffiti.

We approach a four way intersection and we both see a shadow scuttle across the street in front of us accompanied by a heckling laugh. The sound bounces off the buildings reminding me of one of those creepy baby dolls in horror movies.

Maka stands in front of me, hand held open behind her to signal that it's time for me to do my thing. I transform and find it weird to feel her hands out of her gloves. She took them off to eat her sandwich and hasn't put them back on. Fortunately, this doesn't throw her for as much of a loop as it does for me.

"Ok, Maka, take it slow till we get a good look at what this guy can do."

"Right." She runs another few steps leaping over a puddle of stagnant water and oil that looks like it's been there for years.

Whatever it is runs across the road and appears before us.

"Awww! What are you?" it asks with an air of impertinence, like we are stupid not to have explained ourselves from the get-go.

"I'm Maka Albarn, a Meister, and this is my Weapon Partner, Soul Eater, and we are going to take your soul."

The creature steps out of the shadow and for the first time we get a good look at it. It's short, really short…maybe three and a half feet tall with big eyes and misshapen arms. The right arm is stubby and appears to lack a functional joint while the other arm reaches almost to the ground and flops like a piece of cooked spaghetti. It's appallingly ugly and I can only imagine what Kid would do if he came face to face with its asymmetrical appendages.

The creature begins to spin like a top sending the spaghetti arm wobbling in the air like a windsock. "Spin Flare" it shouts in a very high pitched wail and little sparks start flying from its feet. Maka jumps over them as calmly and agilely as if she were jump roping and this appears to piss the demon off as it then shouts, "Rumble Rocket" and the ground starts shaking beneath us. Maka plants the end of my handle as firmly into the ground as she can but we both wobble nevertheless and she almost loses her balance.

"Do you like this game?" the demon asks.

"I don't think I know how to play this game. What's it called?" Maka asks.

"Kill the DWMA students!" It cackles and Maka advances on it swinging me into its flesh on the right side but the stubby arm gets in the way preventing her from getting a nice slice to the chest.

"Blender Blade!" Maka shouts and I rotate in her arms as fast as I'm able and I feel myself connect with various places on the demon's body.

Maka quickly retreats while using me to block some kind of attack the thing was trying, though I didn't hear it name the move.

"Princess Pound!" It shouts and the long flimsy arm forms a fist at the end and the demon swings it toward us like a flail.

"Maka, we gotta concentrate on that arm. If we can hack it off-"

"Got it!" Maka makes like she is going to leap to the right but instead crouches and swings me above her into the fatty base of the spaghetti arm. Blood spurts out onto us and the demon emits a scream that comes out more like a gurgle. With one more hack at its core the demon is done and its body evaporates leaving only a very warped looking red soul floating in front of us.

Maka walks up to it, collecting it in her hands.

"Why do you think it looked like that?" I ask her reappearing in human form. We've seen some pretty ugly bastards over the years, but this one was so malformed it was almost like it hadn't been human at any point in its history.

"I'm not sure. It definitely hasn't been melded with a bird, but something about its soul feels altered somehow."

"Do you need to save it?" Occasionally we keep stuff to take back to school to share with the Professor or Lord Death or to show off to other meister/weapon teams.

"No, I guess you can go ahead and eat it. I kind of feel sorry for it."

I nod. "Well, it's out of its misery now." I open my mouth wide, dangle the soul above me and drop it down my gullet. I'm met with the most bizarre mix of nasty flavors and textures I've ever experienced when soul eating.

I gag a little and Maka runs over to me and pats me on the back worrying that I might be choking, but I manage to swallow the thing.

"I won't be doing that again anytime soon."

"What was wrong with it?"

"The outside of it was rubbery, but the inside was acrid and raw." My face wears a look of revulsion. "I agree with you. There was definitely something weird about that one."

As we walk back to our picnic spot we are quiet as we try to put our finger on what was so wrong about that particular demon.


	27. Chapter 27: The Most Important Thing

_**Chapter 27: The Most Important Thing; Maka Goes Crazy?**_

"Maka, we better make camp before it gets too dark," I tell her in an attempt to pull her away from stopping to watch a chipmunk for what seems like the four-hundredth time. I mean, they're cute, but come on!

She sighs and hurries to catch up with me on the trail we have been hiking.

"So, do you want to camp in a designated camp spot and have a fire or go off trail tonight?"

She contemplates for a moment. "What do you think?"

I shrug. "I could go either way. If you want to sleep under the stars we can go anywhere."

"You think the dew's going to be heavy tonight?"

"I don't think it'll be too bad. We could lay the tarp across us."

We hike around and find a smaller footpath that leads to a spot over a river. There you can see the sky and the trees on the opposite side.

"Let's camp here!" she says enthusiastically. "It's an ideal place for me to detect souls and meditate."

We set up a little lean-to tarp over us and use a buddy burner to heat up some water for cocoa as it starts to get dark.

"You know I never realized that as a meister I'd get to do so much camping or that I'd love it so much." She says sipping her cocoa. "Mom and Dad never took me camping."

"I went with some of my brother's friends a couple times, but Mom and Grandma weren't into it either. They don't really see the point in having modern conveniences if you give them up sometimes just for the heck of it."

"Soul," she says slowly. "Do you ever get sad that you don't know who your father is?"

I shrug. "Sometimes; curious more than sad. I wish I knew if he was a Demon Weapon, too, or a Meister and if that's why Mom kept his identity a secret. If that's the reason I think that's pretty cool, but if it's just cause he was married to someone else I think that's a kind of lame reason for not letting Wes and I know him."

"So, your Grandma really has no idea who he was?"

"Nope. I've asked her a couple times thinking that now that I'm older and Mom's gone she might be willing to share more, but I guess the secret died with my mom."

"I'm sorry, Soul."

"Don't be. I could find out I have a dad who's as crappy as your dad."

She picks up a pine cone and throws it at me and a nearby bird flutters off.

After the lean-to is built we start getting serious about getting set up for bed and I pull out our sleep mats and sleeping bags and set to work doing something I've fantasized about doing for a very long time.

"Soul, what are you doing?" Maka asks noticing that I seem to be fussing with the sleeping bags for an abnormally long amount of time.

"I'm doing something Kid taught me. Voila!" I hold up my achievement, our two sleeping bags zipped together to form one doubled size sleeping bag.

"That's so cool! I didn't know they could do that!" Then she looks puzzled. "How come Kid knows that?"

"He says Liz and Patti like to sleep snuggled up together sometimes."

"Do you believe that?" she asks me.

"I don't know. I feel like he has this whole other life that's exotic and sexy, like James Bond, but we only get to see the "oh-my-god-did-I-forget-to-straighten-my-picture-frame" side. He's really private even with us guys."

She laughs and sits down on the sleeping bag and begins to take off her shoes and socks. I stand there oddly transfixed by her getting ready for bed. I walk over next to her and awkwardly stand there for a moment before she slides over and gives me space to sit down to do the same thing. She sighs with contentment as she slips her feet into her super soft slipper socks.

It's dark now so I have to strain my eyes, but I can see Maka changing clothes and I can't help it. I reach out for her and to my surprise she proceeds to take her bra off and let me wrap my arms around her cupping those tiny tits in my hand. Her nipples made hard by the chill in the air stand at attention and every time I brush my hand against them she makes a breathy moaning sound. But despite the heat of our lust I can tell she is cold because I feel little tiny bumps forming on her arms.

"Come on, get under the covers," I tell her. Wearing just her panties she slides into the sleeping bag as I unbuckle my belt and toss off my pants before joining her.

She reaches up under my shirt and pulls it off leaving the two of us together in one big cottony soft sack wearing nothing but our underwear.

I swear I've tried to be good, but this is too much. Immediately, I am on top of her pressing myself into her and grouping her chest with my hands marveling at how soft and smooth her skin is everywhere.

Her hair smells like vanilla and berries and her body has an aroma of sweat, but not the nasty boy's-locker-room kind of sweat. This sweat reeks of sex. It's I'm-so-sexy-because-I-can-take-down-demons-and-give-my-weapon-partner-a-blow-job-and-ace-a-test all in the same day sexy. _I like it._

She says nothing as I explore her chest with my tongue and lips, one of my hands moving on from her breasts to slide under her panties and grab her ass and squeeze it in such a way that she thrusts up against the part of me that can hardly contain itself.

I wonder how much she'll let me get away with. We _are_ on assignment, but she's so beautiful and it's been such a wonderful day and here under the stars it feels like this is what we're meant to be doing…not like back in Death City where everyone is quick to point out that we're all teenagers and don't know anything about life yet. Here it feels like we've figured it all out because all that matters is being together and sharing our crazy life with one another.

My lips are below her rib cage now and I gently drag my tongue up her body, licking her like a cat. An image of Blair pops into my head and I quickly shove that distraction away by grasping her nipple in my teeth and ever so gently nibbling at it.

She lets out a little gasp that could be one of pain or pleasure…I can't quite tell yet the breast moves closer to me pressing itself into my face. Oh, she wants more. I smile. She is _so_ incredibly hot. Because of the dark I can only see her in my mind's eye, but I can sense how attractive her face must look forming the sounds I hear as I play with her like some kind of musical instrument.

She is squirming under me, clearly in need of satisfaction. I bite my lip and then reach down between her legs. I slide my hand under the elastic of her panties half expecting her to slap my hand away or to be told I need to slow down, but instead her pelvis tips up to meet me and as I slide my fingers toward the entrance to her pussy I am shocked to feel how wet she is. She's not moist…she's dripping, practically gushing with liquid. Regardless of what society might think this is no longer a girl…this is a woman very much ready to receive a man. I slide a finger into the wetness and I feel soft, delicate flesh wrap around me. She moans and I think I hear the word, "Yes," whispered ever so softly and stretched out like a note held by a damper pedal on the piano.

I start moving my finger a little drawing delicate little circles inside her, ever so gently. She pulls back so my finger almost falls out before thrusting her pelvis toward me so my entire finger is inside her. She raises her body a little and whispers in my ear, "Soul, _more_ please." Never one to disappoint, I set to work rubbing inside her while inserting two more fingers to accompany my pointer on its quest to find places that make her thrash with pleasure or leak more of that precious liquid. I'm so concentrated on her that I'm startled when I feel her hand clutch my cock through my underwear. With my free hand I pull my underwear down so that I can feel her touch directly on my skin and as soon as I do I know that no matter what we do or don't do I will be cumming tonight. There is no ignoring the crazy need in my loins. Even if I have to run away to go screw a knothole in a tree I've got to feel release, being with her like this is too much, but, thankfully, it is a happy wild, crazy feeling not that dark, abusive way I felt in my dream of us in the red room. Knowing that I can actually mess around with her like this and have fun and not turn into some demon rapist is a great relief to me and makes me that much more eager to please her in every way she'll allow.

I pull my fingers from her and bring my hand past my face. It's a unique smell that I know I will forever associate with the throes of passion we are currently embracing. I lick my hand to sample her taste and finding it to my liking I clasp her panties on either side and pull them down in one swift but gentle movement before my head dives between her legs eager to kiss and lick every last inch of her and discover all those places I've never kissed before.

She lets out a little yell of shock when I descend, but I hear only silence when my tongue enters her crevice. I wonder for a moment if I'm doing something wrong until I hear a little hum and notice how with every move of my tongue the hands around my cock move in ways that create great pleasure for me and like some kind of unending spiral one of us does something that feels good to our partner and then the other does something that feels good in response until we are both moaning and groaning.

I have reverted to my most primal with my focus being entirely on her and the sensations I'm getting from her. Driven by her taste, her touch, her scent, and her moans my mind is myopic, focused only on a wild desire to make her experience the kind of gratification she has created for me. My tongue finds a little nub inside her and I lick it experimentally and she responds by letting out a shout. I massage it again with my tongue and she pants as her body thrashes with a wild abandon I have previously not seen. The sensations are so intense for her that her grasp on me loosens for a moment and then she involuntarily clamps down _hard_. I rub it more quickly flicking it back and forth with my tongue and her vocalization sounds like the exclamation when someone makes a great discovery, but it drags itself out growing into a moan punctuated by short little breathes. She thrashes and her voice is transformed into a tiny little strangulated cry, her hand lets go of me and she trembles like she's having some kind of epileptic fit and then growls out the words, "I love you, Soul." It is without a doubt the sexiest thing I have ever heard. I find myself wanting to cum so bad, but I won't stop licking her till I know she's reached the maximum she can take. I dive deeper with my tongue and lick at the nub like it is the most important thing ever.

Forget demon hunting, _this _will save the world and somehow I have been honored by being the man here to do it. Images of my meister dance in my mind along with the remembrance of all the desire I've harbored for her for so long and all I can think is I must make Maka satisfied. I want that more than anything for her _and_ for me and just when I wonder if it won't be possible her body suddenly jerks. She inhales deeply, her breath catching in her throat and she emits a scream that could only be created by carnal actions. As if the sound emanates from her pelvis rather than her lungs her body bends itself backwards to create a straight shot from her groin to her mouth causing her head to tip upside down as my tongue is met with a gush of liquid. The bellow continues as fluid pours into my mouth and she attempts to catch her breath with an intense set of pants.

Listening to her cum is more than I can take. I fall on my side releasing myself all over her and the sleeping bag.

She lays there with all four limbs splayed out, limp and panting like crazy, but in between the gasps I think I hear her say my name. I pull myself up to lay next to her and she rolls onto her side and pushes my hair out of my face and kisses me. Our foreheads press against each other and all I can think is how amazing she is, how much I love her, and how embarrassed I'm going to be when I see her face in the morning light.


	28. Chapter 28: Afterglow

Chapter 28: Afterglow; Shameful Sleep?

My eyes open and for a moment I'm disoriented. The light of morning is beginning to creep between the trees painting the world a hazy grey instead of midnight black. I smell cedar and the dampness of the forest and I sense Maka's soul close by me and then as though I've been shot by a bolt of lightning all the memories of the previous day hit me. The raspberry jelly, the creepy spaghetti-armed demon, and the sound, scent, and _taste_ of my meister's fulfillment.

I grin. Never in my wildest fantasies had I ever imagined messing around with her like that! God, she was _hot._ I can't believe we did that. I can't believe how…oh, I'm sure those vocab lessons had a word for this… _lascivious_ we were. Wow, she would be so proud; she's gonna make me sound like a book nerd yet.

I roll over and see her laying beside me facing me, but with only the top of her hair outside of the sleeping bag.

Yesterday was great. I loved all of it, but I have a bit of morning-after regret. Not about the things we did, but about my role as her protector. I've been asleep. _She and I have both been asleep at the same time._ That's not supposed to happen when you're on assignment. We're trained to take shifts so that someone remains on guard duty to prevent any kind of sneak attack from witches eager to take out Lord Death's forces. Maka and I know, but I let that awesome post-cumming glee overtake me and we both drifted off to sleep. I am ashamed that I let her down. It doesn't bother me to have deviated from standard operating procedure, but it eats at me that I put her in danger. The whole reason I'm here is to protect her. I'm the support person and sometimes that support comes in the form of muscle, sometimes it comes as a differing viewpoint, and sometimes it comes as me putting myself in harm's way before someone malevolent can reach her.

I partially unzip our sleeping bag vowing that I will not be returning to it but instead will assume the post that one of us should have been filling. It is chilly this morning and I wish I could dress inside the sleeping bag, but I don't think I'm talented enough to do that without disturbing Maka. I step out of the warmth of the blankets and mouth the words, "Fuckin' cold!" and pull on fresh clothes from my pack. The inside of the clothes are cold and I find myself longing for the warmth of my meister's body close to mine. I pull a hoodie on over my t-shirt and stuff my hands in the front pocket. I walk to the edge of the ledge over the creek and enjoy the view while contemplating what today may bring for my partner and me.

Right now we are no closer to finding Falconer than when we were in DC. All we've really managed to accomplish is taking out that one mysteriously misshapen demon in the industrial area. What was that about?

I find a dry spot at the base of one of the park's namesakes and start composing music in my head. Every note is for her; love songs for the girl still passed out from last night's passion. Love songs that won't be heard by her. I'm far too shy to serenade her with some crappy song I've written. That's not my style, though I have to admit that saying, "I love you" at random moments throughout the day was never something I thought I would do, either, and I've found myself doing that.

I want so badly for her to understand the depths of my devotion to her and I need her to know that my heart's a more fragile thing than I let on. She needs to be careful with me. I will never mistreat her the way her dad did her mother, but I need the same. The mere thought of being without her or seeing her with someone else is devastating to me. Yet, I fell asleep leaving her unguarded. That was super dumb, an amateurish mistake. What am I a newb?

I take a deep breath. I'm worrying again. That happens when I think too much. I try to refocus my thoughts on the moment and the beauty of the forest and the love I share with my partner.

"Good morning," Maka has rolled over and is looking at me from our makeshift bed.

"Mornin'" I answer feeling a wave of heat burning my face. I knew I'd blush when I next saw her in the light of day. It's one thing to be that carnal in the dark, but a completely different thing to have to face your best friend after making them have a screaming orgasm the night before. There's no doubt that she enjoyed herself, but that doesn't stop my cheeks from simmering.

"Come here," she instructs. She intentionally orders rather than asks knowing that right now I'm awfully self-conscious, but we both know I'm usually good about taking orders…or rather orders from _her_. I walk over to the head of the sleeping bag and stare down at my meister's smiling face. I'm not sure what she wants from me. She slithers out of bed and stands before me without a shred of clothing on. I avert my eyes out of habit.

"Soul, why are you doing that? Why aren't you looking at me?"

I don't know what to say. How do I explain that I badly want to see that body I have touched in the dark, but fear it'd be like gazing directly at the sun. It's a beauty I'm not meant to see. She takes my hand and brings it to her chest placing my palm over her heart.

"Soul, please don't be embarrassed. I love you and now my body is as much yours as your own. I'm yours _body_, mind, and soul."

Her declaration startles me making my eyes snap back to her and without meaning I take her in. She is gorgeous. It's like staring at a piece of art. I feel unworthy compared to her. She's captivating with curves and mounds and I'm a _dude_. It's pathetic.

"Soul, you're putting yourself down again. I can sense it. Why do you do that?"

I sigh. Sometimes we know each other a little too well. "I failed as your partner. I didn't take first watch."

"We lived. It's OK, Soul. You don't need to be perfect to be with me."

I grumble. It seems like I do. There's nothing she's bad at, not really.

"I fell asleep too, you know. Keeping watch is a duty we share. We let each other down, but it's done now. We'll be more careful next time."

I say nothing. I even ignore her comment about 'next time' which should entice me to flirt with her.

"What am I going to have to do to snap you out of this?" she grumbles rhetorically to herself. "Fine, I'm going to get dressed, but when I'm done you will _not_ be in this mood."

While Maka gets dressed I dig out granola bars to curb our hunger. A few moments later she skips back over to me wearing purple leggings under denim shorts and an orange hoodie that has a picture of a sunset on the back. She looks adorable.

"Maka, why do you love me?"

She smiles. "Because I do. That's all that's important."

I grunt. "That's not a real answer."

"It isn't?"

"No. It isn't."

She assumes the appearance of one considering a serious question. "Because from the moment I first saw you I was fascinated by you. You captivate me. I want to know everything about you and I want to always be with you."

My heart aches. Does she really feel that way about _me_? Am I really going to be able to keep her? Won't she grow tired of me someday?

I start to voice my worries, but she exclaims, "Oh, for Shinigami's sake! Soul, quit ruining the fucking moment!" and her lips aggressively start tangling with my own. "Soul," she whispers directly into my lips. "You need to trust that I know what I want and that's _you_. Now kiss me."

I sigh. I don't know why I know I shouldn't be like this, but sometimes I get in these moods. I wrap my arms around her and halfheartedly kiss her.

She stops and stares into my eyes. "Kiss me for _real_, Soul."

My eyes meet hers and my shame and fears become overwhelmed by waves of desire and passion I couldn't fight even if I wanted to. I kiss her as though my life depends on my lips conveying all the love I have for her inside me.

"That's better. Now, Mr. Grumblepants, please quit worrying about silly things and make some more hot cocoa."

We take our time packing up our camp. I'm sad to leave this place. I'd be happy to stay here with her forever, but, alas, there are ass holes we must fight.

We spend half the day in the general vicinity of our camp site and then we ride Brunnie to the opposite end of the park and explore that area. We find no evidence of a secret hideout, bird people, or any other demons. By dinner time we are exhausted and decide to stay in one of the park's designated campgrounds so that we can have a fire.

I'm having a hard time getting the tinder to catch the way I want it to and am starting to get frustrated when she senses a presence near-by.

"Demon?"

"Yup."

I grin.

"It has that same weird feeling the other one had."

"Yuck! I'm not eating it then," I stand up, raring to go kick demon butt, but much to my surprise Maka comes running over to me rather than in the direction of the demon.

"Thank you for being the best partner," she says and kisses me before grabbing my hand and shouting, "Come on!"

We find this evil-doer in a very small clearing not too far from the campground. It was probably attracted here by the increased concentration of human souls in this part of the park.

This one does not heckle and its arms match, but it's still odd and short. Its face is stretched and seems almost flattened and the way it stands on its legs remind me of some kind of hoof stock rather than a human.

"Hey, Evil Munchkin!" I shout at it and in answer it doesn't turn it's body but twists its neck around further than a person should be able to so that it can see me. It's creepy as hell. "Gross! Maka, let's kill this thing fast. It's weirding me out."

She nods and I become her weapon.

"Charging Release" it says as it lowers its head and comes running at us like a bull to a matador.

"What the fuck?" I shout. This is a new one. We haven't seen this technique before and I'm not sure if blocking or just getting the hell out of its way is better.

Maka holds me behind her and jumps out of the way. It's a narrow miss.

She takes a couple steps backward to ensure that our eyes never leave what the demon is doing and when she feels confident that she will not be charged again she says, "Soul Resonance." It's only then that I realize that we defeated the last demon without resonanting with one another.

As our soul wavelengths match I feel the usual sensation plus a warmth I've never experienced before. "Maka…? What is that? Is everything OK?" I'm not sure what is going on or if it's supposed to happen.

"Ah…I think so…I'm fine and if you're OK let's just keep going. OK?"

"No prob. I'm pumped up to end this creep!"

The little monster swings back around and shouts "Balls and Jax" and fireballs shoot out at us, followed by spikey things resembling toy jacks. A couple hit Maka and me, but they don't do much more than burn tiny spots of our flesh.

"Demon Hunter!" I gain my more fancy form and she straifs left as the monster once again does his charging maneuver.

"Where are you from?" she asks the demon.

"Don't know. Don't care. Must destroy you and partner."

"Why?" she questions.

"Maka, I'm not sure this thing is going to be able to tell us anything valuable."

"I know," she tells me. "But I think it's worth a try. We don't have a whole lot to go on."

"Ball and Jax," it shouts again and Maka covers her face with her hands so that her arms and legs get the worst of it.

She manages to deflect a stray jack back at the thing and it yowls in pain when it's hit and then starts to suck its thumb. Mercilessly, Maka swings me and I slice through the demon like it's butter.

I congratulate her, "Good one!" and transform back into human form before she puts me down so I end up materializing in her arms like she's been holding me bridal style. She laughs as she sets me on my feet, but I notice that a couple of the burns on her arms are worse than I expected.

"Maka, we better get some sauve on those."

She nods and walks up to cradle the soul in her arms. "You sure you don't want to eat it?"

"Naw, I'll pass."

We walk back to our camp site and she opens her pack pulling out a soul collection chamber. It's a pop-up plastic jar that can hold up to fourty souls. We've never used ours because I normally eat the demon souls, but I'm in no big hurry to repeat the experience I had last time.

It's dark now and I never managed to get the fire going. I apologize and Maka says it's no big deal because she's pretty tired anyways and she climbs inside the tent and is asleep within a few minutes.


	29. Chapter 29: Fear of Failure

_**Chapter 29: Fear of Failure; A Muted Meister?**_

Over the next few days we trek through almost every inch of the park searching for odd phenomena that might indicate that there has been some kind of enchantment, temporal rift, or curse placed on an area, but we encounter nothing of the sort and nothing with any strong imprint of evil about it. We find _nothing_. No more demons. No Falconer. No crazy half-bird people.

I'm rolling with this, but Maka is suffering. She is casting her Soul Detection ability all her waking hours and it's draining her energy and her humor. It's now day five of the trip and I've run out of chocolate to give her. That's never a good sign.

Two days ago, she apologized for not being more affectionate and I told her that it wasn't a big deal, because it isn't. We're on assignment and when we've got a job to do that comes first. No big whoop, after all it's not like either of us is used to make-out sessions while we go soul hunting and while it was super nice, I wasn't upset to have things revert back to our old habits. As long as at the end of this mission we do a little 'celebrating' I'm happy.

Then yesterday, I didn't even get a good morning kiss _or_ a good night kiss _and_ she barely talked to me. She's in one of those moods she gets into where her meister responsibilities trump her sanity which means I'm going to have to step in to try to get her to realize that she's working herself too hard.

This morning, we've been hiking for three hours and the entire time she has been at least five paces ahead of me. Were it not for her Soul Detection I'm confident I could have vanished and she wouldn't have noticed. I see a large fallen log right by the path that shows evidence of being used as a seat by other trekkers and I figure that now is a good time to work on my meister's…issues.

"Maka, how bout you come sit down?" I open my arms wide indicating that she is welcome to join me on the log. She glances my way, but turns away and continues mumbling to herself. I try again. "Maka, you need a break." The murmurs get louder but I still can't make out what she's saying. Now it's my turn to grumble. I stand up and walk over to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Maka, I think-"

She whirls around, her eyes blazing with fury. "Why can't I figure this out, Soul?"

I shrug. I'm not entirely sure what she's meant to be figuring out.

"And why doesn't it bother you?" she asks me.

I offer no explanation as I don't know what she's talking about and I'm confident that even if I did know what she was talking about whatever I would say would be met by anger. It's not like this is the first time I've seen her like this and I suspect that this workaholic, obsessiveness is something a lot of meisters succumb to at one point in their career or another, but I've never seen her this bad.

I try smiling at her. "Maka, you know how sometimes I get really frustrated with our homework and you tell me to walk away from it for a little bit-"

"This is totally different, Soul! And don't you even hint that I need to calm down."

"Ok! Ok! You just seem a little tense…" I try a different approach. "You want a massage or something?" I wiggle my long, agile piano-player fingers.

She glares at me. "That will not help! I need to figure this out!"

I sigh. "Sorry, I was trying to help. There's no reason for you to jump down my throat-"

"Well, unlike you _I'm working_!"

Oh, this is _bullshit._ I tell her so and she doesn't like it.

"I don't treat you like shit when _I'm_ having a bad day!" I shout at her.

"I'm not having a bad day-"

"Well, this certainly doesn't seem like a _good_ one to me!"

"I'm _working. _It's what we meisters do!"

_Oh, she did not just say that!_ "Excuse me, Miss Full-of-Yourself, but for your information I have done _all _the navigation on this trip, prepared _almost all_ the meals, and-"

"Oh, do I need to start doing that stuff, too? Am I not doing enough?"

Enough with the nice, understanding approach; I should have known that wouldn't work. Maka isn't one to respond to subtlety. I march up to her and stick my face right up in hers.

"Maka, I am your _partner_ and I am telling you that you are _out of control._ You _need_ to listen to me." I shout right into her face while staring into those gorgeous green eyes of hers desperately hoping that somewhere in that ginormous brain of hers my words will reach a synapse that is still willing to listen to me. She is quiet and I think I may be getting through. "Maka, you're shutting me out and what's worse is you're insulting me. You need to _knock it off_."

Maka continues to glare at me, but doesn't say anything and then I see two streams of tears rapidly glide down her face, one from each eye.

"Oh, for Shinigami's sake! Maka!" I wrap my arms around her but she doesn't return the hug. All she does is stand there sobbing silently while I try to bring her in for a snuggle. It's not an easy thing to do. She's stiff as a board and strong; it's as though I'm embracing a pillar that I suddenly feel the need to get up close and personal with. It's very awkward and more than a little ironic considering how cozy we were with one another a few short days ago. "Maka," I bend over and look skyward toward her face. "Do you think maybe you could talk to me?"

"I can't do it!" she shouts and a wave of panic comes over me, because I'm not sure I want to know what she means. I release her and take a step back to give her a little space.

"Can't do what…exactly?" I ask, my voice trembling like a coward.

Here it is; the moment I've feared, the moment when she says that we tried it and it doesn't work for us to be partners and lovers and we need to do something different moving forward. I feel sick, and I had thought things were going great until this…I'm an idiot.

"Soul, I can't find Falconer!" She admits with a tone of finality like she has sentenced someone to imminent execution.

"Falconer?" I wave my arms around wildly. "_This_ is _**all**_ about Falconer?!"

She nods, still crying. "What did you think? That I was breaking up with you or something?"

I stand there in stunned silence.

"You didn't…?" Her eyes meet mine and I look away quickly, unwilling to let her read my emotions. "Soul, how could you think that?" She grabs me and hugs me, suddenly no longer unwelcoming of my touch.

A single tear rolls from my eye onto her shoulder, but I'm hoping she doesn't notice. I don't want her to know how insecure I am and how scared I am of being without her love. I quickly put on my 'cool' face and say, "Gee. I don't know, Maka. You've completely shut me out the last couple days. You keep mumbling to yourself, not sharing anything with me. You barely look at me, let alone kiss me or something. And then you start with this stupid I'm –the-meister-so-my-job-is-the-hardest crap. What was I supposed to think?"

"Soul, I'm sorry. I really am. I've been under a lot of strain."

"And I _know_ that and I'm _trying_ to be understanding, but when I say you need to take a break, _you __**need **__to take a break._ I'm not trying to lure you into bed or something. _I'm trying to take care of you _as your partner…and as your boyfriend. I love you, Maka. I don't like seeing you like this." She buries her face in my chest.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's ok. Just don't pull that crap about me not pulling my weight because you _know_ I do. I just don't get the most glamorous jobs sometimes."

"I'm sorry."

"Quit saying you're sorry. _It's fine_. You just need a rest."

"It's just so _frustrating_ that I can't figure out where Falconer is hiding."

I shrug. "Maybe he's not here. Maybe Lord Death's intel sucks. This _is _the man who hired a witch to be the school nurse at his witch hunting school and never caught on."

She sighs. "But…"

"No, buts. I'm going to tell him that unless they have gotten some more info that confirms we're in the right place we're taking the next train home."

"I don't want to fail."

"This isn't our failure. It's the people who sent us here and remember everything we do is the two of us doing it _together_. Even if we _did_ screw up, it was '_us_' screwing up not '_you_'. That's one of the reasons meisters and weapons work as teams. Now, please, come sit down."

Holding her hand, I walk back to the log and we both sit down. She snuggles up to me, but I can tell she's still not relaxed.

"Is there something else you want to talk about? Something else bothering you?" I ask her while slipping a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"There's something about those demons that's weird."

"Well, maybe that's all the more reason for us to return to DC. We can have everybody take a look at that demon soul we captured. Maybe they can help us to pinpoint what's off about it."

"Oh, Soul, you're so smart."

Oh, Death, she's crying again! When was the last time she got all weepy like this…could it be here time of the month? Or is all this Soul Detection frying her brain? I wish I had more chocolate…

"Look, I'm gonna talk to Lord Death right now and tell him we're coming home."

I pull a small mirror out of the front pocket of my backpack and huff my hot breath onto it to fog it up, write the numbers that enact whatever kind of enchantment makes this bit of magic work and butta boom butta bing!

"Well, hello, Soul! I wasn't expecting to hear from you for another few hours. Something wrong?"

"No, nothing serious, Lord Death, but I'm requesting that Maka and I head home. We've found no evidence that Falconer's headquarters is here in the redwoods and Maka's exhausted. She's been Soul Detecting for days and-"

Maka swats me to indicate I don't have her permission to elaborate on her mental state. I groan and continue, "Yeah, anyway, I wanted to let you know my intention, with your blessing, is to head back home today."

"Well…I'm sorry to hear that your efforts have been fruitless, but I _just_ received news that we have a confirmed sighting of Falconer in Oregon. I'd like you to go there."

"Confirmed?" A part of me wants to tell him to shove it.

Maka skooches her face in so that Lord Death can see her, too, and says, "We'd love to."

I sigh. Great. Now we're going to Oregon…


	30. Chapter 30: Awakening to Reality

Chapter 30: Awakening to Reality; Shattered Dreams in the Taj Mahal?

The train ride from California to Oregon is beautiful and Maka's spirits pick up when I suggest that we have lunch in the dining car. It's really cool and she says her chicken marsala is some of the best she's ever had, which considering it's made in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp is a pretty high compliment to the chef. After lunch we head to the observation car to chill for awhile. Much to my surprise, Maka finds herself more interested in watching the world go by than in reading.

As we travel I start feeling a nip in the air whenever I walk in between the cars and then when I'm returning from the restroom I see white flurries falling.

"What the fuck?" I say to Maka pointing out the huge window of the observation car. "I thought Bend was in the desert."

"_High_ desert, Soul. That means it snows here. Didn't you notice that a bunch of people got on with skiies?"

"Yeah, but I thought they were cosplayers or something."

She laughs. "Why are you so upset? I think it's really pretty. I like watching how the flakes dance on their way down," she says wistfully.

"I'm upset because we don't have hotel reservations and I did _not_ sign up for winter camping. We didn't bring the right gear for this!"

She pulls me close and whispers into my ear, "But don't you think it's kind of romantic?"

"I guess," I grumble, in no way playing along.

"Hmm, and I thought you'd be happy to help keep me warm."

I ignore the comment. I'd rather not get all excited, and by that I mean horny, and then discover we're going to have the same problem here in Oregon that we were having the last couple of days in the redwoods.

We disembark at something called the Three Sisters stop. Maka says the name reminds her of Macbeth and I have to agree. I hope that doesn't signify some kind of bad omen on this portion of our assignment.

We enter the train depot and the first thing I do is to instruct her, "Maka, go put some clothes on. I'll go get the bike." She stands there and her head droops down to examine her pink sweatshirt, deep violet miniskirt, and polka dot sneakers like I'm crazy. Then she gives me the puppy dog eyes. Luckily, I am immune to their power. I bend to her will so much that the big eyes do nothing to me. Besides, for once I'm telling her to wear more clothes for a _practical_ reason, not simply to hide her flesh from the eyes of other lecherous males.

"_Jeans_, Maka. Maybe those long socks of yours. It's gonna be damn cold on Brunnie. You did _bring_ long pants didn't you?" I have this panicked vision of her pack containing nothing but fifteen itsy, bitsy plaid skirts. Surely, she wouldn't be that stupid. I mean this is super-smart, always prepared Maka…right?

"Yes, I brought them, but…"

"What's wrong?" I ask truly puzzled as to what could be preventing her from running off to pile on the layers.

She leans toward me and whispers in my ear, "I think they make me look fat."

I blink at her. Seriously? We're going to do this now? Every once in a while my meister will suddenly have a bout of girlishness. It's really obnoxious because in general I don't like or understand girls. I can't have this. I shout at her and point toward the station's restrooms, "Quit sounding like Liz and Patti and go put on layers. You're supposed to look like the Pillsbury doughboy when it snows. That's how it works."

She's still standing there. Did she forget about Falconer?

I sigh. There must be something more she wants from me and since I don't know what it is I go for good ole fashioned flattery. I whisper in her ear, "You know, Maka, it doesn't matter to me what you look like with your clothes on, 'cause I get the fun of taking them off of you." She turns beet red and it's so cute I have to kiss her right there in the middle of the station. I let my hand run up her leg letting it roam just a tiny bit above her hemline scandalizing some old woman sitting in the station. So much for not getting horny. I sigh. Oh, well. Around Maka it should be considering my normal state of being I guess, but at least I've been successful; my meister scampers off to the restroom pack in hand. The things she puts me through, sheesh! Fat? Really? I'm going to have to give Tiny Tits crap about that later.

While Maka's in the restroom, I talk to a couple of the station employees about lodging and get directed to a resort hotel a few miles away.

Never before having driven Brunnie in the snow, I take it slow. I'm paranoid that I might hit ice that will send the three of us (Maka, Me, and the bike) sailing to the ground, but everything turns out totally fine and Maka congratulates me on my skillful driving as we hop off Brunnie in front of the Wintermore Lodge and Resort Hotel. It masquerades as a ginormous log cabin from the outside, but I don't bother to take any time to access the architecture. My hands are fuckin' freezing and I'm getting a little hungry since it's around dinner time and I haven't had anything to eat since lunch in the dining car.

As soon as we enter the resort, Maka spies the hotel's gift shop and tells me she wants to see if they have gloves. I check that she has enough of our allotted DWMA expense money and tell her I'll take care of everything else while she shops.

Maka seems to be feeling more like herself and it's nice not to have to set up camp. This might actually be a little relaxing. The only problem is that we are terribly out of place here. All the other hotel guests are wearing designer sports apparel as though they just participated in the winter Olympics and we are filthy and sopping wet, especially me because I've been wearing these clothes for more than a day and have now had to layer on top of them more clothes that are even dirtier including a t-shirt splattered with demon blood. Laundry is going to be a high priority. Death, I don't think I've ever said that before in my life. Ugh, I hate being responsible. It's like I'm old or something.

I take a deep breath and walk up to the front desk knowing that I look like a homeless person, but gaining confidence from the wad of cash I'm clutching in my pocket.

A man behind the counter wearing a long sleeve maroon shirt emblazoned with the resort logo greets me. I can tell that he is assessing my appearance, but in a nonjudgmental voice he asks me, "Hello! What can I do for you?"

"I need a room."

"Ok, for how many nights?"

"I'm actually not sure…for at least one, possibly more…we're gonna see how things go here…"

"Of course. They say there will be three inches of fresh powder by this weekend."

"Great," I say scanning the lobby. There are quite a few people here all appearing to be having a good time. They're relaxing by the lobby's huge fireplace, standing around chit-chatting, and walking with purpose to some other part of the hotel. A couple toddlers are running wild and even their parents seem relatively relaxed considering the children are squealing at a particularly ear-blaring pitch.

"And how many beds will you be needing?"

"Just one," I say.

"Ok, one single-"he says while hitting some keys on the computer.

"Aw, no. One double or queen or something. It's for me and my girlfriend." I tip my head in the direction of the gift shop.

"Aw, my wife loves to shop, too. I find it dreadfully boring, but our little boutique here is actually quite nice." He pauses for a moment before continuing, "Now are there any amenities you would like in the room? Microwave, refrigerator, fireplace, hot tub?"

_Technically_, I'm supposed to choose the most stripped-down room because the DWMA is picking up the tab for this stay, but I'm never one to follow the rules and my meister needs to relax.

"I think something with a fireplace and hot tub would be great. We've been roughing it for a while."

"Camping, I think?" he says briefly assessing the dirt under my fingernails and the layer of grim I'm covered in.

"Yeah."

"How nice. Ok, we will put you in Bridal Suite Two."

I make a face like I sucked on a lemon and ask him, "Could you do me a favor and _not_ call it that in front of my girlfriend? She's a little embarrassed. It's our first time away together."

"Oh, I see," he says smiling.

"And if she asks _all_ the rooms have a fireplace and hot tub."

"Well, I can't really lie to a custo-"

"Please, I'd _really_ appreciate it," and I slip him some money across the counter while trying to think how to creatively mark this on our expense report. Didn't Kim say something about how we could donate some money to stimulate small businesses in local economies we visit? I'll figure it out one way or another.

I get our room keys and a map of the hotel. There's a room with a pool table and movies and games you can check out to your room, as well as an exercise room and a pool. I smile. Maybe this little unexpected detour before going home will work out ok after all and if we can manage to knock off Falconer I'm confident Lord Death and Professor Stein won't ask too many questions about my receipts.

Maka comes jogging up to me wearing a matching hat and gloves. The hat has flaps over the ears that transition into little braids and there is a tassel that sprouts from the top of it. It would probably make lots of people look stupid, but she looks adorable in it.

"Cute!" I say. "Is that from alpacas?" The hat and gloves remind me of a sweater my mom had made of alpaca fiber. I had forgotten all about it. It was one of my mom's favorites…I wonder whatever happened to it.

"Yeah. Cool, huh? And I got you something!" She hops up to pull a fleece skullcap over my head. It's black with orange trim. I'm sure it must look ridiculous on me what with all my spikey hair under it stretching it every which way, but she seems delighted and gives me a kiss. "Here's the matching gloves."

"Thanks," I tell her genuinely grateful. "Come on. Let's go check out our room."

The bridal suites are on the top most floor, floor four, and thankfully don't say 'Bridal Suite' on them but are labeled with a very elaborately scrolled 'B' and 'S' on the door along with the suite number.

"That's weird. You wouldn't think that'd want their doors saying 'BS' on them. I wonder what it stands for," she queries aloud and I feign ignorance.

I slide the key in the slot and open the door and am immediately satisfied that no matter what kind of creative bookkeeping this makes me have to do that it will be well worth it.

"Soul, look at that huge tub!" She says excitedly pointing to a jacuzzi tub that is in the main part of the room outside of the bathroom. I smile and nod. I cannot wait to get into that thing with her!

Then suddenly in monotone she drones, "But we gotta find Falconer."

I nod. I expected this. This is success-driven Maka, after all, but I have a plan. I walk up beside her and put my hands on her shoulders. "We do. _But_ we gotta figure out where we are exactly and look at the maps and figure out where we want to start looking. I think we should plan to do our Falconer hunting starting _tomorrow_. Tonight we can have a little R and R and plan and take a dip in the hot tub." It's a very practical plan, but I interweave a little bit of my 'sexy' voice in as I say it hoping that will weaken any remaining resolve she has to hit the Falconer trail tonight.

I see her smile and as she appraises the room and it's features I can almost see the visions she is having of enjoying her stay with reading by the fireplace, a soak in the hot tub, sleep and perhaps other things in the big, comfy looking bed which after four nights on the DWMA's standard issue craptastic sleep mats will be like staying in the Taj Mahal for us.

She whirls around and stares into my eyes. "Soul?" I know she wants to ask me why this room is so fancy. I _know _she feels the need to scold me for not following proper DWMA expense protocol, but she remains silent. Ha, ha. _I won_. She wants to soak in the hot tub, too! I'm so proud of myself I can't stop grinning.

I immediately dump my backpack on the floor and stretch. "Death, I'm starving," I say. "Do you want to take a shower and go to the restaurant downstairs?"

She shakes her head. "That sounds like work."

I smile even wider. "I was hoping you'd say that. How 'bout I go downstairs and get our laundry going and I'll order something to have brought to our room. That ok?"

She beams at me. I am being an amazing boyfriend right now and we both know it. I can hardly wait for her to thank me.

"Sounds great," she says tossing her pack on the bed and rummaging through it. I do the same except most of my clothes are on me so I stand there peeling layer after layer off while she watches me.

"Enjoying the view?" I tease her.

"Yeah, actually I am. I always get a little zing when you undress."

"Zing? My meister has one of the largest vocabularies of anyone I know and that's the word you pick?"

She walks up to me and puts a hand on my chest. "Yes. I can't say 'chill' that would sound eerie. It's got too many bad connatations. I guess I could say 'goose bumps' but that still isn't quite right…"

She looks up at me and kisses me. "Hurry back, ok?"

I nod and hold out my hand for her laundry. Maka hands me a wad of clothing that she has rolled into a kind of ball. "Don't look at it," she instructs me as she places it in my hands.

I laugh. "Maka, I've seen your laundry before."

"I know, but I never let you do my panties before. It seems weird to give them to you."

My head flies backward I'm laughing so hard. "Let me get this straight. You aren't embarrassed to parade around naked in front of me or in your panties, but you're embarrassed to give them to me for me to put in the washing machine."

"Yes, something like that."

"You have very weird sensibilities. Must come from all that reading," I tease her while stuffing her laundry in with mine in my pack to carry downstairs.

She blushes and runs toward the bathroom. "Is it weird that I want to shower before I get in the tub?"

"No, we're both filthy, but you better not start complaining this place is assymetrically built. You do that and we're going to have to have a little talk."

I head downstairs with our laundry and purchase some maps from the gift shop, order room service, and ask for a few more bottles of shampoo from the front desk because frankly it's going to take a lot to get the ground in dirt out of my fro.

I let myself into the room and am met by the loud hum of the Jacuzzi tub and happy little meister moans.

"Oh, Soul! This is so nice. Thank you. I'm so sorry about earlier."

"I told you to stop apologizing. But I do want you to relax tonight. I really need you to do that _for me_, ok?"

She nods.

"Good. We can plan, but I don't want you doing any Soul Detection or calling Lord Death about anything. This is a night off for you."

"What about you? And why don't you have a shirt on?"

"I threw it in with the laundry. I figured I might as well…I didn't expect to be wearing it much longer anyways," I say grinning at her.

She smiles and tells me to get in the tub with her. "Naw. I have to wait till our dinner arrives. Then I'll join you. They said it'd be less than a half hour."

I hop on the bed, kick my shoes off, pull off my socks and turn on the TV. Most of what's on is total crap, but I manage to find a comedian doing stand-up who is half way decent. I try to concentrate on his jokes to distract me from the sexy noises coming from the hot tub, but it's difficult. This may be the longest half hour of my life.

About three comedy bits later, I hear a knock at the door and I hop off the bed, peer through the peephole in the door and see that it is a man with a cart on which are several silver trays. I fling open the door and welcome him in before I remember that Maka is _naked_ in the bathtub and that while there are bubbles I probably shouldn't have let this dude in the room. I strategically place myself between him and her spot in the tub trying to make myself wider than I really am in hopes that he can't see anything.

"One salmon with rice pilaf and one linguini with roasted potatoes. One bottle of sparkling cider and one tray of a half dozen chocolate covered strawberries."

Maka gasps and starts to bolt out of the tub. I use all my muscle to hold her in the tub as I give the man his tip. The door barely closes behind him before she is streaking over to the table where he has set our meal.

"Chocolate covered strawberries?"

I nod and much to my surprise instead of her lifting the lid and grabbing one of them she throws her arms around me and kisses me. "Oh, thank you! Thank you."

I smirk a little. It's not like it was hard. I saw them on the menu. I knew she would like them. I ordered them. It's really the chef who did the hard part, but I don't say this. Why would I do that when I'm enjoying the sensation of her breasts pressing into my bare chest?

We kiss and I fear that our fancy meal might not get eaten if we continue this so I reluctantly pull myself away and grab a fork.

"Dig in."

Maka finds that there is a robe hanging in the bathroom and puts it on while she eats her dinner. We talk about the paintings on the wall which we like and the lamps which we don't, because it's hard to find the switch on them. Then it's time for desert and after scarfing down one of the strawberries herself she climbs into my lap and holds one for me to eat, but I'm not looking at the strawberry. I'm looking at the robe as it slips off her shoulder and how it's gapping in the front right in between her legs which are spread one on either side of me.

I lift her up and carry her to the bed and she smiles from ear to ear.

"Feeling better?" I inquire and she nods.

"Good." I lay her down on her back and reach down and untie the robe's belt and open it. I take in her naked body, here and there marred with a bruise or a burn mark and it reminds me that we haven't put any sauve on any of the spots today. I get up and retrieve it from our stuff and come over and lift one of her arms and start massaging it into the injuries. This is something all DWMA students do as a courtesy to one another, but for the first time it feels erotic not at all like when I have to do the ones on Black*Star's back because he's done something to piss off Tsubaki.

I start kissing her arm then her foot and her leg.

Oh, I have got to stop. Oh, holy hell. I flop on my back next to her and she rolls over and kisses me.

"Soul…"

"Hhhmmm," I reply, sexy visions flashing through my thoughts in time to my accelerated heartbeat. Better than ever before I understand that old phase my grandmother uses, 'hot and bothered' because that is exactly what I am. I want Maka worse than anything else in my entire life.

She seems to want to say something, but she is hesitating. I sit up and grab myself a glass of water and come back to bed.

"Soul, let's have sex tonight."

I start choking on my water. She needs to warn me before some big announcement like that.

"That's sweet Maka, but we can't. I didn't bring any condoms." I tell her. There it's said and done and over with. I can now return to the tortures of my horniness.

"You what?!"

"Sorry! It's not my fault they aren't part of the DWMA's standard first aid kit. Death, knows they should be!"

"You _intentionally_ didn't bring any?"

"Well…yeah, because I didn't want you to think I wanted that…I mean _I do_…oh, God, I really do, but I didn't want you to think I needed, er…expected it and we're on assignment and I didn't want you to think I wasn't taking it seriously."

She shakes her head. "You always take our assignments seriously. If you didn't I wouldn't enjoy having you as a partner."

"Well, that's really sweet of you but-"

She is on top of me. Her hands attack my belt, her lips press into mine, while her tongue dives into my mouth. It's all happening so fast and I seem powerless to stop her.

"Maka, what the fuck? I just told you we don't have any condoms and I'm not having anything happen to you like it did with Tsubaki."

She smiles at me. "I thought that's what this was about."

"Of course that's what this is about!" I shout in frustration. "I want to be all over you, but it's not a good idea. I can't pretend this shit only happens to people we don't know!" She continues to plant hot, wet kisses on my chest and neck.

"I guess I could see if I could buy some somewhere…" I say uncertain what she wants me to do at this point. "OK, I'll go if you want me to."

She pulls back. "Soul, are you scared?"

"Yeah, I'm scared."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to ruin your life, but I want this really bad."

"How bad?"

I narrow my eyes. What is she playing at?

"And," I mumble. "What if I'm no good?"

Maka falls back on the bed laughing and her hand slides down my pants which should remove from her mind any doubt of just how much I want her. I don't think I've ever been this hard in my life.

"Soul, we don't need to worry about condoms-"

"No!" What a vile temptress!

She is grinning at me like I am so, so funny.

"Maka, am I missing something?"

"Yes, you are," she says running her hand through my hair lovingly. "But, I love how much you care about me. You always make me feel so safe. And if you'd ever let me finish, I could tell you that we don't need to worry about condoms because I'm on the pill."

This news hits me slowly. We're teenagers…I thought that was something only college women did or people who already had a kid or two.

I stare up at my meister who is on top of me, naked, and apparantly giving me free license to fuck her brains out. "Wait, did I miss something? Did you at some point have another boyfriend and forget to tell me? Is there some guy out there I'm gonna need to kill?"

She laughs and in-between kisses and stroking me she says, "No, silly. I've been on them for years. Remember how I had those really horrible cramps?"

"Yeah, you were in bed all day. We even got excused from missions 'cause you were so bad."

Maka smiles. "Well, you knew I went to the doctor about it and they made it better. Well, they said if I started taking the pill it might help and it did so…I…"

"Wait a second. Those little pills in that round thing? Those pills you've taken every night for like ever? You told me those were vitamins!"

She laughs, "Only a guy would believe that vitamins come in packaging like that."

"You lied!" She giggles again like it's the funniest thing she has ever pulled over on her weapon.

"You know," I continue. "That violates DWMA regulations. A partner is supposed to know all medications that their partner is on in the event of an emergency." I can't believe she's kept this hidden from me and made me sweat like this.

"Birth control pills don't counteract any lifesaving medications or treatments."

I can't argue with her. I have no idea. I don't know how the pill works or what EMTs do to save people I just know that my meister has done something against the rules and whenever that happens I must give her a hard time even if it means delaying sex a little bit.

"Why are you so shocked, Soul? There was no way that two years ago I was prepared to tell you I was on birth control pills. That would have been so embarrassing."

"I'm just surprised is all. It seems that my meister has been having some kind of sexual awakening while I've been off playing basketball or something."

"It can hardly be called a sexual awakening. I think I'd have to have sex for that."

"Well, for all I know you have a vibrator hidden away somewhere."

"No, not yet." She says very matter-of-factly.

"Yet?" My jaw drops and she giggles and blushes.

"What? Don't look at me like that. It's natural."

"And why would you need a vibrator when you will have _me_?"

"Soul," she looks up at me with sadness in her eyes. "You aren't going to be around _all_ the time."

I am truly confused. "Where am I gonna be?"

"Well, once you're a deathscythe Lord Death…or Kid, I guess, that's weird to think about…" she loses track of her train of thought for a moment. "You'll be sent out on missions alone or have to fight alongside Death and-"

"And you'll be with me," I state. There is no way I'm gonna let her put in all the work to make me a deathscythe and then have me abandon her.

"I don't think that's how it works," she sighs. "It's not like I'm happy about it, but that's just the way it is."

I lay there for a moment taking all this in and she slides up my body so that I can see that she has tears in her eyes. "Soul, can we please not talk about it?"

"Oh, Maka. I'm sorry! I'm an idiot!"

I kiss her. Tonight we need to live in the moment, but I'm glad we had this conversation, because I'm gonna need to have a talk to Professor Stein about this. We're on the road to Maka being the youngest meister in history to turn her weapon into a deathscythe, but I never saw that as meaning an end to our partnership and if that's what would happen it's not what I want. I want her more than anything else and reminding myself of this fact, I whisper in her ear, "Well, maybe it's time you have that sexual awakening."


	31. Chapter 31: The Day Life Begins

_**Chapter 31: The Day Life Begins; Harder?!**_

There has been so much building up to this moment, yet making love to Maka doesn't feel like the culmination of something or the beginning of something new. It simply feels like the inevitability I always hoped it to be, a more physical way of expressing the things our hearts and souls have known for a very long time. Above all, Maka is my friend, a confidant that despite our differences seems to know what I need even when I don't. I can't say I expected it to be this way.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. Like a lot of young meisters new to the academy, she was looking for a weapon partner, but she had wandered away from the main gathering of new students to where I was seated alone at the grand piano. Maybe it was fate or maybe Lord Death had strategically placed that piano in just the right spot hoping someone would find me because I'm sure that he'd been warned I was a bit antisocial.

From looking at her I could access that she was bookish and not overly concerned with her appearance like some of the girls who were plastered with makeup, their hair stiff from hairspray. She was nervous just like me, but had a sweet, earnest manner about her. I pegged her as a know-it-all, someone who would drive me bonkers, but I figured, what the hell? I'll test her. I'll play for her. If that doesn't scare her off than maybe nothing will.

My music was always misunderstood. My music teachers would reprimand me for not having the artistic restraint to compose something that came together as a cohesive whole. What they didn't understand was that I knew nothing about being whole. I was jealous of my brother's success and struggling with coming to terms with being a demon weapon and having an absent dad and then when mom got diagnosed…well, I got angrier. I didn't want anyone to tell me how to feel or how to play or even how to behavior and any partner of mine was going to have to accept that.

And so I played, pouring all my emotions into the notes. The anger and pain and fear and joy and dark humor being propelled from my soul into my song. I told her the song was who I was. I expected her to run, but she didn't. She did something no one else had ever done; _she smiled_. She didn't tell me I had to change. She heard my song and was _drawn_ to it and _liked it, liked __**me**__._ She asked me to be her partner. She chose to harmonize with me. That's the day my life changed.

"Maka, I love you," I whisper to her. I wish there were better words to express to her how I feel, because "I love you"s get thrown around so lightly it seems, but she knows me. She knows I'm not like that. Then I remember something she said earlier today something that had made my heart pound and my body be overrun with a wave of heat. She told me that she was mine "body, mind, and soul." Replaying that moment in my mind gets me so excited I pull her face close to me and whisper in her ear, "Oh, Maka, I wish I could tell you how much I love you." I run my tongue on the edge of her ear and she lets out a little gasp. She bites her lip and replies that maybe there aren't words.

Then nervously she says, "That's why I want to show you with my body." Oh, Death!

"Oh, God, how I've wanted you," I say as I throw off my pants and boxers that she has already loosened. I feel driven to claim her as my own. I want nothing more than to be inside of her and make that annoying gap between our bodies disappear. Surely, having two separate bodies is a redundancy for us. We belong together- one being with two sides, like a coin, each needing the other to be whole. I kiss her, my lips sucking on hers, my brain marveling at how soft they are and how every part of her is so smooth. I release her lips and see that she is smiling at me her face a tinge redder than usual. Her eyes meet mine and then she glances away seemingly embarrassed to be caught in my lust-filled gaze. I reach for her chin and pull her back to me and smile at her.

"Don't be embarrassed, Maka. It's just me," I say and she smiles.

"Soul, I love you," she says in a voice so soft that it's barely audible…or maybe I simply sense her thought. I don't know. My lips once again meet hers. I am over her kissing her, my hands under her enjoying the feel of her body unfettered by garments.

For the first time, we are both free to be with one another as we have desired. I run my tongue down to the nape of her neck and suck on it. She moans and her body lifts up ever so slightly allowing my right hand the opportunity to find a resting spot on the dip of her lower back, enabling me to guide and direct her body at my will.

"Bite me," she says and I gently nip the area I've been sucking and she lets out a yelp like a puppy. "Oh, Shinigami, do it again!" she whines and I bite her again this time a little lower. Over the years many perpetrators of evil have left their marks on her skin, but now she will have scars from love, from her partner who will battle by her side till his dying day.

Her hands are wrapped around me and with every touch I get tingles. I reach between her legs and find that she is practically dripping and even the slightest brush of my finger near her entrance makes her spread her legs as a sign that I am welcome inside her. I slide a couple of my fingers into her as I concentrate my kisses and bites on the other side of her neck. I gently grab her breast and suck on it as I play with her insides. Tremors shake her body and I can't wait any longer. Her mouth hangs half way open, her green eyes watching me. I pull my fingers out and guide myself into her.

I watch as her mouth opens wider and her eyes close. I go slowly trying to make sure that I don't hurt her, but she's so wet that I slide into her easily. She curls her legs around me, hooking her ankles behind me so that I'm trapped within her legs just as she is trapped beneath me in between my arms. I start pushing in and pulling out a little and she moans.

"Oh, that feels so good…"she says as I slide myself back and forth inside her. I lean down and kiss her forehead.

"You ok?" I ask and she nods and murmurs that she is. I buck my hips back and forth while my left hand finds her right and our fingers interlace. I can't believe I'm inside her. If I think about it too much I get too near climaxing so I have to just concentrate on watching her face and feeling her strong muscles that surround me. I stop kissing her and straighten myself up so I can pound into her. I do and she lets out a howl.

"Yes, like that! Harder, Soul. Harder!"

I smirk. I will happily give it to her as hard and fast as she wants. I start speeding up and she moans.

"Harder!" She shouts. I withdraw my hand from hers and brace myself so I can give her what she wants. She keeps calling my name and moaning, her head flipping from side to side as I go in and out of her.

She reaches up for me and I wrap my arms around her torso and she manages to sit up without her pussy losing its grasp on me. She scoots closer to me and I am amazed to feel myself go into her even deeper than before. She starts rocking herself so that now I'm the one holding still and she's the one moving. I look down and I can see myself disappearing into her and I remember all those times I desired this, but thought that it would never happen.

"Maka, you are so sexy," I growl into her ear and I can tell the sound of my voice excites her.

"Talk to me, Soul."

"Mmmmmmm. What should I say? Tell you about all those times I imagined what this would be like, but how my wildest fantasy is nothing compared to the real you."

"Oh, Soul," she smiles and hugs me with such force she knocks me backwards so I'm laying down, my head hanging off the bed. We both start laughing and she gets up grabs my ankles and slides me so that I'm no longer hanging off the bed. I smile at her and she climbs on top of me pulling my cock into her. I let out a massive groan as she starts to raise and lower herself up and down it. I watch her as much as I can, but I'm starting to get overloaded and I find myself shutting my eyes and just moaning. She is tight and muscular and squeezing down upon me so that every part of my cock is in contact with her. It feels so good. Oh, I'm going to cum! But then she slides herself slowly off of me and for a millisecond I'm disappointed and eager to once again be inside her, but then she gets down on all fours and licks the head of my cock and I yowl. She picks it up and runs her tongue all over it while her eyes are deadlocked on mine. She wants me to watch as she gives special attention to every inch of it.

"Oh, Maka!" I cry and she smiles devilishly. She is getting pleasure just from giving it to me. I throw my head back and feel her tongue and lips creating what feels like an electrical storm in my groin and then as suddenly as she started she stops and climbs on top of me grabbing my cock now glistening with her saliva. She gives me a lust-filled stare and then pulls me into her enveloping me with one swift movement. I gasp, never having before felt myself go into her so smoothly or quickly. She begins to grind herself on my pelvis, twisting and spinning as she moves up and down and our moaning becomes synchronized as our soul wavelengths match one another and I know that soon we will be cumming together and I briefly wonder if it's possible to resonant your soul with someone inadvertently when you are so intimately entangled as we are.

She raises herself so I almost come out, but then she lowers herself with a determined expression and yelps with pleasure when she gets to my base. She continues this until I can no longer watch her. I am too near to losing it.

"Maka, I'm close…" I tell her and she picks up her pace and her squeals become more erratic. She leans in and gives me one final kiss but I use it as an opportunity to grab her and roll her onto her back pinning her down, holding her hands above her head. I have to have another turn at pounding her. I can't help myself. I love hearing her scream!

I move my pelvis closer and farther from her fast and then faster. She screams and I increase my speed and then she screams again and I try to go faster still. Death, I love listening to her. I love knowing that I can make this usually mild-mannered sweet girl let go and just _feel_ and _scream_! I love how when we are together like this we can shut out the rest of the world focusing only on each other and making each other feel amazing.

She is thrashing under me and I'm coming undone from the touch of her pussy and the sound of her voice and the scent of our mingled sweat and her dripping sex.

"Oh, Soul, oh, oh, oooohhhhhhhhh!"

She's so close and I want her to cum so badly and I know as soon as she does I will, too. I don't know how I'm holding myself together right now. She feels amazing, she looks like an angel and I have wanted this for so long. There have been so many nights when I wondered what this would be like, but I had never imagined Maka to be such a goddess of sex. She knows just what to do to drive me insane. It's like we were made for each other.

I pull almost all the way out and then slam into her before returning to my rapid pounding and I begin to start the cycle again when she starts making a little sound that builds into a bigger one and then it grows even larger until it becomes a huge, wild scream, "Yes! Yess!" and then it happens. "Yes….oh….SOooooooouuuuulllll!" She stretches my name out letting it hang in the air above us as a wave of warm fluid meets me. I make one final forward thrust before I begin to cum into her. I moan and make grunting sounds I've never heard myself make, but I'm not self-conscious, not with her.

I rock her gently back and forth on me a few more times before I pull out and lay down beside her. She has a look of bliss on her face. We lay there for a while trying to catch our breath before she rolls on her side to face me.

"Thank you, Soul," she says with an expression of awe. I smile and reach over to tuck a few stray hairs behind her ears, "Any time, meister. Any time."

I smile at my meister happy that all those years ago she chose to tangle the notes of her song with mine. Since that first day I've grown to love her in so many ways. She is my friend, my confidant who knows my thoughts even when I don't speak them. She is my partner, a person I trust completely and would sacrifice my life to protect and now I'm her lover, because today she decided to claim that which has been hers for so very long-_me_, body, mind, and soul.

I yawn. "Love you, Maka," I say as I wrap an arm around her already feeling the drowsiness of post-coital delight setting in on me.

"Love you, too, Soul," she says and nestles her head in my chest.

From now on our songs will be entwined so tightly that no one listening to them will be able to determine where one song ends and the other begins and that makes me very, very happy.


	32. Chapter 32: The Allure of Pleasure

**Risenfromash: Thank you for your continued support.**

_**Chapter 32: The Allure of Pleasure; What the Fuck?**_

I wake up a while later to see Maka tiptoeing by me to grab a copy of the room key off the night stand. She's dressed in a lime green nightgown that's printed with yellow stars all over it. It's basically one big oversized t-shirt and true to her fashion sense is far too short to wear in public, but she's headed toward the door anyways.

"Wear a robe, meister! Or I'll have to beat them off with sticks!"

"Shit!" She shouts as she jumps like a foot in the air. She turns back around placing her hands on her hips. "Soul, you scared me! I thought you'd be out for hours." And then apparently recalling why she specifically thought I'd be especially tired, blushes and suddenly becomes very interested in her toes.

Not wanting to make her any more self-conscious that she already is, I ignore the fact we just banged each other like two wild animals in heat and do my best to act normal. "Naw. I just woke up. What you up to?"

"I'm going to get a soda. You want something?"

"Sure. A root beer would be great." While camping we pretty much only drink water or water with a nasty tasting electrolyte powder added to it so imagining an actual cold soda is pretty heavenly.

She obediently grabs the hotel bathrobe and tosses it over her nightgown and heads out giving me a moment to collect my thoughts and create a plan for the rest of the evening. Let's see…I haven't used the hot tub alone or with Meister Maka…and I have had quite a workout today.

_Oh, Shinigami, I cannot believe Maka and I just had sex!_ If you had told me two weeks ago that on our next mission that Maka and I would be like _that_, I'd never have believed it. I mean I didn't think she was a prude or anything, but I thought that even if I managed to get her to be my girlfriend that it would be years till we…Damn, I am one lucky dude.

I pull on my boxers as I walk over to the tub. I drain out the water that is in it and start to fill it up with fresh water. Yup, I think it's about time for me to partake in the luxury of having an awesome hotel room with an awesome partner. Death, am I really getting horny again already? Wow…I kinda didn't think that was possible…

Maka returns shortly and hands me my can of soda, but I don't only grab my drink. I grab her wrist and smirk at her as I pull her toward me. My lips are on hers once again, caressing her delicate flesh with mine. Her hands slide down to grasp my butt.

"Thank you, Soul," she says sweetly and I can sense that her soul is contented and at peace.

"Like I said. Anytime," and then I give a toothy grin and continue, "Like now…for instance," and I scoop her up as easily as if she were a stuffed doll and toss her over my shoulder. She's literally hanging upside down with her ass right by my face. Her nightgown has flopped down and it's an extremely nice view. I plant a kiss on the side of her ass right by the edge of her panties and pretend that I can't hear her protesting.

"Soul Eater! Put me down!" She shouts indignantly.

It cracks me up that after all this time she still never anticipates when I'm going to pick her up and mess with her. Here she is, this totally badass meister who can take down demons and win arm wrestling matches against some of the DWMA's strongest yet somehow I can scoop her up and she becomes totally helpless in my arms. So cute!

"This isn't funny!" She says but I can tell from her tone she isn't actually pissed or at least not very. It's good for her to not always be in charge. Sometimes, her weapon partner has to have a little fun and tonight…well, tonight he's going to have _lots_ of fun.

I stop for a moment. "If it isn't funny then why is my meister laughing?" I rotate as though I'm attempting to talk to her face to face, but I can't because her head is behind me so I just spin and spin.

"I was not!"

"Liar. You're totally smiling and I can feel your belly jiggling." I reach up and tickle her a little and she quakes even more.

"Oh, stop, Soul! Stop! You're gonna make me pee!"

Aw. I've heard that excuse before and I have yet to receive any golden showers from my meister. I shake my head and walk around the room with her as though she's a sack of potatoes or something.

"You know, Maka, you shouldn't say 'no' when you mean 'yes'. It's very irresponsible. It confuses us guys." I set her down by the hot tub and strip off her nightgown. I start nibbling at her neck moving towards her tits.

"Soul!" She seems shocked like I'm not supposed to already be hot for her again, but she's missing the point. I'm _always_ hot for her and I'm gonna have her again. I can't help myself.

"Soul, I haven't even had my soda," she says in a lame attempt to get me to stop.

"Come on," I say huskily. "Get in the hot tub with me." I say those words, but the way I say it implies much more. Her face lights up and she pulls off her panties and climbs in. Death, I _love_ this girl!

I grab our ice cold sodas and set them on the edge of the Jacuzzi. She sits relaxing in the warmth of the tub, eyes closed, as I pull my boxers off and climb in. I settle myself on one end of the tub my arms stretched out on either side of me. She immediately comes splashing over.

"Oh, Soul. This is really nice," she says as she settles in spooned up next to me sipping her cherry coke. Honestly though, there is something in the way of being a perfect spoon, something big and hard bobbing in the water, that is getting more and more excited every time her ass brushes up against it. I'm getting all these urges to bend her over, but I try to stay cool and just sit there sipping my soda and enjoying this rare moment. I don't want her to think I'm some kind of sex addict; it'd probably be better to slowly introduce that topic.

"Yeah, it's totally cool," I say sitting there feeling the warm water soothe my sore muscles as I take a big slurp of my root beer.

"But, I'm still disappointed we haven't found Falconer-"

"_Yet_. Maka, we haven't found him _yet_, but when we do you'll take his soul no problem." Oh, Shinigami! I think about her in combat and it gets me as turned on as seeing her naked. There is something so sexy about how determined and sure of herself she becomes when it's time to take a soul and, of course, most of the time when she's doing it she's clutching me so tight with those hands…

I pick up her left hand and kiss the back of it. She turns her head toward me a look of consternation on her face. "Do you think it's normal to already be horny again?"

I get a little embarrassed. "I can't help it."

She laughs. "I meant _me_! You, too?"

My eyes bulge. "I would think it'd be obvious." How could she not notice? It's like we have a pet sausage snuggled in between us.

"I'm too shy to look," she admits.

"That's ok. Guys aren't very pretty to look at. You on the other hand are gorgeous." I move from being behind her to being at her side wrapping my arms around her and kissing her. Her neck falls back as I begin to run my hands down her leg lifting it from the water as I go. I elevate her foot and begin to suck and nibble at each toe. Then I kiss her ankle holding her foot in both my hands like it's some kind of precious jewel. When I've gotten as far as her knee, I stop and begin the process with her other leg.

There is not a part of this girl I do not want to kiss and lick.

I come to rest between her legs as she reclines at the tub's edge. I kiss her everywhere and press my body into hers driven to get back inside her. I feel as though I might die if I don't get to experience that sensation of the two of us being one body _right now_.

"Maka, I'm gonna take you to the bed now." Even though I don't phrase it as a question it is. I gaze into her eyes inquiring to make sure it really is ok and in response she reaches her arms out and wraps them around my neck allowing me to carry her to the bed. I gently lay her down. Wet and dripping, I stand in front of her at the foot of the bed saying, "I love you" with my soul. Her look of content has now morphed into one of happiness, and she appears drunk with lust.

I return to kissing her legs, only this time above the knee. The higher I get the more I detect her womanly scent and it turns me on something crazy, driving me to move faster toward her crevice than before. I start licking her upper thigh running my tongue in the crease between her leg and her pelvis and then I plunge into her with my tongue.

She gasps and one of her feet starts to twitch wildly as I pleasure her. I stroke the inside of her with my tongue amazed at how much I enjoy eating her out like this. First, I dive deep penetrating her as much as I can with my long, gentle tongue. Then, I drag my tongue across her clit…I'm assuming that's what that bump is…it's gotta be; whenever I touch it she goes _crazy_. Her legs start moving almost like she's bicycling and her hands reach down to tangle with my hair. Without words she communicates to me what gives her the most pleasure. When my tongue grazes a spot she especially enjoys she'll let me know by holding her hands on my head still as if to stabilize me in my present position.

She's dripping again and I love the taste. I love knowing I get her wet! She starts to wail a little and then a little more and I'd grin with pride were my mouth and tongue not currently occupied. Eventually, she clenches down on my tongue and a series of spasms follow that make every part of her twitch. I wait till the aftershocks stop completely and she is limp and panting before I give one final lick to her pussy and pull my tongue out.

"Maka, you need to quit being so damn hot!"

"What?" she says weakly, her eyes fluttering. "I did nothing. I just got a soda."

"See there's the problem. You don't have to do anything. You could be taking out the trash and it'd turn me on." As I tease her I place my knee in between her thighs, gently shoving them apart.

"Sounds like it's your problem then," she says. "But, if there's something I can do…" She raises her eyebrows a little and smiles like a kid who snuck an extra cookie when no one was looking.

"I'm sure you'll be able to think of some way to help me out," I say as I lean over to French kiss her as I plunge into her with my cock. For a brief moment as I glide into her, she breaks the kiss to inhale deeply but then quickly returns her lips to mine, coiling her tongue inside my mouth. She trembles a little when I'm fully inside her as though I've created tingles throughout her whole body, inside and out. She remains silent as I move in and out of her but her eyes never stray from mine and I can see that they are smiling.

I squeeze her breasts and my lips dance across her neck as I push myself toward orgasm. Occasionally, her breath will catch in her throat as I rub somewhere especially pleasurable to her and when I hear this I try to repeat the same thrust multiple times making her pant in rhythm with my body. It isn't long before I let go, releasing into her, my body turning into jello for the second time today.

I pull out and flop onto my back next to my meister. She snuggles up next to me so that her head is by mine and we just lay there like that for a while before we start talking in hushed tones as though in awe of the things we have done today.

She whispers to me, "Are we ever going to be able to get any work done anymore?"

"I'm not sure." I tell her kissing the top of her head. "Depends on how long you think you can manage to keep your hands off me."

She pretends to back hand me. "You are so damn full of yourself now aren't you?"

"Nope. I think _you're_ full of _me_." I ball up on the bed laughing as she glares at me with disapproval and beats on me, gently, with both fists. "I'm sorry! You totally walked right into that one," I snicker.

"Soul, don't you dare get cocky on me! Just because you…"she pauses looking for the proper terminology. "Make me feel good."

I smirk and whisper to her, "Oh, I make you feel better than good. I can make you scream my name." I wink at her and before I know it she has hit me on the head with her book.

"Maka!" I say suddenly talking in my normal tone and volume as I rub my poor head. Holy hell, when did she grab her book?! I swear sometimes they materialize from thin air.

She grins at me and says, "Don't you dare get too full of yourself because if you do I'll just cut you off. No sex for you…ever again."

I narrow my eyes. "You wouldn't. You've waited just as long as I have for this and you like it too damn much."

She ignores this assessment which means that she knows I'm right, but she continues with her little charade. "Or maybe I'll make you jealous. Find some hunky guy to flirt with…a…ski instructor or something."

I blow a raspberry with my lips. "Ski instructor? Don't they get their pick of chicks? Why would they settle for…"

"You call me 'Tiny Tits' and I will _murder_ you. I'm _not_ kidding, Soul Eater. If you hadn't pulled that whole shit about never wanting to be with an A-cup my live would have been a whole helluva a lot easier."

"I'm sorry," I say truly apologetic. It's a little embarrassing to think how superficial I was and still can be at times. "I didn't give you a complex did I?"

She rolls her eyes and shrugs. "Thankfully, no. I had to deny that I liked you, too."

"I think you called me a 'cretin' and now thanks to your vocab lessons, I even know what it means." I think for a moment and then offer her a deal. "How bout you agree to only bring paperbacks on our expeditions and I will try not to brag _every_ time I make you have a mind blowing orgasm."

Her eyebrows arch. "Try?"

"Ok, I won't say a damn thing about how amazing I am in bed…or wherever we happen to have done it." My mind is flooded with images of all kinds of sexy situations in which we might find ourselves.

"I guess that's fair." She extends her hand to me and we shake on it.

I glance at the clock. It's getting late, but since we've both napped we can burn the midnight oil some. "I gotta go move our laundry into the dryer. When I get back let's talk about our plan for tomorrow's Falcon hunting."

She smiles widely. "Sounds good. Can you grab some ice, too? I'm awful hot."

"Yes, you are, meister," I reply as I step into the bathroom to clean myself up a bit and toss on my boxers and pants.

"I'll be right back," I holler over my shoulder as I head out with the room key.


	33. Chapter 33: An Odd Situation

_Chapter 33: An Odd Situation; Shakespeare's Plays Rewritten?_

I'm still wearing a huge grin as I head down the stairs to the laundry room to move our clothes to the dryer. I'm feeling _great!_ My awesome partner, best friend, and roommate is now also my awesomely hot girlfriend who seems equally eager to get physical as I do and for once I feel relaxed. I swear as soon as the guys see me they are going to notice. I mean I act laid back, but I can be pretty amped up sometimes and now, Death, I don't know what someone would have to do to piss me off.

I flick on the light in the laundry room and open up the lid on the washer and pull out one of my t-shirts cautiously giving it a sniff. Aw! Much better! Demon guts smell worse than Black*Star's gym socks. I'm sure both Maka and I will feel a lot more human tomorrow having gotten to wash our hair and put on some clean clothes. I open the dryer door and start flinging our laundry in handful by handful. Oh, there goes a pair of Maka's panties…don't look! Oops, couldn't help it. I'm sure I'll see them all soon enough. Oh, Shinigami, I am happy!

I can't believe I lost my virginity and it was so good! Over the years I've heard that it's wise not to have super high expectations of your 'first time.' I've had a few adults over the years tell me that it would probably suck because you're nervous and often doing it with someone else who has zilch in the experience department, too. In fact, once in front of the entire Crescent Moon class, Professor Stein let something to this effect slip out before turning his back on us to face the chalkboard, mumbling that it gets better, but that we were way too young and to keep it in our pants. How in the hell did we get on that topic while in class? I can't even remember. Maybe Black*Star was bragging about his ginormous dick again…it happens far too often even when class is in session. God, it's amazing Tsubaki didn't kick him to the curb long before this…or maybe it had something to do with Marie and how jealous she was of Medusa? Maybe that was it. The professor is a weird one. How do you go from flirting with a queen of seduction to Marie?! I would never have guessed that she'd be his type in a million years.

I guess opposites really do attract. I mean, when I first told people I wasn't into my meister I wasn't _consciously_ lying about it, not _at first_ anyway…it just took me a while to realize what really matters and once I figured it out, an A-cup was suddenly the sexiest tit size on the planet.

I reach into my pocket to grab some quarters to put in the coin-operated machine and discover I'm one short. Damn, I gotta get change. I look around and see that there is no change machine in the laundry room, but there is a neatly framed sign hanging up stating that the front desk is happy to provide it for guests. I head out the door and down the hall toward the lobby. It's late in the evening so there isn't much activity, but there are a few people wandering around perhaps returning to their rooms after a night out or going to take a late night dip in the pool.

As I get closer to the main lobby I hear shouting. It sounds like someone is chewing out the front desk and it sounds like the dude who checked us in earlier today is still on duty. Why would someone be yelling at him? He seemed cool to me. If he was the kind of judgmental asshole a lot of places hire he would have thrown me out the door as soon as he saw me. Curious, I creep the rest of the way down the hallway to see what's up, trying not to draw attention to myself.

A tall person with long tresses of reddish-brown hair stands with his back toward me. From his stature and his low voice it must be a man or the huskiest woman I've ever seen. He appears to be alone.

"I have information that they are _here_ in your hotel!" The tall man shouts.

The hotel employee appears frazzled but seems to be holding firm on whatever the man is bickering with him about.

I dart over to one of the lounge chairs in the lobby grabbing a newspaper that is laying on a nearby end table as I go. I open the newspaper and try to blend in with the other hotel guests that are coming and going from the lobby.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I _can't_ help you," says the man behind the counter. "As a hospitality company we do not release the names or personal information of any of our guests. We are a _retreat_; a place of rest and relaxation and our guests are entitled to the _utmost_ in privacy, regardless of their age."

"Even in matters such as this?" booms the voice of the tall man. "You have a runaway girl here who could be violated at any moment and you intend to just stand by and do nothing?"

"Sir, are you the girl's father?" the front desk man asks gently, appearing to try a more compassionate approach with the belligerent customer.

"No. I am not. I am a private investigator hired by her father to track her down. We've followed her here all the way from Nevada where she attends school at an elite academy."

I gulp. That's weird that could describe Maka…except that she is, of course, not a runaway. It must be a coincidence. Wait…would Spirit have somehow got into his head that we need to be tailed? Would he really go that far to discover what Maka and I do together behind closed doors? What an asshole! I've always thought Maka is a little too hard on her dad. He's just a dude with an overactive libido and zero standards who never should have gotten married. But if he did this he has declared _war_. Now that Maka and I are together, I will not allow him to give us any shit. _**She's mine**__ and that's final._

"I'm sorry, sir," the hotel employee states. "Unless you show me a police badge I'm not telling you anything."

"You do realize that you may be found negligent should any harm befall her while at your establishment?"

"Are you threatening Wintermore?" asks the man behind the counter. "Because you can't intimidate me. I've worked in the hospitality industry for over fifteen years and I know the rights and responsibilities of our corporation. Now please leave. You are welcome to return in the company of a law enforcement officer."

An old guy who has been sitting by the fire stands up and approaches the front desk. I recognize him from earlier, I think he was in line behind me when I checked in or maybe I ran into him in the men's room or something.

"Sir," the old man begins. "Did I hear you are looking for a couple runaways? Perhaps you would be more successful being respectful of the staff here. You're causing quite a scene. Now, what'd you say the girl looks like?"

"She's got green eyes and hair the color of ash that she usually wears in ponytails. She appears to have run away with another youth, a male with white hair and red eyes."

_**Fuck! **_ They are talking about me and Maka. I've gotta call Lord Death right now, but I better do it in private… and if no one's going to tell them which room we are in I may as well stick around a minute or two longer to see if I can pick up any other info.

The old man rubs his beard thoughtfully, "And you say this boy is…?"

"Bad news. We believe he lured her here to have sex."

I roll my eyes. Yes, I _lured _my meister all the way to central Oregon because having sex in the apartment we _live in together_ in Nevada would be far too convenient. Maka and I will get Spirit's status as a Deathscythe revoked for this. You can't fuck with us while we're on a mission doing Lord Death's will. Not cool!

"Were you never young and in love?" the old man asks. "Why I remember this one girl before I entered the service-"

"If you know something I suggest you spill it as we believe the 'young' man is lying about his age and we have grounds to prosecute on charges of kidnapping and potentially statutory rape."

What is going on! I'm no _rapist_ and _we're on a mission_!

"Oh, well that changes things…" murmurs the old guy.

"Obviously," the man with the long hair says smugly.

"Well, if the employees can't tell you, I will. I never saw the girl, but I _did_ see a young man that sounds like the one you are looking for. He rented a bridal suite for the night."

Oh, _fuck you_, Old Guy! What happened to being in love? Why the fuck are you selling me and my meister out?

"Thank you. Your assistance has been most helpful. I'll be happy to handle this from here," the tall man says as he turns and for the first time I can get a good look at his profile and my brain registers a large long nose that has a distinctive hook shape to it.

Oh, I am _so_ stupid! All that crap was all a bunch of BS! He's not here because Spirit hired him. We're getting ambushed! That's Falconer! _**He**__ found __**us**__!_

Falconer turns and heads out the front doors of the hotel and I drop the newspaper and run to the stairs. I think the old guy may have noticed but I don't care. I gotta get back to my meister. We have mere seconds to make some tough decisions and a lot is running through my head, because if Falconer came after us that may mean he knew we had been assigned to take his soul, but how would he know that unless there is a spy in the DWMA's inner circle…

I get to the fourth floor and slide my key card and run into the room. Putting the additional room lock on the door. Maka has put her nightgown back on and is busying herself gathering maps and setting them on the table we ate our dinner on.

"I found Falconer! Get dressed!" I shout.

"Where?" Maka asks as she scrambles to find her pair of pants to pull on under her nightgown.

"In the lobby. He's come to us. We've gotta get outta here," I walk over to the balcony door that serves as the room's only window and peer around the drapes. As I suspected, Falconer is not alone…I see four demon goons outside made visible by streetlamps, but I can only speculate how many more are lurking in the shadows. He must have headed outside to let them know he was closing in on us. "Well, Maka, we've hit the big time! They're coming to us now," I say with an especially toothy grin as I begin to calculate how best to deal with this unexpected situation.

"Soul, you aren't thinking of tossing me out that window are you? Soul?" Damn, I hate it when she knows what I'm thinking before I'm ready for her to. It's really annoying, because, yes, I am thinking about leaving by way of the balcony, but it's not like I'm going to fling her off it like she's a handful of confetti or something. "Course not! We're four stories up! I'd never do that. I was just counting demons. I see four, but I think there are probably more…it's too hard to tell," I tell her as I grab the hat and gloves she bought for me earlier.

"We need to lure him away from the hotel," she says sadly. I know what she's thinking; DWMA students don't run, especially Meister Maka and Soul Eater. We have a reputation for being bold, fearless, and at times horrifically careless. We've never backed down from a fight even when our defeat seemed inevitable, but our instinct is telling us we can't confront Falconer here.

I nod. "Right. We can't do what we need to do here." I try to reassure her that running at this point is the right choice. "We find a better spot to fight- outside and away from other people."

"You think we can do this with just the two of us?" Her eyes are searching mine for reassurance. She can feel my nervousness.

"Oh, yeah. No prob," I pull my hands from my pockets and clap them together. "I'm jazzed to go get me- oh, crap, I can't eat these fuckers either- Damn it!"

"You mean they're little ones, too?"

"Yeah, at least the ones I see are, other than Falconer, of course."

"So there is a connection between those deformed demons and Avian Flu…"

"There must be. I can't imagine there could be that many demon midgets wandering around on their own."

"Hhhhmmmm," she says deep in thought.

I grab my bag and fish around in it and pull out a length of rope.

"What are you doing?" she asks me.

"They're moving into position to cover the hotel exits. So we'll make our own."

Her eyes narrow with suspicion, "Do you always have a huge rope in your bag?"

I shrug. "We were camping. Rope is handy. Never know when I might need to take a captive." I waggle my eyebrows at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Be serious. We're _working_ now."

"That's no reason to cut out your sense of humor," I scold as I slide open the door to the balcony and bend over tying the rope to the balcony railing as I tell her the plan. "I'll go first then you follow. The snow drift will break our fall."

She follows me and looks down at the drop. "You sure we can't take the stairs?"

I pause. "You're the boss." We turn to head toward the hall but we hear an ominous pounding. It isn't on our door but it's close, probably right next door. "Maka and Soul. I know you're in there. Come out now!"

"Falconer!" Maka mouths the name to me and I nod. She points back to the rope. Now that she sees it as our only option her anxiety has evaporated and she is ready to do whatever it takes for us to achieve our goal and maybe like me she fears that if Falconer went to all the trouble to track us down he may have a more sinister plan in mind than simply dueling.

I start scrambling down the rope. Once I'm at the end, a little more than two stories down, I throw myself backward praying that I will land on the snow drift like I planned. Lord Death's spirit must be with me today as I land on the snowbank and am able to hop right up ready to break Maka's fall if needed. She shimmies down the rope easily enough until she is hanging outside the room that is directly below our suite. Something attracts the attention of the room's occupants and a woman runs out to the balcony pointing and screaming at my meister like some kind of ninny.

"Oh, my God! What are you doing?!" The woman screams. Maka tries to ignore her, but the woman is screaming her head off shouting for her moronic husband to come because she is 'under attack.' Really, lady?! So much for us making a quiet getaway.

"Hey, lady. Shut the fuck up!" I shout at her from the ground as Maka lets go of the rope. As she falls I see that it looks like Maka misjudged the distance a little and I run to where I think she's going to land. I catch her and fall backward whacking the back of my head on the root of a nearby pine tree. Fortunately, it isn't super bad and more importantly Maka appears to be unhurt.

Maka stands up and brushes herself off and instructs me to transform. Not wanting to argue, I do so and she carries me at her side as she runs like hell to where Brunnie is parked.

"Stupid fuckers didn't stake out the motorcycle," I rejoice. "We're lucky they're dumb."

They may be stupid about some things, but they obviously aren't completely inept because they are already in pursuit of us. We can hear the flapping of wings and we aren't even on the bike before egg bombs start dropping. Maka hops on the bike and I switch back into human form revving Brunnie's engine.

"Ready?" I ask Maka.

"Yes," Maka says as she wraps he arms around me in her usual fashion, but when her arms touch me she squeals. "Soul, you're gonna freeze!" It's just dawned on her that I don't have a shirt on and I've been lying down in snow. I am feeling like an icicle what with the clumps of snow hanging onto my belt.

"I'll be fine," I tell her, hoping that the adrenaline rush will keep me from turning blue.

"Do you want my sweatshirt?" she asks as she busies her hands brushing snow off of me.

"Naw, keep it. Just hold me tight. I'll be ok. I've got my hat and gloves and I'll be in weapon form soon enough, anyway."

"I guess…I just wish I'd thought to grab a bathrobe for you…" She says with regret and I can tell she's scolding herself for not paying more attention to me.

"Don't worry about it. Just concentrate on Falconer and decide on a plan of attack. I'm gonna try and find someplace for us to fight him."

Despite the late hour, there is an eerie glowing quality to the night due to the reflection of moonlight off the snow. I try to get to a part of the road that has been shoveled, but the going is still rather treacherous. We won't be able to run far or particularly fast but that's ok. All we need is to find a more appropriate spot to fight than in the middle of a resort hotel filled with innocent bystanders. There was no way we could have a fair fight there against Falconer as we would be concerned about collateral damage and he has already proven himself to have no consideration for human life.

"Soul! Watch out! There's two at 3 o'clock. Above us in the tree."

"Got it!" I have to zig-zag to avoid whatever it is they feel the need to throw or spit at us. One thing splats on the ground in front of us that looks like a gigantic bird dropping. _Lovely! _Demons always have such repulsive attacks.

"Shinigami, there's a lot of them! He fears you so much he brought an army with him," I say beaming with pride at my meister's notoriety. She really is something.

She leans forward and squeezes me tighter. "It's _us_ he fears not _me_," she says kissing my neck. The warmth of her kiss radiates out to melt the snow that was still clinging to me.

"What can I say? We're an awesome team," I say as I reach out for her soul trying to settle the butterflies I know she has about this battle.

In between dodging snow drifts and getting shot at I hear the sound of something else. Something mechanized…maybe a horseless carriage or some kind of motorcycle coming up fast behind us.

I look in the rearview and see that it is another motorcycle. Aw, shit, Falconer's got a motorcycle, too, one with a sidecar? Damn it all to hell, so much for getting a lead.

"Maka, watch out Falconer's behind us."

"I see him. He's got a chainsaw! And his sidekick looks kind of like a Woodpecker except with huge feet. A roadrunner maybe?" An egg bomb blasts behind us.

"Falconer's got what?" I shout over the sounds of more blasts around us.

"A chainsaw."

I can't possibly fathom why a birdperson would equip themselves with a chainsaw, but whatever. It figures that he would be equipped with one of the only things that actually scares me. I've been nervous around power tools ever since I got clumsy with an electric saw at my grandmother's when I was a kid.

"You think that clearing coming up on the left?" I ask, seeking permission to pull off the road.

"Yeah, that's good- let's position ourselves with that drift at our back."

I park Brunnie by a clump of fir trees and we dismount. One of the flyers swoops overhead dropping a couple egg bombs. One falls so close to me that I have to leap to the side and switch into weapon form to evade it.

"You ok?" Maka says as she runs over and picks me up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just get out there. He'll be here any second." She dashes to the spot we've determined places her at a strategic advantage.

"Ok, Maka. We can take this guy down."

"Right. Let's get him first, and then the others. He'll be expecting us to go after his minions first."

"Sounds good. Here he is."

Falconer tromps onto the field in a modified duck walk that is so ridiculous I start laughing and Maka hushes me.

"Ah!" Falconer exclaims in an extremely loud voice. "I finally get to meet the DWMA's own Romeo and Juliet. I'm _so sorry_ to have interrupted your holiday."

"You could have met us sooner had you had the _guts_ to come to Death City yourself instead of simply ordering the attack and standing back." Maka's disgust is evident as she spits each word at him. We are both very emotional about obtaining this soul. The terror of hearing screams amidst the smoke and seeing our school and our city crumbling around us is very fresh in our minds. I remember my panic seeing Black*Star and Kid without her and thinking the worst. What Avian Flu did was no small thing. They attacked the DWMA and Lord Death's city. For that they will not be forgiven.

Maka shouts at him. "And don't call us Romeo and Juliet. I'd think you'd know that this is _Macbeth_."

"Um, Maka, doesn't everybody die at the end of _Macbeth_?" I ask concerned. My scythe eye twisting and bulging as I talk to her.

"_Not everyone_, you're thinking of Hamlet. Only Macbeth's family who are driven by ambition perish. Besides, Romeo and Juliet barely knew each other. They met and immediately got married just so they could screw. That's not like us at all."

"Meister," my eye wide with irritation. "Let's discuss the bard's plotlines and whether Romeo and Juliet were actually in love or just horny later, ok?"

"Right."

"You two are infinitely amusing," Falconer says. "Too bad your goofy little romance is about to come to an end."

"Nothing is going to end us. You, on the other hand, are about to have your soul ripped from your body."

Falconer chuckles, "So, the rumors are true. You've picked up some of your weapon's cocky attitude."

"It isn't cocky to acknowledge the truth. I _will_ be taking your soul."

Falconer grins. "I'm not so sure. A scythe against a chainsaw? I suspect your Soul will suffer." I don't know how but I can tell he means me, but I'm not afraid. We hear this kind of bullshit from demons all the time.

"We're partners. We are prepared to die for one another or for any of our comrades. We are empowered by Lord Death's bidding. Prepare to die."

"Perhaps, you had best rethink your strategy. I would _hate_ for you to lose your life out of loyalty to someone who betrayed your beloved school because Avian Flu has operatives stationed at the DWMA. They watch your every move and report back to us. Your strengths, your weaknesses, your passions, your loves."

Maka and I growl. How dare he insinuate that our school contains a traitor!

"No one at the DWMA would ever work with you!"

"Oh, are you so sure? What about Hiro? No one knows why he was where he was when that pillar fell. And then there's Crona AWOL for such a long time…and never truly cleansed of all her previous sins."

"Crona prefers to be referred to by _male_ pronouns. _He_ is my friend." Maka yells.

"Oh, I'm sorry I forget that not everyone has the personal experience to know firsthand that Crona is female," he touches his groin in a very calculated way and Maka and I's wavelengths go berserk. "But it's hard to regard someone you've been with as the other sex."

"Maka, he's bluffing. This guy's a liar. Don't believe anything he says. He's just trying to make us lose our cool so we do something stupid," I tell her and she nods.

"Falconer," she says in the commanding tone she has when taking on a demon. "I have come to take your soul as punishment for the harm you caused the people of Death City. Do you wish to beg for forgiveness before we kill you?"

He laughs.

"Your time is up," she says charging toward him as she shouts to me, "Soul Resonance". I immediately feel the familiar sensation of being dropped into a wind tunnel and stripped of everything but my soul which will interlink with her's like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but along with the familiar there is that weird heat again. It's unsettling.

"Maka?" I ask. At times when our souls developed incompatability Maka couldn't pick me up in weapon form. Her hands would get seared as though my metal had been newly forged by a blacksmith and still red hot, but she's holding me just fine right now and our souls feel even more compatible than usual.

"I don't know what it is, but I'm fine," she assures me.

"Good!" At least I'm not going to die of hypothermia mid-battle.

Falconer steps aside amazingly fast for a guy who goosesteps. I graze him with the side of my blade, but it's not much.

Two flying demons are doing aerial acrobatics above us and I suspect biding their time for the perfect opportunity to clobber us with droppings or bombs.

Maka turns to face Falconer.

"I cannot believe that Lord Death sent a child after me. He must be desperate."

"If you were so confident you wouldn't have brought all these other demons with you."

"Oh, I have my reasons. I always have my reasons for what I do, as do all members of Avian Flu. We have calculated how best to bring the world to order."

"Order? Is that what you brought to DC? That's a funny way to describe attempted kidnapping, bombing, and destruction."

Falconer's face curves into what I guess must be the Avian Flu equivalent to smiling. "Well, you should know how it is; one must embrace pain before they can move on. We started you on the journey to a new system of the role of weapons and meisters in this world of ours. One that will transcend the reaper's power and make each of us into gods."

"He sounds like Black*Star," I scoff.

"Yup, just as stupid."

"Witch Hunter."

I assume my form that transcends the realms and she charges forward swinging me. My blade is blocked by his chainsaw and its grinding teeth cause me to bleed. Maka jumps backward taking me with her as he charges forward with the chainsaw. "Treacherous Teeth!" he yells as he comes at us full speed with the chainsaw madly going around and around. I block it with the wide part of my scythe blade, but his weapon skids off me and rams into her belly tangling with her sweatshirt. I partially transform hitting his face with the hardest punch I can manage. It sends him stumbling backward, probably more because he was startled than because the hit actually hurt. I look at Maka, the wound doesn't seem to have penetrated all the layers of her skin, but it's a big gash and she's bleeding a lot from it.

Falconer sees the blood and stops attacking. "Meister Maka, I did not come to kill you. I came to liberate you." Falconer snaps his fingers and a mob of demons appears on the edge of the field.

"Witch Hunter!" she yells again as several birds from the air swoop down and clasps her shoulders with their talons. They manage to lift her off the ground and as they do Falconer smiles.

"Now, destroy her weapon!" he shouts as they lift Maka and me higher into the night sky. Maka kicks and swings her legs at the demons setting upon her to try to grab me. Her thrashing is so intense that the birds start losing their grasp on her. But one hardy bird clings to her so that she is hanging in the air by three of the bird's claws that it has embedded in her flesh. I transform in Maka's arms and pull my pocketknife out of my pocket and stab it into the bird's leg with as much force as I can and it does the trick. It lets go of Maka with a yowl and we start falling back toward the earth high above the battlefield.

"Witch Hunter!" She yells. As we fall she swings me and my blade finds Falconer's chest and as we split him in two, he says to me, "Soul Eater, beware that you are destined to lose that which you most value to the Avian Flu." And with that his material body vanishes leaving only his warped soul floating in midair where he had formerly stood.

Maka's head whirls wildly to the skies. We are now in shadow. There are more birds than I can count. One dives down and Maka waves me to try to fight it off and I see a moment too late that another one has come up to her and it rams it's bill into her arm. As if its head were controlled by a spring its head snaps back and forth hammering its beak into her flesh. She lets out a wail of pain and I transform into human form and attempt to stab the woodpecker with my scythe arm, but it zips away like a hummingbird and then we are alone.

"Where'd all the demons go?"

Maka shakes her head. "They're gone. It's like they've vanished."

"So, we're safe?" I ask surveying the scene.

She shakes her head. I pick up Falconer's soul and sniff it and decide to take a chance and swallow it.

"Come on, meister. We need to fix up your arm…and your belly…and your shoulders….

She stands up and smiles. "You take such good care of me."

"You may not feel that way when I flush those wounds out. It's probably gonna hurt like a bastard."

We are battered and bruised, but still alive and that would give us cause to celebrate were we not so worried that at any moment the birds will return and set upon us once again.

We walk back to Brunnie to find her drilled with holes in all her major parts. Falconer's team has destroyed her and taken his bike leaving us with no way to travel but by foot. I sniffle and fight back tears as I pull items off her that are important. As a memento of our time together, I take the tassels that have hung from her handlebars for as long as we've had her. Maka puts her arm around me. "Come on Soul, we need to go get you a sweater."

I nod and we trek back to the hotel on foot. As we approach the resort we see a lot of people out front mostly in their pajamas and bath robes along with a vehicle belonging to a fire brigade and a number of fire fighters. A cloud of smoke hangs over Wintermore.

"What's going on?" I ask a hotel guest who is standing out front.

"There's a fire. It started upstairs and spread quickly through the building. Rumor has it that a couple teenagers made some kind of suicide pact and set the building on fire."

Maka and I take a moment to stare at the building. It's as though Falconer had tried to rid us of our old life. What had he been planning? I turn around. There is no use in staying here. Our equipment is destroyed, our clothes are gone, and there will be nothing but questions from the police and hotel staff if we stay, questions they wouldn't believe the answers to if we told them.

"Well, Meister. What now?"

"We head back to the train station and get back to DC as quickly as we can. Something very odd is going on."

Yes, Maka, I agree. There is something very unsettling going on here.


	34. Chapter 34: Soul of the Doctor

Chapter 34: Soul of the Doctor; Baby, It's Cold Outside?

It is the middle of the night, it's started snowing, Maka and I are bleeding from multiple wounds, and we are standing outside of the resort hotel we are supposed to be staying in watching as flames engulf it while a handful of firefighters battle to squelch the fire.

Maka lets out a little sigh, "I guess we should just head to the train station." I nod. At this point it is probably the only place open in town other than a bar or two and we are in no condition to be outside in the elements. As we walk away from the Wintermore Resort Maka seems a little forlorn.

"Somethin' wrong?" I ask her knowing that if it's due to pain from her injuries she will be too proud to tell me how much it hurts.

"Oh, nothing really. I'm just sad because I left my book at the hotel."

I laugh. "Well, that's makes me feel better because I was just thinking I'm pissed cause my Skeletoxin t-shirt was in there."

"We can buy you a new one."

"Not that one. It was a limited edition when he had the crossover with the Steel Samurai."

"That sucks," she says.

I shrug. "At least we can buy you a replacement book."

"Yeah, and I suppose it doesn't really matter because I'm so tired I'll probably sleep most of the ride home tomorrow."

"Me, too. Maybe we can get a private car so we can both get some rest."

"I don't think we should push our luck when you already sprung for the Bridal Suite."

I stop walking.

"Yes, I knew," she says matter-of-factly. "I'm not stupid."

"Sorry, I lied. I was afraid you'd make me follow the rules…and I wanted…"

"Naw, I think it was really sweet and those chocolate strawberries were amazing." She stops walking for a moment. "Soul, I love you," she says and she starts to hug me but as soon as she goes to lift her left arm she lets out a kind of howl.

"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up. I think we're almost to the train station."

"You know there is one other thing that I'm sad about…"

"That all those other demons vanished before we could vanquish them from this earth?"

She smiles. "Ok, make that two other things. You promise not to laugh?" I consider this. I'm not good at controlling my laughter especially when Maka says or does something goofy. "Oh, nevermind."

"No, wait, that's not cool! Tell me."

"Well, I was kind of hoping that could be our place…you know, like we could come back some day just the two of us…"

"You mean like an anniversary?"

"Something like that, yeah," she says yawning.

"I'm sure they'll rebuild it."

"Maybe," she says sadly. "You can go ahead and tell me it's silly."

"I don't think it's silly."

She flattens her lips and narrows her eyes as though I've done something wrong.

"I'm serious. I don't think it's silly at all. We had a very special…," I count in my head, "seven or eight hours there…which reminds me, after we get cleaned up let's call Lord Death and let him know the news. We need to be celebrating not moping."

She nods and I could swear her head sags a little.

"You sure you're feeling ok, meister?"

"Yeah! Quit asking me! I'm not some fragile princess! I can take a beating."

"I know, but…oh, nevermind."

When we arrived at the train station earlier in the day I was too focused on finding us a room for the night to admire how gorgeous a place it was, but now with our goal accomplished I notice the beauty of the place both inside and out. The interior has a marble floor, an art deco style clock set in the dead center of the depot, and polished wooden benches that resemble church pews. It's a small place, but it has everything a train station should: a telegraph office, a TV playing day and night, and, after wandering around a bit, the thing we were hoping to find…one of those 'family' bathrooms that has room for a parent and kids or a special needs person and their caretaker or, as in this case, a meister and weapon looking for a place to crash for the night after cleaning their wounds. Kid is the one that turned me and Maka onto using family bathrooms as a make-shift hospital ward after Patti and Liz found it much easier than splitting up from Kid to go into separate men's and women's restrooms when in a public place.

Maka goes in first and then after a couple minutes I follow her in, locking the door behind us. I scan the space that will serve as our hospital ward and bedroom for the night. There's a chair, a toilet, a sink, a baby changing table that flips down from the wall, a big mirror, and a trash can. Yup, this will do. Here we can both get some rest after cleaning up our wounds.

I toss off my backpack and dig out the first aid kit, which thankfully was on us at the time of the fire. Maka insists on dressing my wounds first and when she's done she takes off her torn and bloody sweatshirt and hands it to me to put on for the time being.

"Thanks. Now your turn, Meister Maka. Doctor Soul is here to check you out. Let's see whatcha got here."

She pulls off her nightgown and throws it in the trash can and removes her bra since the strap on one side got ripped. Back in the old days she would have just dropped the straps, but now there isn't much point in maintaining propriety…it's just me after all and she seems more preoccupied with being comfortable than with anything else right now.

The abrasion made by the chainsaw is not pretty. The skin around the punctures along her collar bone have already gotten red and inflamed, but it is the holes on her left arm from the woodpecker attack that concern me. They are each about the size of a dime and appear to go all the way down to the bone and I'm pretty sure that the attack they used on her was the same attack they used to drill holes in Brunnie's chassis, which means that Maka's arm got drilled by something that could penetrate steel. With that amount of force her arm might even be fractured.

"Where do you want me to start?" I ask after surveying the wounds. I decide not to mention my fears about the arm, because there's really no point. It won't be until we are in DC that we will have the ability to do more than clean and bandage it anyhow. Hopefully, I'm just being a worrywart because it's my meister and I don't like to see her hurt.

She sighs, "Let's flush out these damn talon marks so I can lie down while we work on my arm and abdomen." She seats herself on the floor and I get to work. I pull from the first aid kit a little plastic disc that pops up into a bowl. I fill it with warm water from the sink and add a few drops of antiseptic to the water to create a solution specially designed for cleaning wounds. I open a sterile package that has a needleless syringe with a curved tip and draw up the solution into it. Finally, I grab a handful of paper towels.

"Ok, Maka, now remember you've gotta be quiet. I don't want them hearing us in here." The station is empty except for a few employees and I'm hoping that they don't become suspicious that anything is up as I fully intend for both of us to sleep in here.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

I slide the syringe into one of the tears made by a talon and flush. She grits her teeth, but says nothing. Then using my hands I press the skin to make sure all the solution comes back out again. We repeat the process with every hole that is full thickness. There are eight that are true puncture wounds and a bunch of bad scratches from when the birds were fighting to either get a hold of her or stay ahold.

From one of the wounds I flush out some gunk that look like parts of a pine needle or pine cone. That's what we're trying to do…get out any debris and flush away germs. Satisfied that I've done my job well, I dump the bowl's contents and make a solution of just saline and flush each puncture one last time.

"Well, those are done," I tell her and then I realize she seems to have fallen asleep. I know she's tired but how could she sleep while having her wounds flushed? She must be more exhausted than I thought. I take my hands and lay her down on her back. I slide her backpack under her head to act as a pillow and start cleaning her abdomen.

The abdominal wound is right where Professor Stein threatened to cut her open when he was under the influence of the madness. That time I had been successful in protecting her, this time I didn't do so great, but we accept that we're gonna get beat up.

To clean it I put on gloves and pat it with sterile gauze drenched in the antiseptic solution. I use the needleless syringe to blast off some debris, mostly threads from her sweatshirt and a few feather bits. Maka doesn't stir during any of this. When I'm done I pull out the largest gauze pad we have and set it on it.

"Meister, you need to wake up. I gotta wrap it now," I whisper.

Her eyes flutter open and she smiles at me and then looks alarmed to see me in medical gloves. "What are you?!" Then looking down at herself the memories seem to come back and she sits up and helps me wrap the gauze around her midsection.

"Ugh. It's the scratchy kind."

"Yeah, I know. Lord Death's getting cheap again. As soon as we can we should buy some of the other kind so it's not so itchy."

She nods. "Soul, thank you."

"No problem," I say once again dumping the bowl's contents into the sink.

"No, I really mean it. I couldn't do this without you." Her eyes are filling with tears and I rush to her side.

"Maka, it's ok. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." I'm not sure what has brought on this sudden bout of fear, but it's been a real rollercoaster of a day and I know I have trouble dealing with stuff on days like that.

"I just got so scared when they tried to take you from me." She flings her arms around me and hugs me, but that puts her belly wrap in contact with me so she has to deeply inhale or the pressure makes it hurt. I quickly release her not wanting to make her painful.

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I promise…and Falconer's dead." I throw my still gloved hands up in the air like I'm cheering at a basketball game. "Yahhhh!"

She smiles and shakes her head, "You're being unusually goofy."

I'm not sure how to take that. "Well, maybe that's what sex does to me. Hopefully, you like it."

"I don't mind it."

"Good. Now let's get your arm taken care of cause I wanna sleep."

She smiles. "Great!" I lift up her left arm and I swear I see a purple haze around the wound. My eyes flick to Maka's. Did she see it, too, or was it a trick of the fluorescent lighting in here? I kneel beside her and look at the wound. I swear it looks worse than it did even a few minutes ago. Maybe I should have started with this one…

"Does it hurt?" I ask her.

She nods and yawns. "Not as bad as you might think, though. It looks worse than it is…you mind if I lay back down?"

"Yeah, go ahead. You want your sweatshirt back? It might be more comfortable than the backpack as a pillow."

"No. I'm ok. Thanks, Soooouuulll…" and with that she is already asleep again. That's weird. I've only seen her this drowsy once. I think she had taken some kind of medicine that made her tired or something, I can't really remember.

I prepare to use the same method of cleaning on this wound, but with a fresh syringe. As soon as I flush liquid into the wound it bubbles up and froths as though I used Hydrogen Peroxide. I check the bottle to make sure I didn't accidentally grab the wrong thing, but it's the exact same shit I used on the other wounds. I feel heat radiating from the wound though I'm not sure how much of it is from the chemical reaction taking place and how much is from inflammation. And still my meister sleeps. She's even snoring.

Ok, I'm starting to get freaked out here. Maka doesn't normally snore and she tends to be a light sleeper. I feel a nagging in my heart. This isn't right.

"Maka, I'm gonna call Lord Death now. You wanna tell him about our victory?" I say loudly, but she doesn't wake up. Hhhhhmmmm. I walk over to the mirror above the sink and fog it up with my breathe and write the numbers '42-42-564'.

"Hello, Soul Eater!" Lord Death greets me in his usual chipper attitude though he is wearing what looks like a long nightcap. I kind of forgot it was the middle of the night. I must have woke him up. Crap, good one, Soul.

"Sorry, to wake you, sir."

"No worries. I am always here for you. How goes the battle?"

"Good. We were able to locate Falconer and we got his soul, but we weren't able to kill any of his team. He had a lot of demons with him, but they vanished shortly after his death."

"That's alright, it sounds like you've done _very well_." He says and I _think_ he's beaming under the mask, but then again how the hell would I know that? "I am most _impressed_! But where is Meister Maka?"

"She's sleeping." I say unsure whether or not to voice my suspicions. Maybe I am just freaking out because I care so much about her. Black*Star once argued with me saying that I would go to pieces over Maka getting a papercut. I punched him in the face for that one. _Hard._

"Soul, is something wrong?" Lord Death inquires.

"I'm not really sure. Her arm's been badly injured and I think there might be some kind of enchantment on the wound. When I go to flush it, it bubbles up and I thought I saw a purple mist around it…maybe I'm just being crazy…but she's really tired…"

"Hhhhhmmm. Well, Soul, I know I can trust you to do all you can for her, so do your best and if she hasn't improved by the time you get home bring her right to the dispensary."

"Thanks." For some reason it's kind of embarrassing to hear Lord Death say that kind of stuff. It's the kind of thing a person says to their son-in-law or something, but then again maybe I should enjoy it since Spirit will _never_ say anything like that to me.

"Sounds good. We'll be catching the first train out of here in the morning."

"Congratulate Maka for me."

"I will."

And then he is gone. I give up on cleaning the wound, but wrap it with gauze and then I lie down beside Maka and go to sleep.

Someone jiggles the door handle of the bathroom and walks away. I'm not sure how long I've been asleep. I glance at my watch. It's now about five thirty in the morning. I should go buy our tickets home.

As I stand up Maka sits up, a drowsy expression on her face. "Soul, where are you going, baby?"

Baby? I don't think she's ever called me that before…that's odd. She reaches out and grabs my hand.

"I'm gonna go get our tickets. I'll be right back."

"Don't leave me…come lay back down with me."

"But…" Oh, well. If she wants to snuggle I guess that's ok. We probably have time.

I sit down beside her and her lips immediately find the sensitive flesh of my neck. She licks me and then bites down aggressively.

"Wow! Maka, is that what it feels like when I bite you? 'Cause that kinda hurts…" I comment nervously.

"Take your clothes off!"

My eyes get wide. I thought only guys woke up this horny. I grin. "OK, Maka, I'll go get the tickets and I'll be right back, Ok?"

"No!" she screams and I clamp my hand across her face.

"Maka, don't do that. They'll get suspicious and think I drug you in here to rape you or something." Then I grin at her. "It'd be super awesome if we could go twenty-four hours without someone accusing me of raping you."

I head to the door. "I'll be right back. I just want to make sure we get the first train outta here. Ok?"

She stands up. "I want you _now_," she commands. I'm torn…sex…or tickets home….sex…or…sex.

I slowly pull off my shirt and I watch her. She's acting a little odd, but it's been a hard night so…

She leaps upon me, unbuttoning my fly and unzipping my pants. "Oh, Shinigami, how I want you!" She reaches down and grabs me and her touch is anything but gentle. It's rough and not in a very sexy way.

"Maka, could you-"

She slaps me across the face. "Shut up and fuck me!"

I struggle to get away from her. I'm not sure what's going on, but this isn't Maka talking.

"Meister…"

"Why aren't you giving me what I want, Soul? You're here to serve me!"

"No, I'm not. I'm_ not_ your slave and you're _not_ acting…normal."

"What do you mean?" she says suddenly extending herself to her full height and somehow I feel like she's towering over me even though I'm taller than her.

"I mean, you aren't acting loving and caring, like you are. Do you _feel_ ok?"

"I feel great…I feel…fine…" and then just as suddenly as this little episode came on, she starts to collapse. I catch her on her way down.

"Maka, Maka, are you ok?" I tip her head backward and put my ear near her face to see if she's breathing. She's breathing alright but her soul wave length is wild and unpredictable. "Maka, say something, please."

She emits a little whine and her right hand grasps mine. "Soul, if I'm going away I want to make love to you one more time…"

My eyebrow arches not at the sex part but at the words 'going away'.

"Going away where, Maka? We're both gonna be getting on a train to Death City in just a little bit. To go back home together to _where we live…together_…right? You remember that right?"

A smile drifts across her face for a moment. "That was the old order…things are going to be different now. I feel it in my soul," and she slumps down becoming completely limp in my arms.

_**Fuck!**_

"Maka, Maka, _please_ wake up!" I hold her head and pull her eyelids open with my hands. "Maka, if you're in there listen to me. You're not going anywhere without me. I'm right here beside you. Maka!"

I can feel myself starting to panic. It looks like she's dying. Is she? She said something about a new order-that's Avian Flu bull crap. Shit, she has been infected somehow.

"Maka, you're going to be alright. Stay with me."

I toss my shirt back on and zip up my pants and put her backpack on her and mine on me. Then I cautiously open the door, checking to make sure no one sees us, I slip into the main part of the depot with her in my arms. I find an unoccupied bench and lay her down arranging her so it looks like she's taking a nap and I get in line to purchase our tickets watching her the entire time I'm in line.

"I need two tickets that will bring us as close as possible to Death City, Nevada as quickly as possible," I tell the ticket seller.

"Hhhhmmm. Well there aren't any trains that go directly to Death City." I tap my foot impatiently. That isn't news to me. I live in Death City, believe me I know that no roads or trains go directly to DC and right now I feel like the next time I see Lord Death I'm going to punch him in the face for doing that by design. What kind of an idiot intentionally isolates his school and city? What a fucking pain in the ass.

"And normally I'd put you on the line to Flaming Rock…but that track has been damaged. We just got a telegram about it. So, at this point your best bet would be to go into California and then take the train to Flagstaff and then go north…"

"How long would that take?" My eyes are still on Maka. She needs medicinal care of the magical variety and the best place I know for her to get it is in Death City.

"The better part of a day at least- let me take a look at the length of the layovers."

Another station employee walks over. "You can't do that either. The Flagstaff line has been compromised. They'll have to wait till it gets repaired."

"I'm sorry, sir, it looks like we can't get you into Nevada today. We keep getting telegrams that there are major problems with the railroad tracks. It's a very odd situation…I've never heard of something like this happening. You'd think someone was trying to sabotage it so no one could go to Nevada. Ha, ha, ha." She chuckles thinking she's made a funny joke, but there's no doubt in my mind that this has to do with Avian Flu.

The woman continues to talk to me as I walk away probably giving me other options or lodging choices, but I just mumble, "Thanks," and walk away.

"Maka, you hear me?"

She snores contentedly. I guess that's a blessing, at least she doesn't appear to be in pain or having nightmares. There is a little gift shop and I go in and buy a couple hoodie sweatshirts- one for her and one for me. Then I sit down beside her and take what little crap we still own and squish it all into one backpack and put it on her back and then lift her onto my back and head out of the station.

"You there, young man? Do you need assistance?" a train station employee asks me.

"Oh, no. We're fine. My girlfriend is scared of trains. We have to dope her up anytime we travel."

"Do you need a hand with her?"

"No. It's ok. We're heading home now. Thanks."

The man watches us as we go, but he soon gets distracted by other passengers. I walk us out of the view of the roads and train tracks and pull out our pocket mirror. I'm gonna need Lord Death's help.

"Hello, Soul," he begins to speak in his usual upbeat way and then he sees the expression on my face. "Oh, no what's happened?"

"It's Maka. She's unconscious and before she passed out she wasn't acting like herself."

"In what way?"

I turn a little red. "She was acting disoriented and… kind of aggressive…and….er…carnal…"

"I see." I hope that he really doesn't because I'd rather not have Lord Death envisioning the x-rated moments in my life, but then again you don't get a lot of privacy as a DWMA student.

"Problem is we can't get back home today. It sounds like the train tracks between here and DC have been sabotaged. There's no way for us to even get into Nevada, let alone to DC and Avian Flu's operatives took out our motorcycle, too." My voice starts quivering and I feel ashamed for not being able to hold it together. "Lord Death, I don't know what to do. Can you send the copter for us? I'm really worried about Maka."

"I'm sorry, Soul. The helicopter is with Ox in the midwest right now." _**Fuck!**_"But, we have a safe house near you…if you think you can get her there I can send someone to help you."

"I can get her there," I say before even asking, "Where is it?"

He gives me the coordinates and, thankfully, we still have our compass. It's going to be a hike, but if someone can meet me there and there are more medical supplies and other stuff there that can help than it's where we need to be.

"It's just a little cabin. No electricity or anything, but it's got a woodstove and under the creaky floorboard there's some weapons and items that might be handy. Soul, know that you are doing everything you can for her. Do not allow yourself to doubt that. Avian Flu is trying to break our morale. Do not let them."

I nod.

"My prayers will be with you and Meister Maka. Contact me as soon as you reach the house."

I take a deep breath and try to calm my soul wavelength. I take Maka's hand in mine.

"You hear that, Meister? Lord Death is praying for you. That's pretty awesome. Hopefully, he's gonna pray for my _back_, too," I tell her as I toss Maka on my back and head in the direction of the safe house.


	35. Chapter 35: Life as a Doll

**Risenfromash: **I think that I have some of you hooked! There are now more than 50 people following this story, but have no fear as I am hooked on writing it and there is a lot more stuff to come that I think is actually cooler than anything that happened at the beginning. Thank you to each of you for brightening my day and letting me know I'm not crazy obsessed with Soul and Maka for no good reason

_**Chapter 35: Life as a Doll; Soul's Imaginary Friend?**_

As I start the trek to the safe house packing Maka on my back my main fears are, of course, all about her…and me…and us. But, those aren't the only fears swirling around in my head. Some part of me is still tuned into the bigger picture enough to fear for our comrades and Lord Death's vision of a loving, happy world is in jeopardy. It's clear to me that Avian Flu is trying to strand members of the DWMA away from our leaders. As Lord Death said they're trying to break our morale…and, at this point they're doing a pretty good job. My partner is in some kind of coma or something, our motorcycle is toast, our supplies are lost, we accomplished our goal, but didn't get rid of all the enemies in this territory, and we somehow managed to ruin the vacations of a bunch of total strangers at a lovely little resort hotel. Fuck! I hate Avian Flu. These dudes are going down, all of them.

After only about a half hour I have to take my first break. Having Maka ride piggy back is one thing when she's awake, but with her totally floppy like this I have to lean down so far while walking that it is killing my back. I find a tree with minimal snow at its base and prop my meister against it. I sit beside her while I wipe the sweat from my forehead and fumble around in our bag for water.

Ugh! I'm an _idiot_! I didn't grab anything substantial for lunch or extra bottles of water. I panic for a second and fumble around in the bag. Do we even have _any_ food?! Thank, Death, there are a couple dehydrated rations smashed at the bottom of the bag and some trail mix, but that's it. I guess there's more than one reason to get to the safe house as fast as possible. Too bad I don't think I can go any faster than I already am.

This is when my meister is _supposed_ to lecture me about my lack of preparation and accuse me of going off 'half-cocked'. Then I can reply with some kind of lewd sexual innuendo. That is our norm and what _should_ be happening right now, but instead my discovery that I have very little food and water with us is met only by silence. I grumble. This is why I need Maka. Well, one of the reasons. How could I miss something as basic as packing some food and water in your bag for along the way, ya dumbass?

I sigh. Oh well. It's been more than a little crazy and there's plenty of snow for me to eat so at least I'm not going to die of dehydration like Maka has predicted I will. No, what's going to kill me is this fucking silence from my partner. Maka isn't one to talk excessively or anything, but I'm used to hearing her comment on the scenery as we travel or for her to talk strategy with me as we go along. Even a super bossy shout from her to tell me to pick up the pace or quit acting like a 'weenie' would delight me at this moment.

I toss a handful of trail mix in my mouth. "Want some?" I ask as I bring the bag right up under my mister's nose. "No? You're missing out. It's got lots of chocolate. I'd even let you pick out the chocolate chips and leave me the healthy part if you want." Maka doesn't respond. I shrug. "Fine, if you want to give me the silent treatment I guess that's ok. But you can't give me any crap about the next time I spend all weekend in bed sleeping because you, my meister, are literally sleeping on the job and you can be sure it'll be reflected on your next evaluation from me. 'Maka Albarn, needs to work on using own legs as mode of transportation, relies too heavily on ultra-sexy partner. Needs to improve her communication skills while unconscious.' That's what I'm gonna write. And maybe something about how you use me for sex. I'm sure Professor Stein will love to hear all about that."

There is still no reaction. Dammit! "I'm sorry, Maka, but we've gotta hit the road again. I know it's pretty here, but there's snow where we're going, too…God, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

I look down at her. She's got a string of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth. "Wow, meister, that's really attractive." I wipe it off with my sleeve. "How bout you try riding up front this time? It's worth a try right?"

I put the backpack on and pick her up the way brides get carried over the threshold. It's definitely more comfortable for my back and by flinging one of her arms over my shoulder I can _almost_ pretend she's not comatose. I take a few steps like this before her arm slides down. I tip my body in an attempt to toss the arm back up onto me, but as I do her head rolls backward…and I lose it. I've had too many nightmares where instead of a close call an enemy attack has found its mark and she lays in my arms dead…just like this.

The tears are coming, I feel them. I need to get ahold of myself. For Death's sake, _man up, Soul_. You're acting like a little girl! Yes, she's _everything _to you and you're a miserable fucking wretch whenever you are without her…but you haven't lost her…not yet anyway.

It _feels_ like I'm choosing not to face reality…like those families that keep their loved ones on ventilators and life support even after they know their loved one is brain dead. They always say that they're doing it because they are hoping for a miracle, but I don't believe in miracles and I don't think Maka does either. But is it a miracle we need at this point? I'm not sure.

I reach out for her soul…it's still there. It's still strong. It's just not responding to me for some reason. Normally, were she to sense that I was searching for her soul she'd meet me half way, kind of enveloping me in a hug between our souls…it's hard to describe, but it isn't happening right now. It's like hers is frozen, like she's an appliance in standby mode and I can't figure out which switch to turn to get her operational again. I tell myself what I need is an operations manual or google, not a miracle. I just need someone with expertise in stuff like this.

But it's hard to ignore those ominous words Falconer said to me right before his death, "Soul Eater, beware that you are destined to lose that which you most value to the Avian Flu." There's no doubt that what I most value is her…and he knew it, the fucker just said it like that to be dramatic. I think he wanted to sound like a prophet in his final moments instead of some random asshole threatening to hurt my girlfriend.

And then _she_ talked about 'going away'. That's when it hits me. I don't want to live without her. I didn't take Ragnarok to the chest because I was a hero; I did it because I'm selfish. I'd rather sacrifice my own life than go on without her. Maybe we are more like Romeo and Juliet than Maka would like to admit, because I really can't think why I'd want to wake up each morning if it wasn't for her. The thought of my life without her is like the vast Nevada desert…empty and boring.

"Damn you, Maka. You better be fighting in there! You can't do this to me! I love you too much!" I fall to my knees still clutching her to me and I feel great shame in not having the faith in her to believe that she will recover. I should trust my meister more than that.

"Screw my back, you're getting a piggy back ride whether you like it or not and then we're gonna figure out what I have to do to get your sorry ass to wake up. You hear me?! We're working! This is not sleepy time. I don't know what has gotten into you this trip."

And I resume the journey knowing full well that I will not be strong enough to make it to the safe house without breaking down again and without the worries strangling me with doubts, but I tell myself what really matters is that I keep moving. If I can get her to help she still has a chance. If I give up I'll lose her for sure and she's never written me off as a lost cause. I have to trust that somewhere in that ragdoll my strong and tenacious meister is fighting whatever ails her and just because I can't be in her hand as her weapon during this battle doesn't mean I can't help her to win and so I continue to trudge through the snow carrying my meister, the woman I love, and praying that we won't be like Romeo and Juliet and only have one day of bliss together.


	36. Chapter 36: Strangers in the Night

**Risenfromash: **Hi, everybody. The last chapter was short because I was going to break these story chunks up differently but figured why not post the part I had finished…so this part is extra long because it's like a chunk and a half.

Someone commented that in one of the citrusy chapters I had written it so that our hero and heroine would have to be like Mr. Fantastic to bend to do what I described…so, I think I need to take another look. The implication is that it's a 69, but I really try to avoid certain language I myself don't find sexy. I think you're a 'member' of a club, not that you use a 'member' to have sex… and I think that 'ballsack' and 'snatch' don't belong in lemons unless it's first person and that language fits the character. I just find it too jarring, so it's highly possible that in trying to describe without literally drawing a picture I screwed up…which is hilarious because I had the same concern with a story I read the other day. I'm cruising a long and all of a sudden I'm like, "Wait? What? Where is that penis going while the arms are doing what now?!" So, anyway I love the feedback as I'm sure one of these days I will tidy up a few errors…but for right now I am plunging forward…

_**Chapter 36: Strangers in the Night; Safe at Last?**_

It's been about six hours since I left the train station and from the info Lord Death gave me I'm guessing I'm getting close to the safe house, but not wanting to get my hopes up I keep telling myself I have at least another hour of hiking left…and, of course, another hour of hauling my comatose meister on my back.

At this point my brain is so fried by worry that I don't even feel self-conscious about talking to her as though she's talking back. I'm just rolling with it.

"You know, Maka this will be our first time going to one of the DWMA safe houses. We have _definitely _hit the big time this trip. I wonder how many Deathscythes have come through here over the years." I pause. Becoming a Deathscythe has been such a big deal to me for so long, but I have to admit the distinction has lost some of its appeal now that I'm thinking about how it might split me and Maka up. I guess I should be able to survive without her for a mission or two, but honestly I have no interest in being stationed at some remote outpost unless she's with me. That would suck…almost as much as the last six hours have sucked.

"I've been thinking about this whole Deathscythe thing. I'm super cool and everything, but I think you'd agree I'm not super competent at some things, hence my chronic academic probation, so I think you and I could make the case that I need a meister with me at all times…you know, a little additional supervision to keep me in line…and I'd nominate you." I smile devilishly. My ego is perfectly fine with highlighting my shortcomings if it means I get to have her as my companion on future adventures.

I try to remind myself that this is an adventure. Slogging through the snow with hardly any food in my belly, carrying an unconscious partner who may be dying, in the middle of nowhere in the high desert…this is all part of the DWMA experience and what I wanted when I said that as a Demon Weapon I would be happy

"For the record, Maka. I do not consider this romantic. I know you think the snow is pretty, but I think walking on a tropical beach with you would be way better than this winter wonderland shit." I create a fantasy in my head, white sand, aqua water, sea turtles, dolphins, and my meister in a bikini…it's a private beach. Just us…no creepers that I have to worry about. "We could sit and watch the sunset and have a campfire after dark. That would be romantic and if you weren't in a coma. That much the better."

I hear something…it sounds like water…I walk toward the sound and am thrilled to see a dilapidated bridge over a creek. This is a landmark I was given, which means that we are close! And that means that I didn't get us lost dooming us to eating dehydrated beef stew until we freeze to death. Hurrah! Now if I can just manage to make it the last leg of the journey I can have food, warmth. I can take my feet out of these wet, cold socks…

I carefully cross the bridge which is slippery from years of decay and ice. Then I turn to the northwest and count my paces as I walk and eventually I see something coming into view that is definitely not a pine tree or a shrub. It's the cabin! I'm so relieved to see it I almost drop my meister. Instinctively, I reach to grab her and yanking her by the leg so that only part of her hits the ground.

"Oh, shit!" I pick her up brushing the snow and dirt from her face and then I figure screw it. Let's just get in the cabin.

The cabin is a tiny one room structure with an outhouse behind it. There is a front door and a back door, presumably for making those midnight bathroom runs, and windows on the west and south side. I step up on the cabin's small porch and stamp the snow off my shoes and open the door. It's dark inside even though it's only mid-afternoon. When I open the door some critter goes skittering across the floor and I find myself reaching for a light switch out of habit and then remembering that Lord Death said there wasn't any electricity here.

But there is a bed. Thank God! I flop Maka down on the twin size bed and stand upright stretching my back for the hundredth time today. I feel like it's going to take one of those medieval torture devices to get my spine back in the proper order. I am beat. All I want to do is sleep…I unceremoniously shove my meister over so I can also lie down on the bed next to her. It's hard to believe that less than twenty-four house ago she and I were snoozing on a fancy pillow top mattress in a fancy hotel. I feel like I could sleep for the next week…that is if it weren't so cold in here. I've gotta get a fire going and get out of these wet socks before I start losing toes.

I walk over to the wood stove and look around. There is a wooden crate full of wood and kindling a little ways from the stove next to a chair and on the wall there is a shelf that has some matches and a couple small candles. I light the candle and go to work building a fire.

Once I've got the fire going, I sit down and pull off my sopping wet shoes and socks and set them near the fire and set to work investigating what there is in the little place that could be of use to us. I feel like a video game character as I open every cupboard, look in every drawer, and peer under the beds and the table and the chairs. There isn't much. I find some beat up silverware in a drawer a couple paperback novels- a trashy romance and some kind of pulp, western, and a pad of paper and a pencil, but Lord Death had said that the food and other useful items were stored under the floor so it doesn't worry me that I'm finding nothing good just laying around. He had said that I could access the cache of supplies by lifting a squeaky floorboard.

I walk across the floor several times and identify a distinct creak that is heard when I place my bare feet in a certain spot. After doing it a few more times I figure out which floorboard needs to come up. I reach into my pocket to grab my knife and realize that I left it in the leg of one of those damn birds that tried to fly off with Maka. Great, Lord Death is gonna make me write up how we managed to lose so much shit on this trip, I just know it. I stand up grumbling and walk over to a wooden piece of furniture that looks like a buffet and pull out a rusty butter knife and use it to pry up the floorboard.

Using the candle I illuminate what's below and I see a stack of canned food…food! I start grabbing cans and flinging them beside me. There's also some weapons: a crossbow, a gun, and a boomerang. A boomerang?! Really? What do they think we're doing here, hanging out for the weekend for fun? There's also some ponchos or tents or something and what looks like a med kit of some kind.

I grab a pot and can opener that are lying next to the pile of canned food and go to town opening the cans and dumping their contents into the pot. It looks like I will be feasting on beef stew/corn beef hash/corn tonight. I don't even care what it will taste like I just want some warm food in my belly.

I stick the pot with my concoction in the woodstove figuring that eventually it will get warm and if not I'll eat it cold.

Satisfied that I'm not going to die of hunger or dehydration or my feet falling off, I refocus my attention on my partner who is snoring and creating a nice little drool spot on one of the two pillows on the bed. I heave the tackle box with the distinctive white and red cross symbol on it up through the floor and open it up. It is a wonderland of supplies. There's gotta be something in here to help her! It even has stuff to set up an IV which is totally cool…but doesn't help us since I don't know how to place an IV catheter and I'm not sure if that would help in this situation. Then again I have no idea what will help and not help, but I figure I can't do too much damage with ointments and bandaging so I position Maka on the bed in such a way that I can attend to her arm while she lays there.

As soon as I adjust the wrap that has been covering the woodpecker holes I smell an _awful_ odor. It smells like nothing I've ever smelt before…some kind of cross between rotten fish, bird poop, and maggots. I wretch. This is _bad_…no normal wound would go south this fast. I try to clean it and I start gagging again. The smell is so bad that I have to back away and dig around in the first aid kit till I find a surgical mask to put on. Even with the mask I can still smell the wound and it makes me decide that even though Maka and I have swapped body fluids I'm still gonna wear gloves for this.

"Oh, Maka, you are _never_ allowed to complain about Black*Star and me stinking up the house on chili night after this. Wooooweee!" I take the used bandage, open the backdoor of the cabin and throw it out into the snow. There is _no way_ I am keeping that thing in here with us.

Her skin around the holes has turned a sickly white and a purple cloud seems to be emitted from them. I'm pretty sure no one trained us on first aid for anything remotely like this.

The medical kit has a bunch of different ointments and crèmes. There's stuff made of silver, antifungals, antibiotic gels, steroid creams, and some goos that have long medical jargon printed on them, but unfortunately there is nothing labeled "Soul, put this one on Maka's arm" so I pretty much have to randomly pick one. I decide to start with an antifungal cream for no particular reason. I squeeze it in one of the holes and it fizzes and sizzles like bacon in a pan. I think maybe it's doing something helpful until it fades and the purple cloud is still there. OK, let's try the steroid cream. I think Professor Stein once said steroids could fix just about anything…I squeeze a glob into a different hole but it does much the same thing as the antifungal cream. I try a few more creams but they all just sizzle and fade away.

I curse and start to kick the med kit, but remember that I'm barefoot in time to stop myself. Taking a deep breath I start thinking about everything else our mentors have told us.

Let's see…when you get hit with a confusion spell a sharp blow snaps you out of it… "Maka, I'm sorry about this. I really am." I smack her in the face desperately hoping that she'll hop up and try to wring my neck, but she doesn't react. "Oh, meister..." I whine.

Massage can help with some stuff…I don't remember what…I grab the arm and massage it starting from her hand and working my way up hoping maybe I can squeeze the poison or badness out of it, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Didn't I once hear that pissing on a rattlesnake bite makes it better? I look at her. I'm torn between the need to try everything I possibly can and the need to maintain what little dignity my meister has left. I decide I will wait to try the pee thing, because I really don't think she'd be happy about that.

I sit down in the chair and I'm about to cry when I realize I haven't contacted Lord Death yet. I walk over to the front window and draw the numbers, but to my surprise it's Sid that answers and not Lord Death himself.

"Oh, hey Sid."

"Hey. How's Maka?" He says in his deep baritone.

"She's the same, but the wound is worse."

"You made it to the cabin?"

I nod.

"I'll let Lord Death know. I'm sorry he can't talk to you himself. He's meeting with Tsubaki right now. She's pretty upset."

"What's wrong?"

Sid looks downward. "Black*Star and Harvar haven't checked in for the last three days."

"Shit."

"Yeah, we kept hoping that they were just being irresponsible," he rolls his eyes. "It is Black*Star…but it's been three days. I wish I had better news for you."

I shrug. Maybe it's better to get bad news when things are already bleak than when things are going great. I dunno.

"Tell Tsubaki me and Maka will do whatever we can to help find Black*Star…as soon as we can."

"Of course. Get some rest."

And then he's gone leaving me with yet another thing to add to the list of bad stuff…one of my best friends is missing…

I rewrap Maka's wound deciding that there isn't anything more I can do for it. Despite the cold I leave the back door open for a while so that the smell will hopefully waft out and I climb in bed beside her and have a little cry, but crying isn't the release I hope it will be. It actually makes me feel worse because what if she can hear me? What if she knows I'm giving up?

Eventually the smell of her nasty wound is replaced by the smell of my food which is turning into a charred mess in the cast iron pot. I get up and eat it right out of the pot and while I scarf it down I keep getting this creepy sensation that I'm being watched, but I write it off as paranoia from having one of the worst days of my life.

It starts getting dark so I figure I best prepare for the evening by choosing a weapon and resecuring the floorboard in its place. I look at my three weapon options and decide that given the circumstances the gun is the best because if someone from Avian Flu has followed us I'd rather they not get close enough to me or my meister to allow me the use of my scythe arm.

I load the gun with bullets and hope that there isn't more to it than that. It can't be too complicated, right? Stupid thugs use guns all the time so I should be able to figure out how to use one…at least I hope.

And then I pull the covers over Maka and join her in bed the gun resting by my right hand should I need to grab it in a hurry. I still have that sense of being watched, but I'm so tired I don't give a damn.

"Night, Maka," I say and I am asleep within moments.

It's dark when I hear the sound of footsteps approaching the cabin. I grab the gun and point it toward the door and realize for the first time that the DWMA doesn't have any code words or anything similar to help me to identify if this person is a friend or foe. Whoever it is has some kind of flashlight or lantern that is casting light all over the place in rather creepy ways and a rather large pack on their back. My hand is shaking. If this is one of those demons I can take it out, but if it's the first of many demons I might not be able to fight them all off by myself. I try to calm my soul, but I feel myself beginning to hyperventilate.

The door opens and I immediately hear, "Oh, good grief, Soul! Put that down before you hurt someone! You don't know the first thing about how to handle a guy!"

It's Kid! His scolding immediately makes me relax and he easily pulls the gun from my hand setting it on the table in the middle of the room.

"Hey!" I say as he pulls off his backpack and sets his lantern down on the table.

"How is she?" he asks without bothering to remove his hat or coat.

"Not good. She's been unconscious since about six this morning and the wound looks terrible." I shake my head. "I've done everything that I can think of."

"Tell me." I list off the ointments I've tried, the slap to the face, the massage, everything. "Kid, please tell me I'm being stupid and have forgotten something…"

Kid kneels beside her and glances at me for permission to unwrap the wound, but before I can equip him with gloves and a mask I hear a muffled voice coming from his pocket.

"Kid, I thought I heard Soul? Are we there yet?"

"Oh, my apologies." Kid reaches into the pocket on either side of his overcoat and with perfect symmetry pulls a gun from each one, placing the two firearms on the floor beside the bed and suddenly Liz and Patti appear in the cabin as well.

"Kid, wanted to save money so we rode in his pocket," Patti says running over and hugging me.

"All you were going to do on the train was sleep, anyway," he mumbles. "Besides, bullet train tickets are insanely expensive."

Patti and Liz walk over to the fire to warm themselves and he leans toward me and whispers, "Really, I just wanted some peace and quiet. They've been going on and on about some damn British pop star for _days_. The guy can't even lip sync well and his eyebrows are lopsided."

"Jealous?" I tease him, relieved to have my brain freed from the more serious topics it's been ruminating on all day.

"Course not. I'm just appalled that my ladies don't have better taste. I mean, just because the man has a British accent does not make him refined."

I smile. He's jealous. I'll make sure Black*Star and I give him a good ribbing about this when we're all back in DC. All of us, alive and well back in DC…a wave of panic shouts through me. Are we all going to make it back to DC?

"Kid, please don't take this the wrong way…but do you actually know stuff about magical ailments?" I ask trying not to sound like a total ass. "I kinda thought Mira'd be coming."

"Kid actually knows quite a bit. He's been looking for a cure for OCD for several years now." Liz says winking at her meister and leaving me uncertain as to whether I should take her words seriously or not.

"Besides, we were the closest people to you. We were fighting a bunch of demons on a ranch in Idaho when we got the word Maka'd been hurt. So we rushed right over," Patti offers. "Did ya get Falconer?"

I nod. "We did, but his asshole side kick did a pecker attack." Patti giggles and I realize that what I just said would sound really wrong out of context.

Kid appears deep in thought as he stuffs his hat in his pocket, unwraps his red scarf, and unbuttons his coat. The scarf is very long and lumpy and he's wrapped it around his neck more times than I can count. Liz takes it from him and throws it over the back of a chair in the opposite corner of the room.

"Kid," Patti says. "I'm gonna heat up some water. You want tea or cocoa?"

"Tea, please."

"Soul?"

"Do you have tea?" I ask thinking she may not realize that we have only the bare necessities here in the middle of nowhere.

"Of course. Can't leave home without lots of Kid's Earl Grey. He gets grouchy without it."

Kid ignores Patti's comments and says, "Let me see the wound."

"Ok, but you're going want these," I say handing him gloves and a mask and putting back on the mask I had on earlier.

I unwrap the wound as our friends gather to take a look, Patti and Liz pinching their noses all the while. When they see it they gasp, but I've decided to look at her face and not the grotesque wound.

Patti comes and takes my hand. "You've been awful scared haven't you, Soul?" I nod a little never taking my eyes off Maka's face. "Well, don't worry. Kid will have her back to smooching you in no time and I won't even let him watch. Sometimes, I have to stop him from being all pervy like that-"

"Patti!" Kid shouts glaring at the shorter of his two partners. "Could you please quit harassing Soul. I'm sure he has enough on his mind without you pestering him."

"Oh, you definitely need your Earl Grey. You're being a regular Captain Crabby Pants today."

"Would you please be quiet? I need to think," he complains as she begins to open cupboards presumably looking for something to put water in to heat up in the fire.

"Liz, grab the mediscope from my bag, please." Liz brings over a funky looking pair of glasses that resemble backwards telescopes. He puts them on and adjusts some gears at the side. "Looks like some kind of infection of mind control…the good news is she isn't dying."

"No?!" I practically shout it even though I didn't mean to.

"Even if she were we wouldn't let that happen," Kid says calmly and with an air of authority only a reaper can have.

"We need to make a poultice to stick in the holes. Ladies," he says extending his hand. "Your tampons, please."

They dash to the backpack and produce a handful of the feminine products as though having their meister ask for them is as normal as serving him tea.

"Excellent, now we need to mash up some anti-inflammatories and coat the tampons with the pills. That will hopefully slow the infection while we work on the antidote.…but we need some rare ingredients to make the antidote."

He hands the mediscope back to Liz who delicately folds it and wraps it in a cloth and puts it in the backpack with great care.

"For this we will require help," he says and I start to tell him that I'll do anything we need, but he puts up his hand indicating it isn't my turn to talk. Then he makes a fist and knocks on the wall with a very distinctive wrap and much to my surprise a mouse comes running out from under the bed.

"Is that you, Kid?" the mouse says.

"Yes."

"Why the last time I saw you, you couldn't abin morin five or six."

"Yes, something like that…Madame Morax is it?"

"Oh, you don't have to be so formal. You can call me Rax, same as you' father."

"Thank you, Rax. Soul, Liz, Patti, this is Rax, a witch. This is her home. Many years ago my father and she were dueling and she intended to change my father into a mouse, but the spell ricocheted back on her leaving her permanently transformed into this state. My father took pity on her and elected to allow her to continue to live here in her home rather than to claim her soul."

"I admire his wisdom, I do and I can tell you is on the same path of the smarty pants."

"That's kind of you, Rax, and I hope you will remember my father's kindness now as I require a favor of you," Kid places his hand on the floor and the witch climbs into his palm. He brings her alongside of the bed. "This is one of my classmates at the DWMA, our friend, Maka Albarn. She was attacked by members of Avian Flu and they appear to have hit her with a hemocontaminatetoxphylle."

I blink. Ok, that is not a word in the vocab lessons Maka gave me.

"Yeah, I's a seen her when the boy brought 'er in. That's a mighty powerful spell…what you wan' me to do about it?" Rax asks not unkindly, but guarded as though fearful she might get asked to pull off some great feat.

"My friends and I need to make an antidote to the poison that is spreading through her. We need to stop it before she is fully infected. We don't have a lot of time before the bone marrow starts making infected red blood cells. There are some things we will need for the antidote and I'm hoping you might have them squirrelled away somewhere or know where we could find them. We are going to need mugwort, Breathe of Halifrax, and angel scales."

"Ohhh, those are hard to come by these days…I might have some mugwort, but the Breathe of Halifax you won't find easily and only one person in these parts would have angel scales…"

"Please, Maka's life depends on it."

He doesn't appear to be bluffing her, so why the fuck did he tell me she wasn't dying? I put my hand on his shoulder making him turn toward me. I need him to look me in the eye. "I thought you said she wasn't dying. Kid, you need to play it straight with me."

"In a minute," Kid says putting his hand up to quiet me. His concentration is all on that tiny witch and the knowledge she has that he lacks. "Rax, where is the closest place we could get some?"

"There's a witch name is Gretel Gabtree she lives a hop skip and a jump from 'ere who I'm sure would have some, but she won't sell it to you if she knows who ya be. She ain't no fan of your father's."

"I imagine not," Kid says undaunted. "However, I happen to have some of the continent's most talented thieves with me." Patti and Liz step forward and bow their heads to the rodent.

"Oh, Kid! You found yourself such pretty companions. I knew you would. You always had an eye for beauty and so smart. You're so-"

"Thank you, Rax. Now do you think you could accompany them to Myrtle's so they can get what we need for the antidote?"

"Well…" The little mouse taps her hind foot as she thinks.

"What would you like in exchange? You have the resources of a reaper at your disposal," Kid offers.

"I would like to be human again."

"I'm not sure that even my father can grant that. You cast a very strong spell without an easy undo…"

"Hhhhmmmmm. Well then, there's only one only thing I want…a strawberry cheesecake and I want you to eat it with me."

"Alright. I'd be happy to, but I can't make one appear from thin air. You'll have to trust that I will return with it at a later date."

"That'd be fine. I can't get too far these days so anytime would be fine. You and me, we'll have ourselves a little date."

Kid offers his pinkie finger to the mouse and she runs onto it. "Consider that us shaking on it," he says and then he places the witch on the table.

Kid stands up and his partners huddle in near him. "I have no doubt that you will complete this mission successfully. But please remember to be speedy about it and that I expect you to return to me safe and sound. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Kid." They both answer.

"Rax, you can ride in the brim of my hat," Patti says. "Ok? You're gonna need to tell me and Liz where to go."

As they step out of the cabin Patti can be heard asking if Rax has a fetish for reapers and how far she will go on a first date.

Kid takes a deep breath and sets to work crushing pills to roll the tampons in.

"Kid, tell me the truth how long does she have?"

He shakes his head.

"Come on you're a reaper…you should know."

"I'm sorry, I don't"

"Please…"

"Hours, maybe a day or two- then I estimate she will be fully possessed by the demon. She'll be alive but not truly the Maka we know. Certain aspects of her personality may change and she may lose some of her memories."

"It's already happening. I'm not sure she remembers Death City."

"Yes, but I'm sure she remembers you," he says with a smile. "And that, Soul, is what is going to save her."


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Entrance into Meister Mind; Soul's Serenade?

Kid and I scramble around finding what we need to pulverize the pills into a fine powder that we can use to coat the tampons. While experimenting with the rudimentary supplies we have, I accidentally shoot a pill across the room almost pegging Kid right in one of his yellow eyes, but after a few tries we get the technique down and before long I am shoving tampons in the holes in her arms thinking that this is not something I could ever have imagined myself doing. I wrap the arm up again and afterward Kid and I take off our masks and gloves relieved to have that over with.

"Pardon me. I'm going to go outside for some fresh air for a moment," Kid tells me grabbing his coat and hat.

"I could use some air, too. Mind if I come with you?"

"No, as long as you don't tell my partners."

"Huh?"

While stepping out the back door he reaches into the inside breast pocket of his coat pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"You smoke?"

"Yes, but only when I'm stressed. The girls hate it. They lecture me to no end about it. But I'm a reaper- I can't get lung cancer. The worst it'll do to me is give me yellow teeth."

He lights one and leans against the building taking a big drag. "I haven't gotten to have one in several days because they've always been with me."

"That why you sent them off on their own?"

"No. You and I have more work to do, but I thought we could both use a break. It's been a hard day for everyone. However did you manage to carry her all the way here by yourself? That's one hell of a hike. I'm lucky I had the board."

"It totally sucked. I carried her on my back the entire way. But it sounded like the best thing for her was to get her here. I couldn't go into the normal ER and be like, 'Hey, my girlfriend got attacked by a giant woodpecker and is under the effects of some sleeping thingamagigger.'"

Kid laughs and little puffs of smoke come from his mouth. "Yes, I suppose that wouldn't work."

"We'd probably have both gotten thrown in the psych ward."

"You know, they tried to put me there once," Kid says sadly. "Actually, they did, but I busted out. We joke a lot about my OCD, but sometimes it can be rather disabling." He scratches his lip with the thumb of the hand holding the cigarette before taking another long drag. "I'm damn lucky that my ladies know how to take care of me when I'm especially bad."

We stand there in silence for a time and then Kid says more to himself than to me. "I don't know where I'd be without those two."

I decide the conversation has gotten too heavy so I change the topic. After all, we are supposed to be resting. "I guess Maka is right. The snow is pretty as it falls down."

Kid nods. "I think it's quite nice here. Other than having no electricity or running water. I would give anything to be able to sit down and play some _Smash and Thrash_ right now. At home I don't need to smoke, I've got my video games."

"Oh, God, totally. You know we're going to miss the midnight release party of _Damage Dimension_."

"Dammit! I forgot all about that. Oh, well. I'll have one of the servants pick up my reserved copy for us. You can come over and play it at my place when this is over."

"That'd be awesome. It'll feel really great to be able to hit the restart button."

"I know what you mean. God, those bastards almost got Patti. For some reason they seem to want to annihilate _her_. _Specifically _her. They act differently towards Liz and I, but all they seem to want to do to Patti is blast her to bits by whatever means necessary."

"They tried to take Maka from me. You haven't seen the wounds on her shoulders yet but they picked her up by their talons and were gonna fly off with her and they were ordered to kill me."

"Well, it appears the two of you did a very good job of foiling their plans," he says smiling slyly at me as he blows some smoke from the corner of his mouth. "They always underestimate students. They think the full-fledged agents are the only ones they need to worry about but our class is one of the most skilled in decades from what I've heard."

His cigarette is now down to the butt. He pulls it from his mouth and holds it. "I'll throw it in the fire. I have no patience for smokers who leave their butts all over like ingrates."

I guiltily look at the lump of snow that marks where I threw Maka's bandage, but I don't say anything.

We walk back into the cabin and he tosses his cigarette butt into the wood stove and removes his hat and coat tossing them on the chair with his scarf.

"So, what now?" I ask. "Do we just wait till the girls are back?"

"No, to ensure that we don't lose her completely we'll need to take action before they're back."

I go to the bed and sit down beside her. "Ok, what do we need to do?"

Kid walks over to my meister and I and looming over her says darkly, "We are going to enter her."

"Excuse me?" Surely he can't mean what first pops into my mind at those words.

"Good Lord, Soul, is sex always the thing at the forefront of your mind? Even at a time like this?! You're as bad as Patti and Liz!"

"Sorry for not being some kind of mutant like you who can have hotties hanging all over him and not be affected by it."

He raises an eyebrow and looks me in the eye. "Oh, is that what you think? That it has no effect on me? I only _wish_ that were the case."

"Dude?! Is there something goin' on between you and one of the Thompsons?" I shouldn't be this excited about that kind of news. I'm like a gossipy housewife…but I have had money riding on it for a while. I say it will be Liz who ends up taking Kid's virginity one of these days, but if he's messing around with Patti I won't bother to remind Black*Star about our bet.

"We'll talk about it later, but I assure you I am _not_ a mutant...just a reaper. There is a difference."

"Now, my understanding is that after you got infected with the Black Blood Maka has been able to visit you in some kind of thought projection or mind palace or something."

"Yeah. It's where that asshole ogre took up residence after I got hit by Ragnarok."

"But, you can't enter Maka's mind."

"No, I'm assuming it's cause I don't have Soul Perception."

"But _I _do."

"So, you're going to try to enter her mind?"

"No, I think in her state it's going to take both of us. I'm going to try to maintain some kind of soul connection with both of you and you're going to enter my mind and find a pathway to hers."

I think about this for a moment. In theory it makes sense…

"You ever done anything like this before?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "No and it won't be easy. I don't think it would be possible with just anyone, but you and Maka are much more than partners. I think your souls are closely enough linked you'll be able to find a way to her even without having Soul Perception."

"It doesn't hurt to try right?"

"It shouldn't, but it could be disturbing…I don't know what state she'll be in when you find her."

"It's ok. I'll figure it out. What do I do when I find her?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I think you'll just need to stay with her until the girls get back."

"But what happens when you prepare the antidote, won't you lose your connection to us?"

"I'm going to leave them notes on what to do. With Rax's assistance it shouldn't be a problem for them to make it so that I can remain connected to both of you. The only problem is I have no idea how long this is going to take. It may very well be the longest we've ever resonated with someone so let's make sure we're ready and comfortable before we start."

He reaches into his bag and tosses me a granola bar. "Eat this. I saw the remains of what you ate for dinner. Repulsive."

"I don't think I even tasted it," I grin ripping into the granola bar all too happy to have more food.

He pulls a chair over to Maka's bedside. "I think you should lay down beside her here. I'm going to hold your right hand while you hold Maka's with your left. The physical connection _may_ help." And then unceremoniously he says, "I've got to make a trip to the outhouse. I'll be right back."

I take the moment alone with Maka to readjust her position so her head is facing where mine will be resting while we resonant. I wipe her lips, once again removing the drool from them, and lean down and kiss her. "Maka, I'm coming to find you, but you gotta help ok? Try and give me some kind of sign of where you are if you can. You know I can be pretty clueless sometimes."

Kid comes back into the cabin and gathers up his massively long scarf in his hand.

What's with that thing?" I ask him staring at the way he delicately arranges it.

"Oh, it was a gift from Patti. She made it for me a few years ago when she was in a knitting phase, but she got some of the measurements wrong. It's a bit long."

"A bit?"

He chuckles. "I've thought about cutting it into three parts so we could each have a matching one, but I don't want to hurt her feelings. It was a very thoughtful present."

"I've never seen it before."

"Yes, well there isn't much call for a winter scarf in DC, but I usually bring it with me on missions just in case. And right now it's going to make wonderful lumbar support. " He says sitting down in the chair.

"You ready?"

I nod. This shouldn't be too hard. _Find Maka._ I'm good at that and she's good at finding me. Even when people have sent doppelgangers she and I can see through the imposters quickly. We know each other; so as long as I trust my instincts I should be able to find her.

"And Soul…uh…I'd appreciate if you keep to yourself anything you might see in my mind."

"Course," I say and we take each other's hand and I take Maka's in mine.

"Soul Resonance!" Kid shouts and the wind tunnel feeling hits both of us.

Matching wavelengths with Kid isn't as second nature as it is with Maka…it feels like we are two gears with teeth that aren't quite the right size to fit with one another, but can still manage to make the necessary cogs turn. It is way easier than it was the first time I resonated with Kirikou, though. Maka and Kid have a similar technique and I use that to my advantage. Instead of focusing on my soul wavelength Kid focuses on his own, making it steady and unwavering thereby providing me with a rhythm to mimic and before long we are perfectly in sync.

"OK, now try to find some way to get from my mind into hers!"

"Right!"

"I don't think she's so far gone that her soul won't be seeking your companionship. Use that to your advantage."

"Will do."

I begin to feel a sensation of drifting. It's rather like what I imagine weightlessness in outer space would feel like or a soup bubble floating on a light afternoon breeze, but eventually I feel the pull of gravity giving me mass once again and my feet touch the ground in a place I've never been before. I'm dressed in sneakers, jeans, and my limited edition _Skeletoxin_ t-shirt that I lost in the fire at the Wintermore. My hair is held out of my face with my black headband and I feel as normal in my skin as I do in the real world.

I look around and there is no doubt that I'm in Kid's head. The room is rectangular with roman pillars on either side of me and in the center of the room is a fountain with a statue of two handguns. The guns are crossed and point upward with a fountain of water cascading from the barrel of each one. Everything in the place is perfectly symmetrical including framed images on the wall including a picture of Patti in a heart shaped frame. I get kind of excited thinking this means he's into her but directly across the room from that picture is one of Liz in the matching frame. I would guess that all these 'photos' are projections of memories of Kid's. Most are of people from the DWMA, but there are also ones of cats and gothic buildings and trees.

At the end of this room there are some doors so I head in that direction, but after seeing a number of photos of my meister I think that perhaps I should check one of them out. I chose a picture with just her and stand in front of it calling her name, but nothing happens. I then find another photo this time of me and Maka sitting on Brunnie. I once again focus on the picture and call for my meister, but again nothing happens. Ok, this idea does not seem to be working, but there's plenty more to explore before getting frustrated.

I notice there are an awful lot of photos of Maka here. Were this not Kid's mind I'd be getting pissed, but I know Kid better than to fear he has some hidden agenda to steal my meister away from me. They're probably all from one of those meister only training retreats they go on once a year.

When I get closer to the end of the hall I find that there are a total of five doors, one in the middle facing me and two on either side. None have any kind of distinguishing markings so I open the one in front of me. It's a skate park. I could have guessed something like that would be here somewhere. He's as obsessed with skateboarding as I am…was with…poor Brunnie! Can't think about my motorcycle now! Must concentrate…

I step back in the main room and select another door. This room is bare other than some toy horses scattered on the floor and an end table with a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on top of it. Nothing in there 'speaks' to me of my meister so I exit and try the door next to it.

"Wow!" That's all I can say. This place is some kind of dungeon. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all made of stone. There's a barred window at the back high up on the wall and in the middle is what appears to be a medieval torture device like the rack I've seen in movies about the Middle Ages. There's also a wall of weapons. The place smells like sweat and blood. I'm actually _relieved_ that Maka isn't here. I shut the door wondering if that is what Kid was embarrassed to have me see or if I should expect more little surprises as I wander around.

I cross the room and open the door directly opposite the horse and flower room. This room has bright yellow walls that have been doodled all over with colorful scribbles from floor to ceiling. It looks like a kid's nursery only with a bed much bigger than any a child would need. As my eyes get used to the brightness of the room I realize that most of the doodles are of stick figures, one is always in black and white, and the other two are in brown. Sometimes the black stick figure is holding two silver things one in each hand. I can't help but grin at the little hieroglyphics of Kid's team. I enter the room thinking this is a place Maka might like…but nothing makes me feel like she's been here so sadly I head out of this happiness-inducing space and back into the relative sterility of the main room.

Only one more door…I open it and it's some kind of storage room packed top to bottom with crap. It looks like my grandma's attic. Ugh! She isn't here either. I step back out and try to think. What can I do? I return to every door opening and closing them again to see if I missed anything.

Inside the scribble room I see a toy xylophone and I sit down and play a tune on it. Nothing happens, but I figure Maka knows I communicate through my music so maybe if I try somewhere else I might reach her. I carry the toy xylophone around dinging it every so often or playing simple songs like, Pop_ Goes the Weasel_ and I start calling her name.

"Maka? Where you at? Come on, I know you wanna see Kid's creepy dungeon room!"

"I asked you to exercise discretion, asshole." Says Kid.

"Oh, you can still hear me? Why haven't you said anything?"

"It takes too much extra energy. Quit talking to me."

"Ok, ok. It's not like I was gonna tell her that you have photos of Liz and Patti in heart shaped frames."

"Yes, please don't. That will only make my life worse. I told you we would talk about that stuff later. Now is not the time. You're letting yourself get distracted."

"You're the one who started it."

I hear a grumble and then the reaper goes back to being silent.

"Maka? Meister…come on," I whine. "Help me out here. I can't figure out where I'm going. I'm a weapon. This tromping around searching for souls stuff really isn't my department."

I walk to the other end of the main room, but there aren't any doors there. I look behind pictures and check out seams in the flooring, but I'm getting nowhere. Time for a desperate measure.

"Maka, I'm going to write you a song. It's a love song so you'll never get to hear it if you don't give me a hint of where you're at, because I'm going to play it this one time." I think in my head of a tune and then say. "Ok. Yah, ready?"

I ding a few notes out on the xylophone and then begin singing, "Oh, my dear…you needn't cry because I'll be with you tonight. Even though we've had a fight it doesn't mean we won't be together tonight. Because I love you and you love me. I even miss your bitchin' can't you see? So let's make up and get back to makin' out because it ain't right for us to be alone. Not tonight."

I sing it along with accompaniment on the xylophone feeling extremely conspicuous because I'm sure that Kid hears it, but thankfully he makes no comment. I try to come up with a second verse but then I swear I hear something from behind the wall too…

"Soul?"

It's her. To my left the wall opens toward me to reveal a hidden opening. Even the pictures hanging on the wall bend to accommodate the opening of a door that wasn't visible from my side.

"Soul!" she says happily and I toss the xylophone aside as I hop up and run over to her.

"Maka! You're ok!"

"Of course, I am. I was just reading. Come on in. My book is just getting to the good part! I can't believe you're here…how'd that happen?"

I shrug. I'd rather not get into all that right now. I need to access what I can do here to transform my sleeping beauty back into Meister Maka.

As I pass through the threshold she shuts it behind me and I see that from her side the door is heavy and wooden and ornately carved with images inspired by fairy tales. Even the doorknob is fancy, it's egg shaped instead of round and has an ornamental design on it.

I step into this room and smile because, of course, Maka's place is a gigantic library. I was born into a well to-do family so I've seen decadent rooms before, but this outdoes any and every library I've ever seen even in magazines. Two sets of stairs, one on either side of the room, lead to a mezzanine with a second level of bookcases and seating. Each floor sports stately windows and at the far end is a huge fireplace making a cozy spot for mid-winter reading.

Despite the fact it has that book store smell it isn't dark and dusty, but full of warm sunshine that streams in from the windows and it feels like a happy, joyous place to be.

"Have you read all these?" I ask gesturing around the room with a swing of my arm.

"Not all of them- some I've only flipped through, but all the ones in that section over there" she points to several bookcases to our left "I've read and really enjoyed…And that tiny pile over there are the ones I thought were _super_ dumb" She points to one shelf that has a few stacks of books that instead of standing upright are sitting in a heap. "And those are biographies of people I admire…" She points to a spot on the right hand side of the mezzanine…and that big section over there are all the books I've studied on meistering and demon weapon mysticism." The meistering section appears to be one of the largest in the place taking up nearly a quarter of the main floor's bookcases.

My heart swells with pride seeing the shelves devoted to our craft. I'm really lucky to have a partner who works so hard. She's absolutely amazing how she can study so much and get such good grades and still read all those other books.

"And you wonder why I never get you books as presents. I would never know what to get you. You've already read so many."

"There's always more good books out there."

I follow her to the middle of the room where there is a maroon overstuffed chair that has a book sitting on it with a ribbon bookmark dangling from it. She picks up the book and pulls her legs up under her the way she so often does and is immediately absorbed by the contents of it.

I'm so focused on watching her for any signs of illness or possession that I trip over something next to her seat. Looking down I see a burgundy bean bag chair and sitting next to it is a white cardboard comics box labeled _Skeletoxin_ on its side in black permanent marker. She may not have been expecting me, but she has been prepared for my arrival nevertheless.

I toss myself down on the beanbag chair more than happy to chill out for a while, though I don't take my eyes off her. She _seems_ to be acting totally normal. No aggression. No collapsing or weakness. No slave owner mentality…but I know that demons and their influence can be dangerously subtle at times and I'm not ready to let my guard down yet, not completely anyway.

Sensing that I'm watching her she looks up from her book. "I'm sorry, Soul. I'm not being a good hostess am I?"

"It's ok. I don't mind," I say trying to act natural as I continue to scan her for any sign that she's as bad off as her physical self appears in the real world. "Nice place you got here, if you like books."

"There's music too," she points to a record player on one of the walls. The shelves beside it appear to be housing at least a hundred vinyl albums. She smiles at me sweetly. "And there's a piano upstairs." I can read in her eyes that she is looking for my approval. She wants to know if I'm ok with the fact her mind has morphed to accommodate my interests, too, meaning her mind has literally been changed by being a part of my life. After all this time does she still fear I might freak out? I care for her every bit as much as she cares for me. It's goofy she finds that so hard to believe sometimes.

I smile at her. "That's super cool."

"Would you like to play?" she asks pointing to the grand piano that I now notice on the mezzanine.

"Not right now, maybe a little later. Thanks, though. How ya feeling?" I ask casually.

"Fine, why? Is something wrong?"

"No." I lie. Maybe I should be honest, but she seems ok right now and I don't want to rock the boat. Maybe if I'm honest with myself I just want to have these moments with her be as close to normal as it can be in case this is our last time together.

Spying a pile of especially thick tomes sitting near her chair, I tease her. "Are those sitting there so you can have easy access to them when I piss you off?"

She laughs, but stops abruptly. Her body droops for a moment and then suddenly her laugh resumes and she pops back up as though she didn't notice the pause.

Something is not right.

"What's your book about?"

"Oh, it's really good. It's about this girl who lives on a space colony where every third child is made a slave while the first two reap the benefits of the labor of the third children and the first borns have control over everything. She's a third born, but her older sibling died at such a young age her mother is trying to pass her off as a…." Her head droops a little and then she raises her head drowsily and blinks. "That's weird. I forgot what I was saying. Oh, well," she says with a half-smile.

She goes back to her book and I continue to watch her and I finally manage to put my finger on what's wrong. In all this time she hasn't flipped the page. Either that book has the world's smallest print or she's rereading the same pages over and over again.

So, there is something wrong. I look around. I don't see anything else that seems weird. I open the box of comics and pull out my favorite issue, No. 34 the first appearance of Sir Commodore. I open the issue and find most of it is blank.

"You'll have to fill it in with your mind…'cause I can't since I haven't read it," Maka explains not looking up from her book.

"But the cover-"

"I've seen it a million times. You read it like every other week."

"I'm not _that_ obsessed." Sir Commodore is this ship captain that travels through time. He isn't exactly a villain, but he's opportunistic and will side with whoever benefits him more at the moment. "He's an absolute awesome character, but I'm not like fangirl crazy over him or something."

"Yes, you are! You-"

Again her speech stops abruptly and her head droops. When she comes to this time she seems tired and yawns, but she finally turns a page in her book.

Maybe I was wrong about the page turning thing…maybe this book has just got a really elaborate plot and for that reason she is reading slower than usual. I'm used to comics and you can read those super-fast. Then her body suddenly sags, the book dropping from her hand.

I leap up from the beanbag chair. It's not unusual for my meister to fall asleep while reading, but I don't think that's what's happening.

"Maka, Maka, speak to me," I say crouching in front of her.

She says nothing, but lifts her head. I'm gonna feel _really_ stupid if she did just fall asleep.

"Soul?" she asks seeming confused.

"Tired?" I ask.

She nods.

"How bout you come with me over by the fire?"

Time is strange in this place. When I got here there was sunlight streaming through the windows, but now it is quickly getting dark outside and a warm fire burns in the hearth. I sit down in a chair by the fire and she sits in my lap her legs hanging over the arm of the chair. I pull a blanket over her.

"Oh, Soul. I love you," she says kissing me.

"Love you, too."

"Sorry, I'm so sleepy."

"It's ok. How bout I read to you?"

She tips her head and narrows her eyes. "Who are you and what have you done with Soul?"

"Ha, ha. I'm not as illiterate as you make me out to be."

She giggles knowing full well that her teasing has not hurt my feelings.

Her eyes flutter shut and while it looks peaceful I do _not_ want her to fall asleep. Something tells me that if she goes unconscious here I will have lost her. I reach over to the table to the right of the chair determined to read whatever it is in hopes it will hold her attention.

I look down at it, "_Poems of Love Thru the Ages._" I sigh. Poetry! It _has_ to be poetry.

"Well, looks like you'll be having your own private poetry reading this evening."

I flip through the book to find something that seems interesting and then I feel her body going limp.

Oh, no. No! Come on, Maka. Don't do this to me here, too.

"Maka, we can fight this thing together," I whisper to her.

"Soul?" Her eyes meet mine and I can almost feel the fog her mind is clouded with right now.

I hear a crash. "What is that?" She says pointing to something behind me over my shoulder.

I stand up with her in my arms, the blanket and book falling onto the floor. I turn and see that her library is being stretched and morphed into a purplish blob headed our way. The enemy has broken through. I'm staring right at the infection and if it's here that means it's reached her brain.

I look down at her and see that she has fallen unconscious and I scream.

The infection has reached her mind.

One moment she is sitting up marveling at the breakthrough of my poetry appreciation and the next she is crashed out on the floor. The door gives way with a crash and I scoop her up over my shoulder and reach for the only weapon I can see- one of two swords crossed over the fireplace. I run as fast as I can toward the stairs as the purple blob monster sefuses into the library trying desperately to reach her. I run up the stairs and put her in a chair on the second floor and go to hold my ground on the stairs. I pull books off the shelves and throw them at the monster to slow it down but eventually it is lapping at the bottom three stairs and I am standing there stabbing and waving the sword.

"You want her you're going to have to take me down first. We are one in soul, body, and mind. Ha, you thought you had here, huh? Well, there's still plenty of life left in me asshole. Just you try."


	38. Chapter 38: On His Knees

**Risenfromash: **Sorry, for the erratic chapter sizes, but I'm challenging myself to write this fairly quickly and not be as agonizingly perfectionistic as I can sometimes be. Death the Kid and I may have some things in common. So, just a warning- this chapter is short and ends on a cliffhanger, but I won't be leaving you hanging as I'm posting chapter 39 right now, too.

_**Chapter 38: On His Knees; Is There No Escape?**_

One moment she's awake ribbing me about my disinterest in literary works, the next she lies limp in my arms. I've lost her in the real world…and now it seems I'm destined to lose her here, too.

The other side of the room is twisting and bending as though the library is merely a printed image being manipulated by a computer. The beautiful, peaceful world of Maka's creation is being destroyed before my very eyes…

But that is why I'm here and that's why Kid, Patti, and Liz are risking their lives and trying the unprecedented because we don't let a friend go down without a fight. I look around for anything I can use as a weapon. Everywhere I look there are only books and furniture…nothing very helpful until purely out of frustration I turn back to the fireplace and for the first time notice two crossed swords above it.

I set Maka at my feet and pull both of the swords down hoping they aren't purely ornamental. I take a swing at the chair and the sword slices through the upholstery with ease. Thank you, Lord Death. I'll be taking these and my meister upstairs now. I slide the swords into my belt and throw Maka over my shoulder.

"Kid, can you hear me?" I shout. I doubt that he has the capacity to since I'm now in Maka's mind and not his, but I call his name a couple more times just in case.

If I can make it up the stairs I can maybe control the infection by limiting the distortion's ability to reach us…I'm not sure, but it feels better than waiting here by the fire. I run for the nearest stairwell to the mezzanine, Maka in my arms and the swords banging into my legs with each step. This is one of those times I wish I were a bit taller as the blasted things are awfully long.

At the top of the stairs I find a reading nook, a bench with a padded seat. I start to set her on it, but the world outside the window is so black it seems menacing and I worry…could it reach her from the outside? I yank the pad off tossing it on the floor in front of the window seat and then proceed to place my meister down on it.

Maka is still breathing, but she's looking pale and feels clammy to my touch. It sickens me to see her like this and unable to kickass in the way she is meant to. My instinct to come upstairs seems to have been a good one as the distortion seems to be concentrating on the lower level near the door I entered, though it is slowly and steadily coming my way.

It's then I hear a laugh, a cackle that sounds more like the cawing of a crow than the laughter of a man. "Oh, Soul Eater, you don't know when to quit, do you?" I recognize the voice. It's Falconer. I growl. "Your precious meister has been defeated leaving Avian Flu as the victors over you both."

"Maka and I are not defeated until I say we are," I say taking a sword in each hand. I attempt to get a feel for their weight by swirling them in the air. I've always wanted to take up fencing and now I wish I had instead of wasting my time with video games and composing music no one besides me enjoys, but now is not the time for regrets. I have to just give this my all and know that no matter what happens I did the best I could do which is what I've always promised Maka.

Another chorus of voices speaks in unison, "We've heard all about you, Soul Eater."

"Then I'm sure you've heard that I do whatever necessary to protect my meister."

"Yeeessss," the choir of voices says. "We have heard that, but the rules of engagement are _so_ different here. There is so very little that you can do, especially against something as powerful as the Avian Flu."

"That's right," the disembodied voice of Falconer says. "Were you to give up I wouldn't think less of you. She _is _over ninety-percent ours now. Meister Maka will be such a wonderfully loyal Avian Flu disciple."

"In your dreams," I spit out the words facing the oncoming distortions. I hate that these fuckers can taunt me and I can't even see to attack them properly.

"Ninety-two percent," the choir says as the bending and twisting approaches. The far side of the library is gone now having swirled into a black hole of nothingness. Is that what Maka's brain will become, that amazingly smart mind thrown away to be replaced by a brainwashed shell? For some I suppose breathing in and out defines living, but that is no life for her. Every day she greets with questions, curiosity and hard work. For Maka, life is challenging the status quo and never accepting second best. She gives her all to what she cares about. That's _life_ for my meister and whatever these assholes think they can give her isn't that.

I dash toward the approaching anomalies and hit them with my sword. I'm duel wielding, but fortunately piano playing has made me a little more ambidextrous than the average person.

"You're wrong. She's one hundred-percent _mine_."

"I warned you that you would lose, but you have persisted." Falconer's voice complains. "It's rather annoying. I'll see to it that they don't go easy on you but instead kill you in the most agonizing way possible. Maybe I'll tell them to pull you apart limb from limb or nail you up at the school as a warning to all those other idealists there that think that they can rid the world of evil. Evil will always exist and before long it will rule!"

I watch as the base of the stairs begins to twist and my chest gets tight. We have only minutes before it reaches us. My swings at the distortions slow it's progression down some, but I can think of nothing I can do to stop it and the more I face the visual representation of the destruction of Maka's mind the weaker I get. My head aches and I have a horrible sense of vertigo. I'm beginning to lose my balance and it now takes as much effort to stand as it did to fight only a few minutes ago.

The distortions are now coming at us from all sides, closing in on the little island of tapestry on which my meister rests.

I will not be ending this tale as the gallant hero. I'm feeling far too weak. I think I'm going to collapse. "Kid?!" I shout again. I'm not too proud to ask for help and I need it now. I step back to right in front of my meister still clutching the two swords.

I take a sideways glance out the window, maybe we can escape that way. I pivot and shatter the glass with the sword in my right hand, but without the window pane it's now easier for me to see that there are distortions closing in on us there, too. Dammit! I fall to my knees in front of Maka. I'm out of ideas.

"You are too funny, Soul Eater. You really are willing to die rather than see her taken by us…too bad that's not how it works. We will claim her and then we will be forced to annihilate you in the real world. I wish it were more simple, because you're so vulnerable and weak-"

"I am _**not**_ _weak_, if I were Maka would never have chosen me as her partner."

We are now completely surrounded by purplish-gray swirls and the black hole is creeping ever closer. No part of the library remains intact except for the four or five square feet my meister and I are refusing to relinquish. Even the window seat behind us is starting to bend and twist.

Fighting back the urge to throw up I stand. I feel as though I'm being suffocated. I think the oxygen is being sucked up from the room by the black hole. I swing the blades whacking first right, then left.

"You…will…not…take…her!" I growl. I am an animal protecting its den and it's young.

"Ninety-five percent," the choir announces.

I feel weaker than I have ever felt. It's like I'm being drained of energy. Perhaps, our minds have been linked for so long I have gotten the infection. At this point I would not be surprised; we've pass the Black Blood between us this way before.

"I don't care what you say! **You will **_**not **_**take her.**"

A horrible thought crosses my mind. The enemy is so close and Kid said she would live on, but not as the real Maka…not as the Maka we know and love. I only have enough strength for a few more swings of the blade before I collapse...or one really big finishing move.

There is nothing I can do…the loss is inevitable at this point.

I fall to my knees beside her, letting go of both swords. I bring her close to me and hug her, my tears showering her with moisture.

The rules of the universe are so different here that I don't even know if this will work, but I have to try. I have to prevent Avian Flu from getting one of the DWMA's greatest meisters.

I whisper in her ear, "Maka, I'm enacting protocol one hundred-sixty-three. I promise I did all I could, meister."

I reach for the sword to my right and tighten my hand on the hilt.

"Please forgive me, Maka and know that I will always love you" and with all the strength I can muster I slam the sword into her chest. Blood begins pouring from the wound yet I don't stop. I drive it ever deeper into her not stopping until I feel it ripping through her back and then I fall face forward on top of my best friend whom I have hopefully just killed and my world fades to black as Maka dies.


	39. Chapter 39: Purgatory for Pervs

_**Chapter 39: Purgatory for Pervs; Heaven Can Wait?**_

Soft…soft lips upon mine. Warmth…a pleasant warmth pressing into me creating a simmer deep in my soul. Mmmmmm. Is this heaven? I crack an eye open. It's Maka and she's on top of me so I'm guessing we're both dead. Funny, Avian Flu didn't think I could get killed while in her mind, but whatever. I'm not gonna complain. We're together and this is _definitely_ not purgatory. My arms wrap around her, my hands traveling below her waist to grab her ass. So, she and I failed to save the world, at least we died trying and now it appears we can just spend an eternity making out. There are way worse things.

"Soul, you were amazing," she whispers in my ear before I smash my lips into hers. I am holding nothing back as I pull her close to me grinding my groin into her pelvis as my tongue invades her mouth. It's so great to have her responding to my touch again and to feel her wavelength in sync with mine. I'm going to take her right _here_ and _now_.

"God! Get a room you two! Seriously! We're right here ya know." My lips freeze in their spot on Maka's and my eyes roll in the direction of Liz's voice. Liz, Patti, and Kid are standing at our bedside with Rax standing on her hind legs on the table, every single one of them has their jaws hanging wide open. I guess it's one thing to have your suspicions that two people are physically intimate with one another and entirely another to see them playing tonsil hockey right in front of you.

"Yeah, you better knock it off or you'll get my sister all horny and Kid _hates_ it when she's like that. She gets all grabby. Kind of like _you_, Soul," Patti says matter-of-factly.

Normally, I would glare at her or hide in the corner out of embarrassment for getting caught feeling up my partner, but I don't fucking care about anything aside from Maka at this moment. She's alive. We're both alive! One of my hands releases its grasp upon my incredibly sexy meister and points to the door. "Out. All four of you. Out, now!" I order.

"Yes, let's give them some time," Kid says grabbing his coat and hat.

"You better not be thinking you're going outside to smoke," Patti says following right behind her meister while Liz chimes in, "Yeah, Kid, we've talked about this. Patti and I don't like you doing self-destructive behaviors."

"The only self-destructive behavior I do is having you as partners!" He shouts in exasperation.

"Oh, you don't mean that, Kid. You know you love us," Liz says as she pulls on her coat and holds out a hand for Rax to climb into.

Maka points to the mouse inquiringly.

"Later," I tell her. "There will be plenty of time for explanations later, but we have like five minutes for _this_ tops." And then I am all over her. I don't fucking care about anything. I'm so happy to hear her voice again and feel the touch of her skin that I could just hug her all night, but I can't help myself from doing other things a part of me still thinks that this is some kind of dream I'm going to wake up from at any moment.

"Oh, Soul," she whines in my ear and then starts sucking on the ear lobe. "I love you so much and I want you _so_ bad."

"You've had me feeling pretty pervy. I'm not sure a guy is supposed to be as turned on by someone in a coma as you've made me," I whisper in her ear. "I love you, Maka."

She laughs at me. "So much you even missed my bitchin', huh?"

I blush. She remembers that, huh?

"When do I bitch?" she asks as though she has no idea.

"All the time," I say sucking on her neck. "Whenever I drink out of the milk carton, forget my dirty clothes in the bathroom, eat more than my share of the chocolate in the trail mix, make us late to class-"

"Hhhhmmm. Yes, what exactly are your redeeming qualities again?"

I laugh. "Nice. I carry you all the way to a safe house in BFE and you start thinking maybe I'm not boyfriend material."

"I'm still kissing you," she points out as her lips torture me with kisses in the crook of my neck.

"Yeah, well you better stop, because…we do have company." She sighs and I inhale deeply. I've totally and completely blue balled myself, but I can't help it. Now that I'm her boyfriend, I sometimes find it too hard to hold her and not kiss her. "God, what I wouldn't give to get you alone right now…for more than a couple minutes."

"Later," she says to me.

I nod. Yes, we really do need to attend to business right now, but it's really not my fault I'm worked up. I just stabbed her and somehow as if by magic she's here awake and alive again. _Damn, I'm one lucky dude._

"We better let them know they can come back in," I tell her.

"One more minute, please, just one more minute," she says pressing her lips into mine and moaning. "Ohhh, Sooouuulll. I want you."

Oh, meister that is not going to help me tear myself away! I close my eyes. Focus, Soul, focus! "Maka, they _did_ help me save you so it would be a little rude to tell them to get lost for too long."

"I suppose."

"We'll sneak off later…just the two of us. Ok?"

She nods and smiles and I give her a final little love bite on the neck.

"All clear," I yell pulling myself from her.

"See, I told you they could do it fast," Patti says whacking Kid in the arm as they come back in. The reaper grunts and his eyes meet mine with an exasperated look. I nod. He _does_ seem to have his hands full with his two ladies these days.

"I'm starving," I say as I go to hop off the bed. I fall; my legs aren't working. "What the fuck?" I exclaim looking down at my legs to see if they somehow fell off me or something.

Liz runs over to help me up as Maka reaches for me from the bed commenting, "Soul, you better not get up for a while. I sort of drained your energy."

"That's what having a quickie that fast will do to ya," Liz says flicking me in the forehead as she helps me back onto the bed.

Maka shakes her head and laughs. "No, I stole his stamina when I was about to be lost to the infection, but I didn't tell him I did. Stuff was happening pretty fast."

"You did what?" I ask. My brain is still kind of foggy…and apparently my body isn't doing so great either.

"Well, I could kind of hear what was going on and I realized there was only so much you could do in my mind…you could manipulate things. Like making the swords appear above the fireplace and moving the stairs closer to you-"

"I did what?"

"Soul, I didn't have swords above the fireplace. _You _did that."

"I did?"

"Does decorating with swords seem to fit with my style of home décor?"

I tip my head and smirk at her. "I know a scythe you seem to like."

She ignores my comment and starts addressing the group. "Soul could manipulate the environment some but he didn't realize what he was doing, so that didn't offer him the kind of control needed to succeed in fighting the infection. So, I sort of parasitically drained your energy so that I could fight back after he killed me."

"What?!" every person in the room shouts.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot you guys didn't know. Soul enacted protocol one-hundred-and-sixty-three."

The room erupts into a bunch of yelling as my fellow weapons accuse me of having prematurely given up on my meister, Rax asks what protocol one-hundred-and-sixty-three is, Maka and I start trying to explain that there was nothing else I could do given the circumstances and Kid tries unsuccessfully to settle down his partners. Finally, he gives up on the subtle approach and grabs the cast-iron skillet that is still sitting on the table from earlier in the evening and bangs it like a gavel in the courtroom. "Quiet! Quiet down everyone!" He shouts.

We all shut up, but I sneer at Patti and she sticks her tongue out at me.

"How could you kill Maka?" she asks me.

"Hey, hey, Patti," Maka says running to her. "Soul was just doing his job…what he did made sense at the time, believe me. I'm not mad at him at all. He made the right call. He's an amazing partner."

I wish I had a tape recorder right now. I need to play that back to her the next time she gets all pissy with me because I disagree with one of her plans.

Liz ignores Maka's comments, "What? You didn't trust that Patti and I could make the antidote? You think we were too dumb or something?"

"No, of course not, Liz, but I couldn't communicate with you guys and we were about one minute from losing her. It's not like I wanted to do it. Believe me. I love her more than anything you know that."

Patti squeals with delight at my words and Kid rolls his eyes. He is going to have a very hard time getting any of us to focus on our missions this evening.

"And you gotta understand…I couldn't fight any longer. I was on the verge collapse. The infection was taking hold of me, too."

"That's not actually true," Maka says to me. "The sick feeling you experienced was probably me vamping all your energy. I managed to get enough energy from you that when you passed out I came to and was able to have the energy to fight back more aggressively than I could before you arrived and because it was _my_ mind I was actually able to get the infection retreating some."

"Meanwhile," Kid interjects. "Patti and Liz assembled the antidote and administered it to you enabling you to clear or mostly clear the infection so that you could wake up."

"So, I'm not infected?" I ask.

"No, I don't think so," Maka says. "I mean, I can't be sure, but I'm guessing not."

"I thought for sure I was," I laugh. "I felt _**awful**_."

"I think that the ill feelings you were getting were because I was sucking the life out of you."

"But I suspect that Maka _sucking_ you is nothing new, Soul." Liz says. I guess she must not be as pissed off as she was just a minute ago if she's throwing out innuendo again. Maka and I blush and I think Kid kicks Liz to get her to knock it off.

"Maka, just do me a favor, don't do that life sap thing again anytime soon, ok? I feel like I've been hit by a truck."

"Ok, and please don't stab me in the chest, again."

"Aw, Maka, you take all the fun out of everything," I say sarcastically as I adjust the pillows so I can sit more comfortably and still see everyone.

"Shinigami, you guys are so cute it makes me sick," Liz says curling her lip in disgust.

"About that…" Maka says casting a look at me. "Could you guys maybe not mention it to anyone else at school? Soul and I were kind of hoping to keep it a little quiet that we're-"

"Doin' the nasty?" Patti says gleefully.

"Bumpin' uglies?" offers Liz.

"In love," says Kid glaring at his partners. "You two are so obsessed with sex!"

Liz and Patti shrug. "Sorry, Kid, we sometimes forget that you pretend to be a prude when people are around."

"I do not!" Kid replies in a fluster. "At any rate, Maka, Soul, don't worry we _won't say anything to anybody._ _**Right, ladies?**_"

"Right, Cap'in," Patti says saluting her meister.

"Yeah, whatever," Liz says unenthusiastically.

"Alright then!" Kid interjects trying to steer us back to more productive topics. "Now, Patti can you please make us some food. Soul, you need to stay in bed. I think it's going to take you a few hours to recover and we need to get some protein into you." Liz starts to open her mouth, but he gives her such an angry look she clamps her mouth shut without making any blowjob jokes. "Maka, how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good."

"Good, we'll need to attend to your dressings and see how things are looking and you may have some side effects from the antidote, but hopefully it's kicked the entire toxin from your system. We also need to talk about our next move. I just spoke to my father and got an update on what's going on and we have some options."

"Options? Wow!" I marvel. "I guess being Lord Death's son has its benefits."

"And its drawbacks. My father has Joe working on a special device that would allow him to call me. It's something _special_ for _me_," Kid grumbles.

"You mean _he_ could call _you_?" I ask shocked.

"Yes," Kid groans. "Why would anyone ever want that?


	40. Chapter 40: Witty Repartee

**Risenfromash: **Please don't expect action this chapter because you will be disappointed if you do. Instead, I had the challenge of writing a scene where five people are talking. One of my pet peeves as a reading is when I can't tell who is speaking so I tried to have it clear who was speaking without constantly ending every sentence in "says so and so". I'm sure it could improve, but as a former thespian I believe that the show must go on and so without further ado here is the next chapter…

_**Chapter 40: Witty Repartee; Different Patterns for Different Folks?**_

Kid asks Rax to keep watch while all of us catch up and have some R and R. Unable to get up, Maka brings me some crackers and water while Patti surveys the canned food cache trying to decide what to feed all of us, but for once my mind isn't on food. I'm eager to hear what Kid and the girls have learned about Avian Flu while on their mission, because I don't feel like we've made much progress other than killing Falconer and since I had I had a conversation with Falconer _after_ we fucking killed him, I'm no longer sure we even managed to end him. Demons never want to stay dead. It's like Medusa all over again…except of course no one munched on her soul after Professor Stein defeated her. Spirit needs to take a page from my book and swallow those mother fuckers.

"How'd it go with Muscovy?" Maka asks the trio.

"We got him, but the news from my father-"

"Isn't good," Liz interrupts. "Black*Star and Harvar are still missing and now Tsubaki's gone off on her own to try to find them."

I shake my head. I thought Tsubaki was smarter than that.

"And they aren't the only ones unaccounted for. Robin and Geoffrey failed to check in today," Kid says darkly.

"You sure Robin and Geoffrey didn't get too busy swapping spit to check in?" Patti says hopefully. The meister and his weapon partner, a bow named Geoffrey, are notorious for public make out sessions. For a while there was a daily betting pool as to where they would park themselves at lunch to enjoy one another's company. I once won $50 bucks when someone stumbled upon them mid make out session in the school's walk-in freezer.

"Well, let's hope so, but I doubt it. I've heard that they aren't like that when they're on missions. Unlike one _highly_ unprofessional meister/weapon team that shall remain nameless," he says grinning at Maka who has her hand resting on my upper thigh. She blushes a little.

"Thanks, dude, Maka and I really appreciate that," I tell him and a big smile spreads over his face. It's the first time he's grinned since he got here, I swear.

"So,_ five _Crescent Moon students are missing?" Maka asks.

Liz nods. "Well, _technically_ Tsubaki isn't missing. She told Hiro she was leaving, but swore him to secrecy until she would be out of Death City."

"He shouldn't have let her go by herself." I'm pissed. Isn't that dude good for _anything_?! "He should have talked her out of it or told Lord Death before she snuck away." There are few things in life this black and white. Don't go demon hunting alone is one of those hard and fast rules…or at least it's a rule until you're a bonafide DeathScythe and then you're such a badass it no longer matters.

Liz shrugs, "You know Hiro. He probably felt so happy to be included in a secret plan he didn't think about the implications, plus I'm sure he's still high as a kite on pain meds right now."

"Wonderful," I grumble.

"I can't believe Tsubaki would abandon her post. She knows she has a job to do," comments Maka.

"It doesn't surprise me," Patti sing-songs as she stirs the contents of the pot on the fire. "She's in love with Black*Star." No one argues this point even though I can think of about a _million_ reasons why if I were a chick I would _not_ fall in love with Black*Star of all people.

"And it sounds like Tsubaki did wait until her team's goal was met. She just took off before she got reassigned. Lord Death says that they're confident that what the birdbrains were aiming for was infiltrating the library's archive." I look to Maka, my personal library expert, to tell me what the hell would be located in the archive that would be of interest to a bunch of demons.

"I thought nothing important gets put in the archive," Patti says.

"I guess it depends on how you define important," Kid says with a shrug. "The archive contains registration info, grades, personal data, that sort of thing."

"Why would they want our grades? If that's what they were after they could have just asked. I would have sent 'em a transcript," I snort.

"We don't know, but there is little doubt that the archive is what they were after. Not magic tools, not any of the ancient tomes in the restricted section, just the archive which they did manage to get into and steal a bunch of files."

"That's crazy," I grunt in between swigs of water.

"Probably not. They seem to have some kind of plan or method to their madness. It's just hard for us to fathom what it could be. Why did they want Maka, Liz, and me alive, but you and Patti dead?" Kid asks and we all shake our heads.

"Well, I'd say they were only after meisters and don't care about the weapons," I muse. "But Liz breaks the pattern."

"That's me! Always the rule breaker," she says winking at Kid with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

Patti shrugs, "Maybe Soul and I are just too cool to turn into birds. I know I'd much rather become a giraffe." Kid smiles at her lovingly and I notice Liz watching him gaze at her sister. What the fuck is going on with those three? Could Kid be falling for Patti?! Black*Star will never let him live that down if that's what's up.

Ugh. Right, Black*Star is missing. Fuck, for all I know he could be dead. This fucking sucks. I get a thrill out of demon hunting and whenever we do it I know we're risking our lives, but dealing with these Avian Flu bastards feels different. It feels as though Avian Flu is trying to commit genocide on all that the DWMA stands for and I'm man enough to admit that I'm actually scared. I don't doubt my friends' skills and smarts, but if Avian Flu has managed to kill or capture a meister whose as strong a fighter as Black*Star it really worries me. Our enemy no longer seem like the pushovers those idiots at the daycare were and the DWMA is the only family I've got these days other than Wes and Grammy…ugh, Soul, don't let yourself get depressed. Focus on the fact that thanks to the help of your friends you brought Maka back from the dead. That's something right? Seems like you got a miracle even though you don't believe in them.

I raise my aluminum mug in salute to Kid, "Who knows, but they'd be dumb to kill Lord Death's own son. He's a whiz with the antidotes and talk about leverage…if they could manage to hold ya."

"They only _wish_ they could get a hold of me." He remarks smugly.

Patti and Liz beam with pride. "Nobody's gonna take our meister," they say in unison.

"But it's funny you talk about leverage," Kid continues. "Because when Muscovy and I were bantering-"

"Yakking your damn mouths off you mean," Liz grumbles the smile on her face suddenly completely gone.

"Part of our job is to collect intelligence. It's extremely important. You get the enemy talking and their hubris-"

Liz cuts off her meister. "Yeah, well in the time the two o' you were chewin' the fat me and Patti took out nine demons by ourselves. Next time maybe you can try speed dating instead of a lengthy courtship."

"I resent that! You were doing _just fine_. Had you been struggling I would, of course, have sped things up but-"

"Liz, it's not Kid's fault he likes the sound of his own voice." Patti says matter-of-factly, "Witty repartee is his thing."

Liz rolls her eyes, "All I'm saying is that someday Kid's gonna get us killed because he won't shut the fuck up."

Kid glares at Liz. "Liz, I realize that I may not always do things the way _you_ would choose to, but I think we have a very good safety record-"

"We could have taken them _all_ down if you hadn't insisted on talking with Muscovy about the damn weather."

"We were _not_ talking about the weather!"

"Yes, you were. I heard you. It was the whole 'looks like today is a good day to enter the realm of the dead' talk. It's old and clichéd. You need a new shtick."

Kid stands up, outraged. "Shtick! I'm a _reaper_! I'm _supposed _to tell the enemy it is a good day to die and that I am ridding the planet of their worthlessness. That's my _job_. I'm also supposed to say that I'm executing judgment on them, but I don't bother with that part. There exist too many shades of grey in this world; I don't want to end up in some kind of debate mid duel."

"All I'm saying is you can be your own person, Kid. You don't need to emulate your dad in _every _way."

Kid's lips twitch in anger. "Liz!"

Patti rolls her eyes and shouts over her bickering partners as she hands Liz some dinner in a tin cup. "What I think Kid was going to say before he and sis started fighting was that when he mentioned leverage Muscovy got all confused and laughed."

Suddenly reminded of the original point of the conversation, Kid sits back down and composes himself, but he continues to glare at the taller of his two partners, his lips pressed together to form a thin line as though restraining himself from saying more. "Liz, I will take your input under advisement for future duels."

"_Thank you_. That's all I ask, Kid."

"_No_, that's _**not**_ all you ask of me, but I will refrain from arguing that point as I would so easily win." He takes a deep breath and then continues, "_Anyway_, Patti's right. Muscovy didn't seem to know anything about the taking of hostages."

"That's weird. Wasn't he one of the Avian Flu that was actually in DC during the attack?" Maka asks.

"Yes, we think he was the commander of the bombers. That's why we were in Idaho. We went to this ranch where a bunch of the flyers live or supposedly launch from, but they seemed to know we were coming. We got ambushed as soon as we arrived," Kid explains.

Maka's eyes meet mine and I know she's thinking the same thing I am, that if too many of our missions seem anticipated by the enemy it may mean Falconer wasn't bluffing and we do have a spy in Lord Death's trusted inner circle.

"We actually didn't end up seeing that many flyers," Liz comments. "Mainly just these ugly ass dwarves-one of them had this face that was all cattywhompis and another one had this big ol' club foot."

"I kinda felt sorry for them," Patti says quietly.

"We fought those same things! They're deformed or something and their souls taste nasty!" I complain.

Kid tips his head as he considers this. "What do they taste like?"

"Rubbery on the outside and raw on the inside."

"Raw on the inside…" He repeats the words to himself deep in thought.

"What connection do those demons have with Avian Flu?" says Maka challenging all of us to put on our thinking caps. "They don't look like they've soulmelded with birds."

"No," Patti says filling a tin cup with some sloop she has heated up and handing it to her meister. "They seem more like little kids."

Kid puts his finger up in the air. "Wait…what did you say?"

"I said they seem like little kids that's why I can't help but feel sorry for them. None of them brag like normal demons and a bunch of 'em ask to play, but they don't know how to play nice. They need to learn manners."

"Oh, my gosh!" Exclaims Maka. "You're right. One of the ones we fought sucked it's thumb and think of their attack names Princess Pound, Ball and Jax, Rumble Rocket they're all-"

I get really excited. I've got it! "Sex stuff? You got pounding, balls, and rumbling rockets…" I trail off as the look from Kid and Maka indicate to me that is most definitely _not_ the link between the attacks.

"I see having a girlfriend is not reducing Soul's preoccupation with sex," the reaper says as though he isn't just as horny and pervy as I am.

"Kid, were I able to stand up and walk over to you, I would totally punch you in the face right now," I threaten.

Kid turns to Liz. "See, _that_ is an example of time-wasting banter. It isn't _at all_ intimidating and it doesn't entice the opponent to-"

Maka raises her voice ignoring Kid and me. "No, they all sound like games or toys."

Kid blinks. "The ones we fought attacked us with…" he searches his memories for the attack names. "Pony Paddle, Kite Fight, and…"

"Stuffie Strangle," Liz grumbles. "That one was looooovvvveeellly, let me tell ya."

"But there does seem to be a pattern going here, right?" Maka says. I would love to point out that paddle and strangle could also be sex stuff from the BDSM end of the spectrum, but I think if I say that aloud Maka will punch me in the face so I remain silent.

Pondering aloud, Maka says, "What if they weren't taking the kids in DC as hostages, what if they were taking them to turn into reinforcements?

"You mean turning kids into demons?" Liz asks.

Kid's back straightens. "Maybe the deformities are some kind of side effect of stunted growth…like they've tried to accelerate their maturity and failed."

"Shit. That would make sense," I say finally able to pull my mind from the pattern that only I seem to have noticed.

"We need to talk with my father and see if he can contact the local newspaper and police department to find out if there have been increased numbers of missing children in the last few months and if so where."

"But," Maka turns to look at me tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "Does that mean we've been killing little kids?"

The reality of our theory hits everyone in the room. Thinking about that spaghetti armed demon as somebody's baby makes me sad. We treated it like just another worthless demon, not like Stein when he was affected by the madness or even Crona when he was being ordered around by his mom.

Maka buries her head in my chest and I hold her. "Maka, we didn't know," I say quietly to her.

"But it doesn't matter. We killed little kids."

"But they were demons and when we kill demons we free them from a very tortured existence. You know that." I say rubbing her back, but I know I'm trying to convince her as much as myself that we haven't done something truly wrong.

"Maka, it sucks, but it isn't like when Medusa used that kid's body. These kids have become full-fledged demons and would be more than happy to kill us," Liz says. "Believe me. One of those fuckin' stuffies got Kid by the throat. It was all I could do to pry the blasted thing off him while Patti shot it."

Maka nods, but still doesn't raise her head.

"Still we need to do all we can to figure out if there is some kind of restorative magic that could be used on them." Kid watches Patti as he speaks as though his words are more for her than anyone else. "There may be some hope of transforming them back."

"I don't get it, though," grunts Liz in between bites of her slop. "If they needed an army, why take it from DC that day? Wouldn't they do better to get their army before attacking?"

"They probably figured the kids in DC had a higher likelihood of having innate magical abilities-"Kid says.

"Wait- the archive has files on each student, right?"

"Yes," Kid answers.

"Yes, my understanding is that there is a file kept on each student with personal information like their birth certificate, health record, their abilities and attacks-"

"Oh, no! Tsubaki and Marie!" Patti shouts almost dropping the tin of mush she was walking over to offer Maka.

Kid nods. "They could be targeted. Marie is a Deathscythe and Professor Stein is a powerful meister. You know that baby's gonna be a powerhouse. It's probably doing magic in the womb."

"But Kyo didn't have any magical ability did he?" Liz asks.

"Not that we know of," I say darkly. "But we're some of Tsubaki and Black*Star's closest friends and _we_ all assumed it was Black Star's kid-"

Maka raises her head and her eyes are bloodshot and puffy. "Avian Flu will make the same mistake," she says.

Patti stands there frozen no doubt imagining Tsubaki alone somewhere being set upon by a demon hoard. "But how will they know she's pregnant? She isn't even showing yet."

Kid grumbles. "Unfortunately, more and more things point to there being a spy within the DWMA or some kind of bug- like the snake Crona planted on Marie that allowed Medusa to listen and see all of our activities through Marie's eyes. We need to call Lord Death right now. He needs to get Tsubaki back right away and station someone with Marie and her at all times just to be on the safe side."

Liz produces a compact from her pocket and tosses it to Kid, who opens it and huffs on the makeup mirror and with a flourish of his fingers contacts Lord Death.

"Oh, hello my boy! How are you! I was just thinking about you! I can hardly wait until Joe finishes making that two way calling device-"

"Father, we have reason to believe that Avian Flu is using kids as part of their forces. We think they might be converting them into demons somehow."

"Children, you say. Dear, dear."

"You need to keep Marie and Tsubaki safe. Avian Flu is going to want those babies."

"Oh, well…that is a good point…" Lord Death says weakly.

"Father, what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't know where either of them is at the moment…Tsubaki left yesterday and Marie is on assignment."

"Fuck!" I shout. "Ah, sorry, Lord Death."

"That's alright," he squeaks. "This is an appropriate situation for use of the F-word if there ever was one. Dear me. Nothing but bad news today."

"What do you mean?" Maka asks wearily.

"Well, the _good _news is Harvar is back!" Lord Death says with a thumbs up which means the next thing to come out of his mouth will surely suck big time. "He says that Black*Star has been taken to a facility in Mexico but somehow Harvar managed to escape on route. We're happy he made it home…but I'm keeping him quarantined in the basement for now. One can never be too careful."

"Father, I request permission for Maka and Soul and Patti and Liz and I to go on a mission to retrieve Tsubaki as soon as possible and then proceed to this facility in Mexico."

"HHhhmmm. Do you have any idea where Tsubaki could be?"

"She may have headed back toward her homeland," Maka says. "But more likely she was trying to follow Black*Star and Harvar so I'd say we should start looking at the last place she knew they had checked in from."

"Alright, permission granted, but you will need to rest up. The road ahead of you will not be easy. I will see if Sid can make contact with Marie as soon as possible and I will think on this alchemy of turning youth into demons…I will need to reflect on that for a while before I can make sense of it. Good night!"

And with that the Lord of Death ended the transmission leaving Kid to grumble about his father's incompetence. "It would have been _nice_ if he told us where we were going. I guess we'll have to call him back in the morning. Sometimes, I wonder how in the world my father has remained supreme for so long when he is such an idiot."


	41. Chapter 41: Friends and Lovers

**Risenfromash: **So, my SoMa story is developing a significant subplot with our favorite reaper. Funny, since when I started writing Phoenix Wright I wasn't interested in writing anything about Miles Edgeworth and then he captured my mind and I ended up writing his own story, too. And that's what I'm planning to do here. Eventually, there will be a spin-off story about Kid, though I haven't decided whose POV it will be from- maybe 3rd person I don't know, but it will be quite a while till I post it because this story has a long way to go first

_**Chapter 41: Friends and Lovers; The Nature or Nurture of Attraction?**_

It is decided that since it is the middle of the night that we had better all get some rest before we make the long hike back to civilization. Since, Maka, Kid, and I are wiped out from sustained soul resonance Liz graciously offers to share the responsibility for watch with Rax and Patti. They split it up in one hour blocks so everyone has the chance to get some much needed rest. Our plan is to leave at first light after we get an idea from Harvar and Lord Death where to start the hunt for Tsubaki.

Kid's entire team insists that Maka and I share the bed as we are the most physically compromised at this point in time. The Thompsons shove the table to one side each of them rolling out a sleep matt to designate their makeshift bed. The two girls put theirs right next to each other and share a blanket. Kid settles himself a few feet away using only his peacoat as a blanket, but we keep the fire going all night to keep the place warm.

It's still dark when a noise rouses me from my sleep. The protective nature I have as a weapon makes me a light sleeper even when someone else is on watch duty, but I quickly recognize the disturbance as being nothing more than Liz and Kid talking to one another. I probably should quit listening, but I don't.

"Kid, she wants you. She's having nightmares again. I'll trade you spots."

I hear a shuffling and movement as Kid gets up to move next to Patti and Liz goes to the spot Kid had claimed as his.

"Patti, I'm here," Kid says gently. I think I hear some muffled whimpering. "You don't need to cry."

"I'm sorry, Kid. I'm just so scared."

"It's ok. Liz and I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I know that. I'm worried about you. I don't think I'm a good enough weapon for you."

"Oh?" Kid says sounding amused. "And why is that?"

"Because I don't think I could do what Soul did. I couldn't do that to you."

"Patti, being partners is all about trust. I trust that you will always do what you feel is best for me and for the goals of our team."

"But that's just it. I think I love you too much, Kid, I don't think I could ever enact protocol one hundred sixty-three even if it _was_ the best thing."

"Patti, please don't worry about that right now. You need your rest."

"Kid?"

"Yes, Patti."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming to snuggle with me."

"Of course, I'm always here when you need me. But you do need to scoot over. You're being a bit of a sleep matt hog. I expect that from Liz, but not from you."

I hear a giggle and some movement.

"Kid, kiss me goodnight."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? You kissed me and Liz-"

"I told you I was drunk and I wasn't thinking about the consequences. I was not in my right mind. I was so relieved that we had taken out Muscovy and managed to keep you alive that I got a little carried away while celebrating. I'm deeply sorry about that."

"But you don't have to be sorry about that-"

"Patti, it didn't mean anything. I was so wasted I would have kissed anyone."

"Would you have kissed Soul?"

I hear a grumble from the reaper.

"I would have kissed any _female_ who was looking cute. I temporarily succumb to my maleness."

"So…you think Liz and I are cute?"

"Of course. Now, Patti, please _go to sleep_."

"Why?"

"Because we need to get up early and hike to the nearest coach station or train station-"

"No. I mean why do you think Liz and I are cute?"

There is another long rumbling grumble that is clearly the reaper's. "Because you are. There's no denying it. Now please be quiet so we can get some rest. Here, I'll hold you if you want."

Once again, silence settles over the room. I can't help thinking that Kid is dancing on a tightrope with those two. Getting drunk and kissing them? Being on Patti's beck and call for affection?

"Patti!" I hear a startled squawk from the reaper. "For Shinigami's sake, Patti, we've been over this. There are some places you aren't allowed to touch without permission."

I think I hear a little giggle. "You're so mean to me, Kid."

"Yes, I'm terribly mean to my little princess."

"Kid, I love you."

"_Go to sleep._"

"But, Kid!"

"Now is not the time. If you refuse to sleep with me I'll trade places with Liz and you can try to sleep while she steals all your covers and your sleep mat."

"Hey, I heard that. It's not my fault I've got long legs." Liz says in a rather loud whisper. "And I'm not trading back. You two can deal with your issues. I'm determined to get some sleep."

And then silence returns to the cabin, this time for real, and I fall back asleep.

"Rise and shine, lovebirds," Liz says in my ear and I groan. How can it already be morning? Maka raises her head a little. Her face is plastered with her hair, and there are red creases running across her face from sleeping with her head on my chest. I try to slide out from under her desperately hoping my legs are working but not feeling super confident about it. One of them feels completely numb.

Kid's team have replaced the table and chairs in the middle of the room and Liz is throwing another log on the fire while Patti wanders around as though in a trance muttering to herself something about needing to make oatmeal.

"Where's Kid?" I ask noticing he isn't here.

"He went off to have a smoke. But don't tell him we know that's what he's doing. He thinks he's being mysterious."

Patti giggles. "He thinks as a reaper he's supposed to be all secretive and reserved and stuff. It's hilarious, because he can't keep a secret to save his life. He's so obvious about everything!"

"Why's it bother you that he smokes if it can't hurt him?" I ask.

The girls crinkle their noises and in unison say, "It makes him stink." Funny, I hadn't noticed the smell lingering on him, but then again I'm suspicious that these two get a _lot _closer to him than I do.

"Our meister is too classy to smell like a bar," Liz says poking at the fire.

I stretch my arms up into the air, gently pulling myself the rest of the way out from under Maka who appears to have dosed off again. Nervously, I swing my legs off the bed and put my feet down. They firmly plant themselves on the ground. I guess my leg must have just had its circulation cut off by my meister.

"I have been healed!" I shout.

Maka rolls over pulling her hair out of her face. "Good, cause I wasn't about to carry you," she says.

"Why not? That sounds like discrimination against weapons to me. It's ok for me to haul my meister all over hell and back, but you won't do the same for me?"

"Naw, we was gonna have her pull you on my ol' sled," chuckles Rax as she runs out from under the bed. "Now, kids I've collected up some things you might find useful in your travels that I had squirrelled away. It'll be a second, some are in my hole. Just a minute."

She disappears and comes back from under the bed dragging with her a Swiss Army knife. "Soul, you said you lost your knife and it isn't right to be out on adventures without one. So 'ere you go. Take good care of it. It were my husband's before he passed away."

I kneel down and offer my hand to her and she climbs into my palm dragging the knife behind her.

"Thanks, Rax. That's super nice of you."

"Oh, you're very welcome. You've been the nicest house guests I've had in a long time. Now put me back down so I can get the other things."

I place her back on the floor and she skitters across it, reappearing a few moments later with a slingshot. The handle of the pea shooter is in her mouth and she spits it out and tells Patti, "Sorry 'bout my slobber but this is for you. You should have a little something up you' sleeve, case you get separated from your sister and your meister."

Patti bounces with joy over to the gadget and picks it up stretching its catapult portion. "Thank you very much, Rax."

Rax disappears once again and returns with a leather cord in her mouth that has a silver whistle attached. "Liz, I thought this might come in handy at some point, but don't really know what for." Liz picks it up.

"Wow, it's got some really cool carvings on it. It reminds me of a gun my grandpa had."

"Yeah, it's old. From when they knew how to make things that lasted."

Kid reenters the cabin and Rax tells him he is just in time to get his gift from her.

"Liz, you're tall," the mouse comments. "Can you reach up on top of those cabinets over there? There should be a book there I think your meister will be a wantin'."

Liz reaches above the cupboards moving her hand from side to side till she finds something and brings it down along with a cloud of dust. Liz hands the book to Kid who opens it and reads the title.

"_Balanced Approaches to Witchcraft and Meistering. _Thank you, Rax."

"Wow. I don't think I've ever seen a book that includes both," Maka says with more than a hint of jealousy in her tone.

"Oh, now, don't you worry, girlie. I gots somethin' special for ya. Just a moment."

Rax reappears with a strand of black beads that shine like obsidian and pearls. Interspurced along the strand are beads that resemble skulls and in the middle is a larger black skull.

"It's enchanted so that only those back from the dead can wear it an' I recun with what you've been through the last few days that includes _you_. Now try it on. I wants to have a look at ya."

Maka picks up the necklace and pulls it over her head and Rax seems to smile…but she's a mouse so maybe I'm imagining it.

"Ooooohh. I thought so! Looks like it was made for ya. Witches will recognize it and know that it means you are a powerful magic user."

"Thank you, but it's too nice…"

"Naw, I can't wear the thing. I got it as payment for a potion many years ago an' thought that I'd be able to sell or trade it an' I never have. I think it was meant to come to you, my dear. Just promise me you'll take care of ol' red eyes here. Whooweee. I ain't seen men this fine in a long, long time."

Kid and I blush as we once again thank Rax for her hospitality and scarf down a mug full of oatmeal before heading out on our hike.

The snow has stopped falling and there is a break in what was previously a solid wall of grey clouds. It's definitely much better weather for a hike than it was on our trips to the safe house. Maka and I walk along hand in hand with Kid and his two ladies a few yards ahead of us.

"Did you hear them last night?" Maka whispers to me.

"Yeah."

"I'm worried about Kid. I think he's-"

"A dumbass who is going to screw things up?" I offer.

"Well, I was going to say it nicer than that-"

"But it's what you were thinking, wasn't it?"

"Maybe," she admits weakly. "I thought maybe I could hang out with the girls for the hike and you two could have a little guy time and you could do whatever it is guys do about situations like this."

"You mean grunt and ignore it till it blows up in his face and then laugh when it does?"

She inhales deeply and stares into my eyes with those beautifully pure emerald orbs of hers. "You're a better friend than that…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just don't know what to say and he hasn't wanted to talk about it."

"But you can at least give him the opportunity and let him know that when he _wants_ to talk-"

"Guys don't like to talk. Let's get that straight, but sure, I'd be happy to hang out with Kid for the rest of the hike."

"But if you want me to give him advice…I've got none to give. Only he's gonna be able to figure out what he wants."

"Well, he can't be their father, brother, _and_ their lover."

I shrug. "If anybody can it'll be Kid. Now I can see why so many girls are always crushin' on him at school."

"I know. He's so handsome and he does have this whole gothic gentleman vibe going…it's very alluring."

I turn to her grinning, "Something you want to tell me? I'm not becoming the third wheel am I?"

Maka's eyes grow wide with panic. "No, it isn't like that at all, Soul! I promise I would never-"

I laugh. "Calm down. I was only kidding."

She arches her eyebrows in surprise. "You've never kidded about stuff like that before. Does this mean I get to have guy friends now without you threatening their lives?"

"_**No.**_ _Only Kid…_Black*Star if he isn't drunk and is getting sex routinely from someone else _and_ I'm within ear shot…oh, and Ox, because I know you can't stand him anyway."

She shakes her head, puzzled. "Why Kid? He's probably the most attractive boy in the entire school."

I frown. "Enough of that now. Don't go all fan girl on me. The difference is I _like_ Kid…a lot and I trust him."

"Oh, I see. You trust him and not me. I think I've just been insulted." She looks serious.

"No, I don't mean it like that!" Crap, I'm digging myself a damn hole here. "It's just Kid encouraged me to talk to you about how I felt. He's kind-of been pulling for us for a while."

"So, guys _do_ talk about these things."

I shrug. "Sometimes, I guess. I don't know. He just showed up at our place one day telling me that life was too short to hide how I felt about you…"

"Well then, maybe you need to return the favor and remind him that when the roles were reversed that's what he said to you."

"OK, ok. You win. At some point today in between talking about the things guys actually _enjoy_ talking about I will try to give him some advice man-to-man about his relationships with his insane partners."

"So, you don't trust Black*Star, huh?"

"Hell, no. He's one horny bastard _all the time._ Besides, he'd make me look bad."

"You mean all his bragging about having a gigantic shlong is true?"

I nod. "He's hung like a horse plus he's so competitive he would totally try to score with you just to prove he could be with any chick I was. The guy can be an ass sometimes…er, a lot of the time."

"Then why are we all rushing to Mexico to save him from the clutches of Avian Flu?" she asks even though I know she already knows the answer.

"Cause he's our friend and every group of friends needs a dumb as a doornail, completely tactless, misogynistic dumbass...and what's with all this talk of other guys? Heave you forgotten that you have a date with me to sneak away from the group for a little fun, because I haven't?"

She shakes her head and yanks me by the hoodie string to behind a tree wrapping her arms around me.

My lips meet hers with a loud smack before she opens her mouth letting my tongue slip into her. Her lips tangle with mine as my hands clutch her waist more tightly pinning her up against the tree wanting so badly to make love to her right here and now.

My lips creep toward her ear and neck and she pants out my name. "Soul…"

"I know…I know…just a couple minutes more…" I beg as I press my body against hers wanting to feel her heat engulf me. She doesn't argue. Instead, she lets her hands slide down to my ass as she makes little moaning sounds. I am so turned on it's painful.

"We've gotta get back with the others," she says with disappointment.

I nod, my lips and tongue still in contact with her neck. "Maka, I love you."

She smiles as she pushes me off of her with her uninjured arm. "I love you, too," and then she is off like a shot, running to catch up with the young man dressed in black and his companions.

"Promise me you'll stay close to Liz and Patti so you can use them if you need to," I call after her and I hear an, "OK."

A few minutes later, Kid hoverboards over to me. "I guess we will be bringing up the rear. The ladies have told me that my escort is no longer required and that I am temporarily _your_ meister."

"Yeah, Maka went all turncoat on me." Then I admit, "Actually, we thought you might need a break."

"You make it sound like I'm babysitting. The girls take care of me as much as I take care of them."

"Yeah, but it can still be tough and you've got _two_ of them to worry about. Maka keeps me busy enough."

"Obviously," he says with a silly grin on his face. "The girls are so happy that the two of you are finally officially an item. They think you're adorable together."

He glides along next to me watching the forms of 'his ladies' in the distance in front of us.

I feel extremely awkward about it, but wincing a little I go ahead and say it, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"Oh, come on Kid. You came and kicked me into gear to talk to Maka."

"And you proceeded to run away like a little baby," he shakes his head. "You very nearly blew it. You can be such an idiot sometimes."

"Ok, I admit it; I should have taken your advice, but that doesn't mean that talking to someone about it didn't help."

"No offense, but no I don't want to talk about it. There isn't _anything_ to talk about."

"That's cool. Just know that if you ever need to, you can talk to me."

There. My duty as a friend is complete. I have done what I promised Maka I would do and now I don't have the obligation hanging over me anymore.

The lyrics to the DWMA fight song drifting back to us and Kid and I chime in with the girls on the chorus. Then the Thompsons sing some silly camp songs that Kid seems to know, but I don't and then they get so quiet I think they're done singing. Until I hear them again…no, wait, it's only Patti and Liz and it's much softer and more breathy then before. I vaguely recognize the song as some top forty thing by an artist I choose to ignore. The sisters turn around and in extremely lusty voices belt out the lyrics, "I'll make your fantasies come true. Me and yooouuu. You can hold me…and touch me…and play with me. I want to feel you deep inside of meeeee."Patti is holding her slingshot upside down using the handle as a mock microphone and Liz is moving her body in ways I've only seen in porn.

Meanwhile, _my _girlfriend is standing beside them looking incredibly awkward neither singing nor dancing and I'm guessing probably wishing they would knock it the hell off for poor Kid's sake. What she doesn't know is they also need to knock it off for my sake, because I'm a guy, and all that panting and talk about touching and feeling is having an effect on me, too. Plus, it's not like Kid and I walked into a titty bar or something. We're just hiking to town and have been completely caught off guard by this attack by sex kittens.

"Oooohhhhh oooohhhhh," sings Liz sauntering over toward Kid. "I want to open up to you so you can feel me on the inside."

Terrified, Kid grabs my arm. He appears to be in the worst panic I have ever seen him even when he is battling his worst OCD symptoms. He looks like he might cry.

"Liz, Patti, knock it off. This isn't cool. You're gonna give me and Kid nosebleeds for God's sake," I shout at them over the sounds of their pants and sexy little whines.

Kid his eyes still wide from fear says robotically, "Lovely singing ladies, but I think it's time for my mindfulness training. I'm gonna put my headphones on and meditate now." He pulls from his coat pocket a large set of noise-cancelling headphones in the shape of Death masks and pushes play on his music player. Then he pulls out a handkerchief and dabs a tiny trickle of blood running from his nose.

The girls giggle and run back to Maka who is continuing to appear incredibly pissed off by their behavior. Once I'm confident the girls are out of earshot, I yank one of the earpieces from the reaper's ear and grinning say, "Sure, there's _nothing_ going on, Kid? Cause that didn't look like _nothin' _to me and neither did your reaction."

"Shut up. You're turned on, too."

"Yeah, but I can do something about it," I say a glimmer in my eye as I stare at Maka's fine ass.

Kid mumbles something about how he can also do something about it it's just not nearly as fun and then barks, "I've got meditating to do. Watch out for birdbrains. Any of the girls get hurt I'm holding you personally responsible." And with that he pulls the headphone from my hand clamping the Death Mask securing over his ear and assumes a spaced out expression which slowly transforms to one of serene peace.

"Girls, why are you torturing Kid?" I shout confident he won't hear me over his music. "It's not cool. You need to give the guy a break. He's under a lot of pressure."

"He needs to loosen up," Liz says walking over to talk to me.

"He worries way too much about all kinds of stupid things," Patti says. "Like toilet paper triangles and reaping souls and morality and what his father might think-"

"Ok, well if you won't stop flirting with him at least do it in a way where _I _don't get caught up in it," I whisper to them. "Because Maka isn't going to like it if she finds out you can turn me on."

Patti is delighted. "We turned you on?!" She shouts so loudly that there can be no way my meister didn't hear. I glance at Maka and she is glaring at me.

"Patti, shut up! You're gonna get me in trouble!" I whine.

"But Kid always says we don't have any effect on him. I don't get it. We-"

"Incoming!"

I hear the shout from Maka a moment before I hear the beating of wings and immediately all the stupid teenage trials and tribulations are thrown out of our minds as we are once again besieged by Avian Flu members.


	42. Chapter 42: Maka Reborn

_**Chapter 42: Maka Reborn; Flying by our Sleeves?**_

My first instinct is to run directly to Maka as quickly as possible, but instead I have to make sure Kid isn't so far into a zen state that he's spacing out on what is going on around him. I turn towards him and discover that I needn't have worried. He is already half way through unbuttoning his coat and flinging it onto the ground along with his headphones. The coat makes a dramatic flourish as he throws it aside, holding his hands out on either side of him as a Thompson transforming into a gun jumps into each one. _Damn_, that guy has _style_. Maka and I kick ass together, but with Kid taking souls is like performance art. I would _love_ to stand and watch if I could.

The group of flyers above us is numbered about six, I think. It's hard to count because they must have some hummingbird in them because they are _fast_. Maka and I run toward each other. We grab each other's right hands as though arm wrestling a second or two before I transform.

We are so well synchronized I feel cocky, but only for an instant, because then I have to face the cold, hard fact that Maka and I don't have any ranged attacks. She's basically limited by my reach which is no big deal when you have other ground-bound dudes to fight, but these are _flyers _and even our best "flying" jump attack falls short against demons capable of _true_ flight which means that while Kid bends and twists like he's in one of those freaky acrobatic traveling circuses, Maka resorts to waving me around in the air like a person might a broom when trying to hit a pesky insect.

I groan. This is embarrassing. "Maka, you gotta focus on one of them." I expect better from us; we're being made to look fucking incompetent. Still, I know it's not her fault. It just sucks.

"They move too fast."

"You ready to resonant?"

"_I_ say when we resonant," Maka scolds.

"Ok, so are we going to or what? We're gonna need Witch Hunter or at least Demon Hunter to be able to hit these bastards. They're out of range otherwise."

"I know that."

"Then why aren't you…?" I don't know why I'm acting like this. What is my problem? I need to shut up and quit trying to do Maka's job for her but for some damn reason I'm being a bit of an ass. I'll have to apologize later…maybe.

"Soul Resonance!"

As our souls descend into the familiar wind tunnel we once again feel that heat.

"Soul-"

"Ignore it, Maka. I'm fine. Keep going."

"Demon Hunter," she shouts and I concentrate on her wavelength and go all fancy like I do.

Kid's bullets appear to have met their mark as one of our attackers, a young winged man with round eyes and a narrow short nose, plummets to the ground landing with a loud thud.

Maka runs toward him.

"What are you doing, Maka? He's less of a threat than the ones in the air!"

"Kid can get the ones in the air. We're taking this one."

"Ok, if you say so, but you better have some kind of plan." Why the hell are we doing Demon Hunter if we're attacking the one on the ground? Ugh! Sometimes, Maka can be so impulsive.

"I do."

She runs up and plants her foot squarely on his chest and brings me around so that my cutting edge is behind him and dangerously close to his neck and torso. "Tell us what Avian Flu is doing with little kids. How do they transform them into demons?"

"Look, I don't know anything. I just know that Avian Flu is working to make this world a more peaceful place. I swear."

Maka and I sneer. "More peaceful, my ass," Maka says. "What are the goals of your leaders? You must have some idea why they've sent you all this way to attack us."

"All I know is that they're building a better world for us. They give us food and shelter and the ability to fly. It's a dream come true."

"Some dreams aren't meant to come true." She says it with compassion, like she understands how one could be seduced by the ability to fly.

"That's the current paradigm talking. When the world is ruled by Avian Flu you too will see the error in your thinking. You'll see that life with Avian Flu isn't so bad."

Maka appears to hesitate for a moment. I'm sure she would rather be taking out a leader than some no-name grunt sent here to do the dirty work, but this is often what happens; the real evil doers sit in an ivory palace somewhere while we get stuck having to end some poor soul who got messed up in something way bigger and more sinister than they intended.

"Take him out, Maka," I growl just as it becomes oddly quiet all of a sudden. What's missing? Oh, it's the banging of Kid's guns…shit, that can't be good.

"Maka, what the fuck's going on over there? Is Kid OK?" I stretch my eyeball as much as I can but I can't see crap from my angle and all I can hear are the Thompsons calling Kid's name as though in shock. Any hesitance on Maka's part is now gone as she swings me beheading the demon on the ground with one swing. I guess doing Demon Hunter was a good choice.

As I come upright again I can see why Kid isn't shooting. He looks ok, but he's got no firepower. Both of the girls are in their human form and a purple haze is hanging in the air making them cough and double over.

"What the fuck are they doing?"

"I don't know," Maka says running. In our heads, Maka and I are considering a million possibilities of why Kid would not have the girls in gun form and none of them make sense. He's said that Avian Flu wants Patti dead, but she'd be safer in his hand in weapon form than as a human on the battlefield, plus in weapon form only Kid can tell the difference between Liz and Patti.

As Maka runs, a birdman swoops down towards us and I feel talons connect with my blade. It only takes a few seconds for the sharp nails to penetrate. I groan as blood gushes forth from the punctures. It hurts worse than I expected. How in the hell did Maka endure being lifted up by their claws like that? Yowch!

Maka calls my name and releases one hand from me enabling her to punch the bird in the face. She tries to head butt it, but the stupid thing yanks at her hat and hair. She sneers. That can't have felt good.

While we're engaged with the one clamped on to me, the others are ganging up on Kid. I can see it happening though I'm getting a little seasick from trying to focus both on Kid's team and the damn bird drilling holes in me.

The violet fog surrounding Kid's team is reminiscent of the mist I saw emanating from Maka's wound before she went unconscious. Is Avian Flu gassing them?

"Maka, we need to get over there to give Kid backup, _now_."

"But-" she says still attempting to beat up the one that literally has me in his clutches.

"Don't worry about me. Just run. He can come along for the ride if he wants."

Maka begins running at break neck speed and I hear a startled caw from the bird as he sinks his talons further into me in an attempt not to fall off. He's pierced right through the scythe blade, but I don't think that matters too much.

As we approach we start feeling the effects of the fog on our lungs and Maka and I start coughing, too.

Liz stands with Patti in front of her, her hands protectively holding onto her sister as Patti covers her mouth trying to filter the air she is breathing as much as she can.

"Kid, what's happening?" yells Liz.

"It's the mist. Patti, Liz, try to get as far away from it as you can."

"We aren't leaving you," Patti says.

"Ha! We've got you now," one of the flyers says alighting right in front of the two girls but Kid hover boards in front of his partners.

"It's me you're after, isn't it?" Kid says calmly.

"We have orders to take the tall girl, too, and the blonde."

"I'll make you a deal. I'll go without a fight if you let everyone else go."

"No!" Maka and I both scream as she swings me and the bird clinging to me into another bird that is a few feet above us. The bird riding on my blade shouts apologizes to his team mate as he rams into them.

"Kid! Don't be fuckin' stupid!" I shout. "We can win this thing."

What is he thinking? These guys aren't trustworthy; they won't respect a bargain.

Kid raises to his full height, no longer bent over from coughing, and Liz turns so her back is to his with Patti squatting in between them. The two of them hold out their hands forming a shelter for Patti to hide in, but Patti stands up sending a pebble flying toward one of the birds with her slingshot. The birdman lets out a startled yowl as Patti ducks down to once again be underneath the cover of Liz and Kid.

Maka runs in front of Liz. "I've got this. Transform," she tells her.

"I can't!" Liz says.

"What do you mean you can't?"

A new puff of purple mist appears in the air and I start to feel pulled toward my physical body. What the fuck?! It's as though my weapon form is rejecting me somehow.

"Maka, something's happening!"

A bird laughs. "We don't bargain with our prey! We follow orders."

"Maka! I'm changing back!" I scream. I understand now why Kid is weaponless. This violet fog is somehow interfering with our ability to maintain our weapon form.

"No, Soul. Concentrate on me!" Maka orders.

"I'm trying, Maka!" I groan. It is so hard. I don't have the control I usually have. "I'm… trying…but I…can't!" Fuck!

"Soul Resonance!" I know she's trying to help me. I can feel her soul reaching out for me, but my form is transforming none the less.

"Maka, listen to me. Whatever happens do _not_ let them take Kid."

"Right."

My head and torso begin to pop out of my weapon form, something I normally have complete control over. When I pop out I discover the bird person is perched on my shoulder. I turn my head and bite his ankles with my sharp teeth. He lets out a scream, but then I'm all the way out of weapon form and I still have a damn bird on my shoulder.

I look at Maka. This is bad. Really, really bad. Why didn't we bring the fucking gun from the safe house with us? What kind of amateurs are we?

Meanwhile, Kid's discourse with the enemy has continued, but I've been too busy dealing with all this other shit to be paying attention.

"I'll admit the offer is tempting," says the bird person who has been giving orders. "But seeing's as we've _won_ there is no reason for us to take only you." Then to one of his comrades he says, "Now, get the albino and the little girl over there and finish them, while we round up the other three."

Birds swoop down and start to pry Liz and Patti apart. Next to seeing Maka's unconscious form in my arms, this is the most terrifying image I have ever seen. The sisters are screaming and kicking their attackers trying desperately to keep their grasp on one another, but first their bodies, then their hands, and then their fingertips are pulled out of reach of one another.

Maka runs toward the person in charge, as the bird on my shoulder starts to drag me toward Patti.

"I'll come with you, too," she says. "Just don't kill Patti and Soul. Please, you don't need to! Kid and I will come with you."

One especially large bird dives down and instead of grasping Maka with his talons offers Maka a hand. Maka takes his hand, her eyes on me the whole time. I'm not sure what to do. The bird flies up into the air out of reach of me and I think that not only is the _battle _over, but my life and our life together as well. I don't see any way out of this and I don't believe for an _instant_ these mother fuckers won't kill Patti and me.

The bird's grasp on my meister slips and he tries to catch her, but instead grabs her sleeve ripping her shirt. Maka's cleavage is revealed as well as the necklace Rax gave her but it looks different somehow…the skulls almost look like they're glowing.

"Crap!" The bird shouts grabbing a hold of her other hand. "Guys, forget it! She's a Reborn! Nobody said anything about any witches! She'll kill me on route."

"Like hell she is! _These _aren't witches. They're DWMA students! I'm sure of it. They're the ones we've been looking for. How many groups of people would match the description we have? Quit being stupid, Luke!" shouts the leader to the one holding Maka.

"Then why does she have that?" The bird cocks his head toward the necklace and the other birds fly close to inspect it.

"I don't know man," says one of them.

Maka laughs. "Aw. You found me out." Her voice and pitch is different. It's creepy; at least to me it is, because it doesn't sound like my meister. "I've possessed the body of this student and am exercising mind control on all her comrades in an attempt to infiltrate your headquarters, but now that you've found me out I'm going to have to kill you."

What?! Is this the mind control coming back?

Kid stiffens and says robotically, "What would you have me do, Oh Great One. Your wish is my command."

"Uh, let's get out of here," wails one of the birds taking off in the direction they came from originally.

"Yeah, I didn't sign on to fight witches!" shouts the one on my shoulder and he lets go of me flying over to be with the others in the air.

The birds drop Maka and as a flock they all fly away. As my meister falls she shouts in witch voice, "Catch me, you fools!" And keeping with tradition I break her fall with my own body.

"Soul, are you ok?" she says in her normal voice.

I moan. Why do I do this? No sane person tries to catch someone who is being dropped multiple stories. I wave my hand and mumble something to indicate that she needs to get off me in a hurry because I can't get air and she leaps up.

Kid comes strolling up to us as though he's just been for a walk in the park. "I think I'll need to buy Rax _two_ cheesecakes," he muses grinning. He extends his arms on either side of him waiting for his ladies to come join him in their customary fashion. They come running over and get in their usual positions on either side of their meister and then Liz slaps him across the face. Before he can recover from his surprise Patti smacks his other cheek. The girls give him no time to say anything before Liz begins screaming at him.

"What in the hell where you thinking?" Liz yells even though she is only a couple inches from his face.

"Well, I-" Kid stammers.

"Under _no_ circumstances are you allowed to strike a bargain for our safety that endangers your own, _ass hole!_" Her voice trembles with fury.

"I was doing what I thought best," he says without raising his voice.

"Well, it wouldn't have been best for the DWMA or for my sister," Liz says continuing to yell.

"Patti would have been _alive_. Keeping her and Soul _alive_ was my primary concern, Liz."

"Well, keeping _you_ alive is mine!" Liz shoves him in the chest with her hand.

"Would you like to hit me again? Would that make you feel better?" Kid says without a hint of sarcasm. He is completely calm as he offers himself as a punching bag. When she doesn't respond he wraps his arms around her. "Sweetie, it was a unique situation. We've never been faced with a time when I couldn't wield you. I was at a loss."

"Well, next time you better come up with something less _dumb_," says Patti joining the group hug. "'Cause sister and I would rather die than see Avian Flu get ahold of you."

The girls are crying and it is only when the girls have their faces buried in his chest and shoulder that Kid appears troubled. He looks to Maka and me.

"You going to yell at me, too?" he asks.

"No," I answer. "But I am going to ask you what kind of magic power can make it so demon weapon's return to human form."

"I've never heard of such a thing," Maka says.

"Nor have I, but it does give us some insight into how they may be successfully capturing our friends. We were in a jam and were it not for Maka and her necklace…"

I glance at the necklace which is still dangling around her neck, but no longer glowing. "Oh, God, Maka, you need a new shirt."

She rolls her eyes. "You almost get killed and that's what you have to say to me? Sometimes you have the emotional depth of a rock."

I shrug. "You know everything I would say. I don't have to say it anymore."

"But you _have _to point out that I'm showing a little side boob."

"That's more than side boob," I say flatly.

"I'd have to agree with Soul," says Patti. "Not that there is anything wrong with that. If you've got it flaunt it, right, sis?"

Liz's face is still buried in Kid's chest, but she murmurs something to which Kid remarks, "Oh, don't you _dare_ give me that, Liz. You have a lot to flaunt. You're beautiful. You just have lousy taste in men."

Liz mumbles something I can't make out.

"What? _**No**_," he thunders. "_I won't allow it._ I don't care if we have to practice every night. I will make it so there is absolutely no room in your schedule to date that man. Anyone who would make you feel anything less than beautiful doesn't deserve you." He says as he puts some of her hair behind her ear and there's a moment there, just a moment where I think he's gonna kiss her. But he doesn't and I remember that I think he's into Patti, not Liz, and then as though he all of a sudden remembers that Maka and I are here says, "Patti, see if you can find one of Liz's shirts for Maka to wear. With her like that it looks as though Soul got carried away during one of their make out sessions."

"She only wishes that," Patti says winking at Maka who is too embarrassed to laugh.

"Now, come on we still have a ways to go and now we know there is Avian Flu in the area," he says still holding Liz who continues to have her face buried in him even though she has to stoop in order to do it due to their height difference.

"Too bad I think I can only pull that mock witch thing off once…" Maka complains.

I laugh. "I never realized you were such a good actress, meister. For a few seconds I really thought you were possessed."

"Me too," says Patti handing Maka one of Liz's t-shirts. "It wasn't until Kid started overacting that I knew you were faking it."

"Everyone's a critic," Kid grumbles. "Still, I think it would do us well to learn more about the Reborn as we may be able to use their reputation to our advantage again in some way or another."

"Agreed," says Maka. "You ever heard of them before?"

"No, but maybe there's something about them in that book Rax gave me. Oh, speaking of symmetry, Liz we need to talk. You were _once again_ too far over to the right after I spun you. I spin you and then the three of us are supposed to form an isosceles triangle, but the angle was off yet again."

"How do you know? You don't have eyes in the back your head."

"No, but I can sense it. There was imbalance and that throws the whole attack off, we must be in perfect symmetry. One being in three bodies. That's how it works…"

I lean over and whisper to my meister, "Right now I only want to be _**in**__ one_ _body_, a super sexy one…"

She slaps me and I laugh. "And by the way, Maka. Ditto to everything the girls said. No one takes my meister while I'm alive."


	43. Chapter 43: Supposed Civilization

_**Chapter 43: Supposed Civilization; Axles and Engines?**_

We walk onward and in about ninety minutes are in a town known as Broken Axle. It's a little tourist town that either had a bunch of people settle it during the Gold Rush or during the Oregon Trail days, something like that. All that matters to us is that we find some food, some more clothes and supplies, and transportation to a place called Hidden Point, New Mexico which is the last place my buddy, Black*Star, and Harvar checked in at, before they were captured by Avian Flu. We also need to talk to Lord Death about the purple mist…though, I can't imagine Harvar wouldn't have mentioned it.

I think every single one of us will jump through the magic mirror to strangle his Lordship if it slipped his mind to tell us something that important. Kid is right, his dad is kind of incompetent, either that or he has some grand master plan that involves him having to act like a moron a majority of the time, but I doubt it.

As we walk into town we see a sign proclaiming our welcome to "Broken Axle, Home of the World's Largest Sculpture Made Entirely of Wooden Wagon Wheels."

"I'm starvin'," I say as we trudge the last few feet into "civilization."

"You're _always_ starving," says Maka. "You'll have to wait. We have some stuff we need to do before we get lunch."

"Are you serious? Come on! I can't be the only one who's hungry."

Liz and Patti each lift a hand and teeter it back and forth to indicate their noncommittal answer. My shoulders sag; I guess we will be going shopping first. Ugh! I hate being outvoted.

"Maka's right. What we really need to do is go shopping!" says Patti. They are right, but I refuse to admit it out loud. The list of our needs is long: bandage material and other first aid supplies, a change of clothes for Maka and me, tampons (the Thompsons keep mentioning that Kid used all of theirs- I wish I had a tape recorder because it's fucking hilarious to hear the way they say it), and food for during our journey and maybe additional camping supplies if we aren't taking a train all the way to New Mexico.

We hear a small mechanical rumble from above our heads and look up ready for attack but instead we see the sculpture bragged about on the welcome sign. It stands about four stories and is of a dragon rearing up on its hind feet. It is also currently expelling fire from its open mouth.

"Don't worry!" a man passing by says tells us. "It's supposed to do that. It's our own Old Faithful! Every fifteen minutes she blows!"

Kid shakes his head at me stifling my sexual innuendo as Patti squeals, "That's so cool!"

"Yes, it is," he says placating his shorter partner. "But let's not get distracted." Kid pulls from his pocket a watch fob dangling from a gold chain. "Are we still all synchronized?"

Maka and I check our wrist watches while Liz pulls a necklace from between her boobs that apparently has a timepiece on it and Patti pulls a stuffed giraffe from her pocket that has a watch embedded in its belly.

I have to wonder if Patti has somehow managed to enchant her pockets because I can't figure out how she can carry so much crap with her all the time. I'm the one who needs a bag of holding. I swear you could track me from DC to here with the trail of junk I've left in my wake.

"You think an hour will be enough time?" Kid asks and we all mumble our uncertainties. We have a lot of crap to get and we don't know where anything is in town. "Well, let's shoot for one hour. We can stay longer if we need to. You guys go get the supplies, I'll go secure transportation. Then we will treat ourselves to lunch."

The reaper starts to walk away saying only, "Patti, remember no dilly-dallying. We are buying essentials _only_."

"Wait a second," I say pulling a hand out of my pocket. "Where do you think you're going, Kid?"

"I told you, I'm taking care of our travel arrangements."

"Not alone you're not," Maka states and I nod.

"Yeah, Kid. You gotta quit wandering off by yourself. It isn't safe. You need one of us to come with you," Liz says.

"Fine," he says sounding mildly put out by our objection. He stands there for a moment debating who to take with him. I glare at him to indicate that this is _not_ guy time and that I'll be staying with my meister and since none of us would support the two meisters going off together by themselves he is left with only two choices, Liz or Patti.

With a deep inhale he extends his hand to Liz. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me while I figure out what's the fastest way to exit this tourist trap?"

"Sure, Kid."

"We'll meet at the base of the fire-breathing monstrosity in one hour. _Precisely_ one hour."

"Yup, see ya then," I say and then I turn to Patti and Maka.

"Oh, yah! We get to make Soul try on clothes! I've always wanted a boyfriend so I could play dress up with him. Kid is very particular about what he wears. It has to be certain percentages of cotton and stuff or he goes all crazy! So, it's no fun going shopping with him."

I groan. "Patti, we're just trying to find me some clean underwear and another pair of pants because this is the only one I've got."

The main street of Broken Axle contains a plethora of little shops selling souvenir t-shirts and sweatshirts and even some fancy-ass boutiques but apparently no one in this town ever needs to clothe the _lower_ half of their body as all we can find are tops. If we needed dragon motif Hawaiian shirts and t-shirts boasting hideous screen printed renderings of the dragon statue we would be set. Do people actually buy this shit? And how many people want tank tops and Hawaiian shirts when there is a foot of snow on the ground?

The girls try to make me see that I can survive wearing one of the t-shirts, but I am unconvinced. "No way! There is no way my body is going inside that ugly t-shirt. I have some standards."

"You don't see me complaining," Maka says.

"I also don't see you wearing one," I tell her.

"I will if we can't find something else by the end of this row of shops."

"Come on," I mumble. "Let's ask someone if there is a real clothing store somewhere." We find a local who directs us to a thrift shop down an alleyway. I won't buy used underwear, but I'd be plenty happy to have a pair of jeans that has already been broken in for me so we head that direction. Upon entry we are met by the smell of items with a history…which can be both a good and a bad thing.

"Oh, books!" Maka squeals and I grab her by the hood of her hoodie.

"_Not now, Maka_."

"After we get the stuff we need?" she asks hopefully while looking super cute. Too bad I don't care that she's looking cute. My heart is hardened. I am a brutal partner. "No, we only have an hour and we still need to get first aid supplies."

"Please, Soul. Please, small town bookstores always have rare stuff that doesn't make it to Death City. Please."

"No!"

Patti smiles, "Come on, Soul, we'll show you how fast chicks can shop and then you can let Maka pick out something."

"No."

"Please!" They both beg. I don't get it, what does Patti get out of this deal?

I groan. "Fine, but paperbacks only! No encyclopedias or atlases or huge anthologies of the world. I see that grin…I'm serious Maka I am not helping you haul the Magna Carta around with you."

"Soul, I think the Magna Carta was a scroll and not very big," Maka says.

"Whatever. I don't care. I need underpants."

The shop has a very small selection, but we find what we need and Maka buys _four_ paperbacks, blatantly flouting my regulations. I sigh. Again, I wonder when is she going to read the damn things? She says if we are taking the train or a coach she'll do it then and then she explains to me that she _had_ to buy them because they don't have the movie poster printed on the cover and apparently a movie tie-in cover is some kind of affront to literature. It's official my meister is nuts. At least they were cheap.

Next, we go to a drugstore and load up our shopping cart with gauze and other first aid supplies. I look at my watch. "We're gonna be late." Maka and I hustle Patti who has to debate what flavor of lollypop she wants as though the wrong decision will create famine in Africa or something. Finally, I put my hands over her eyes and tell her she has to purchase the first one her hand touches. It's bubble gum flavor and she is delighted and kisses me on the cheek. Really, how does Kid deal with her eccentrities and Liz's bitchiness all the time? I would go insane.

We meet Kid and Liz at the dragon statue.

"Carmel apple?" they offer as we walk up.

"I see you guys stuck to just the essentials, too," I snicker.

"Oh, God, Patti didn't buy a bunch of awful souvenirs with our funds did she?"

"No, just the lollypop and Maka bought…drum roll please, books!"

"Not just _any_ books, the extended version of _The Adventures of Marnious_! I'm so excited because the original publisher cut out several very important chapters-"

Maka rambles on about her thrift store finds as Kid and Liz lead us to some restaurant for lunch. It must be a good one because not only does the aroma coming from it smell great, but there are more motorcycles, sleds, and motorized contraptions parked outside it than in front of any of the other cafes. However, Maka and I agree that its name, _The Dragon's Pit_, could use work.

"It sounds like where dragons go to take a dump," she whispers to me. I nod.

"As long as it's got onion rings I'm happy!" I say deeply inhaling the smell of artery-clogging deep fried goodness.

They seat us in an extra-large booth with Kid on one side of me and Maka on the other. The Thompsons sit next to Maka probably so they can face their meister. As soon as I sit down Maka starts stripping me.

"Whoa, Maka. We always knew you had the hots for Soul, but could you wait till after we eat lunch, please?" Liz says laughing.

Maka rolls her eyes as she wiggles the hoodie over my big head. "I need to check on his wound. He got a bunch of punctures on his right shoulder…" She finds the tears in my t-shirt and says, "Ah, there they are."

I frown, the girls have pinned me in the booth. Either they planned this or they are just lucky. I grumble as Maka starts pulling things out of our shopping from the drug store preparing to clean up my wounds. I decide to go ahead and take my shirt off so it doesn't get soaking wet with the antiseptic.

The waitress comes over and starts to ask us to not do wound cleaning at a booth in her restaurant, but Maka turns to her and gives her a look that could kill and she then proceeds to ignore Maka and I and talk only to Kid and the twins for the rest of our meal. We even have to have Patti order for us as though we are a couple kids, but it only bothers me until my triple cheeseburger, large order of onion rings, and large chocolate milkshake arrives. I am in ecstasy.

"Are you really going to eat all that?" Liz asks.

"Of course, he will and then he's going to lick the grease off the plate," Maka says tapping her fingers impatiently as she waits for her chicken Caesar salad with fries to arrive.

"Hey, look at this body," I say running my hands down my chest. "It's not like I'm getting fat."

"We know. That's what makes it so annoying," says Liz. "And you can feel free to put your shirt back on now."

"Naw, I think this is a good look for me," I thrust my chest forward like a male model.

Patti sits with her hands resting in her chin. "Yeah, you and Kid make a really cute couple," she says and Kid lifts his butt and plants it several inches further from me as I rush to throw my t-shirt back on.

"It was a _dare_, Patti, and as I recall it was _you_ who put us up to it," Kid grumbles.

"I know I just think that you and Soul would make such beautiful babies together. Of course, Maka and Soul are gonna have adorable babies, too. I can't believe that Maka already has a name picked out-OUCH!" I think my meister kicked her to shut her up.

I arch an eyebrow as I study Maka's face, but she won't make eye contact with me and begins fumbling with the salt and pepper shakers. It wouldn't surprise me if she wants kids…I kinda get the vibe she does, but it seems awful weird to me that she would want kids and be totally opposed to marriage. Her parents' lousy relationship fucked her up pretty badly, I think.

"How'd shopping go?" Kid asks in an obvious attempt to change subjects.

"Maka lucked out and got a really cute _Bashin' Brains_ t-shirt from their summer tour two years ago, but the only pair of pants that fit me were bellbottoms," I grumble in-between handfuls of French fries.

"They aren't that bad," Maka says.

"It looks like I have a fuckin' skirt around each of my ankles."

"Well, hopefully nothing will happen to the pair you're wearing."

"Yeah, I hope so, cause I almost didn't buy them cause I think they're a safety hazard."

"That's because you don't pick up your feet when you walk, Soul."

"I do, too. How do wou thwink I ghet frooomm plawce to pwace?" I say as I mow down on my burger.

"Don't talk with your mouthful," Maka scolds.

I lean my head back and swallow with a loud gulp.

"Soul, you need to chew your food," instructs my meister. "Some day you're gonna choke to death."

"Naw, I've got a huge gullet and an iron stomach." Oohhh. I miss Black*Star. That's the kind of thing he would say to Tsubaki.

"So, you've heard all about our shopping extravaganza during which Patti touched _everything_," I say.

"She does that." Kid says and Liz nods in aggreement.

Patti just giggles. "What I want to touch most isn't in a store, though," she says giving Kid a pouty face and he looks back at her appalled obviously immediately knowing what she is getting at.

"But," I continue. "We have yet to hear how we are getting to Hidden Point."

"No worries," Liz says as Kid's mouth is full of a larger than gentlemanly bite of hamburger. "We got everything squared away. We leave as soon as our lunch settles."

"Oh, the train tracks are intact here?" Maka asks.

"No."

"Oh, you had to hire a coach then?" she asks again.

"You'll see. It's a surprise."

"But what if we can't find Tsubaki? How long do we wait before going on for Black*Star?" Maka asks.

"What do you guys think?" Kid asks.

"I say we don't worry about it now. We get down there and see what we find," I suggest.

"But we can't delay, for Black*Star's sake and for Tsubaki's. They could already have her, too." Liz says and the prospect is downright depressing.

"Come on, guys. I know we're all worried about them, but we can't get discouraged. We have successfully made it this far, right? That's something to celebrate!" Patti says. "And the best part is that me and Soul haven't been eliminated! Hoorah!" She waves her hands in the air like she is cheerleading at a sporting event.

I laugh. She is one weird-ass chick.

Even though I have the most food I finish my meal first and end up waiting for the others. Kid and Liz still haven't revealed any information about our travel plans and it's freaking me out a little. I half expect them to tell us we have to hide in cargo crates or get strapped to the top of a horseless carriage or something, but when we walk out of the restaurant they walk a few feet and stop.

"Ok, guys. Mount up," Kid says.

Maka and I stand there confused.

"On, what?" I'm so confused I even look up into the sky. Will we be riding a demon bird or something?

"These two motorcycles, stupid," Liz says.

My jaw drops. "You got us motorcycles?! Kid?!" I temporarily forget all about space bubbles and looking cool and throw my arms around Kid. "_I love you, man._"

"Love you too, Soul," Kid says and immediately raises a finger in caution to his partners. "Not a word, ladies. Not a word."

There are two motorcycles. One is red and has a side car and the other is black and sportier than Brunnie. This gives us just enough room to transport the five of us the only problem is…

"Kid, do you know how to drive a motorcycle?" I ask.

"No, but Liz does."

"Oh, great!" We start throwing our stuff into the side car taking up what should be foot room for the rider.

I hop on the black bike and Maka automatically jumps on behind me just like old times. Then I see Kid's sad eyes. Maka hops off the bike and whispers something to him and the next thing I know Kid is sitting behind me wrapping his arms around me.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?"

"It's more symmetrical."

"Hell no. _Hell no!_ My meister is not-"

"She'll be with weapons and I can wield you in a pinch."

"Dude, you have got to be joking."

"I thought I'd ride in the sidecar, but I can't do it."

"Then be Liz's bitch and ride behind _her_, for God's sake."

"Please, I can't admit to the girls that my symptoms are back. I've been doing so well…" and then the tears start. "I'm so worthless. I don't know why I can't overcome this thing-"

"Oh, my God. Fine! Fine! I guess I can't complain. At least we don't have to fucking _walk_."

The ride is awkward for multiple reasons. The only person I have ever ridden on a motorcycle with previously has been Maka and Kid does not hold me like Maka, thank the Lord, but I'm also on a different bike and evidently I don't have the feel for this one yet because the bike tends to lurch whenever I brake or change gears sending Kid's head into my back. This is probably the most uncool you can look while on a hog.

We ride for hours with only a couple breaks and then we make camp for the evening. Kid's team still has operational tents so Maka and I claim one and I sack out early because I'm exhausted. It's dark, but I'm lying awake in the tent listening to music when she comes in. The tent is a small traditional a-frame style, not big enough to stand in, so my meister has to kind of slither in on top of me which I'm more than fine with.

"Hey!" I say pulling my headphones off my ears.

"Hey," she says and lies down next to me.

Her lips come in contact with my nose and part of my upper lip. "Oops!" she says sounding a little frustrated.

I fumble around in the dark for her hand and find it among the sleeping bags and rest my hand gently on top of hers.

"I missed you this afternoon," I tell her. I really did and not just because Kid's head kept ramming into me.

"I missed you, too."

"It must have felt great being back on a bike again."

"Yeah…but it's not Brunnie. She was special."

"That how you're gonna talk about me someday when you're with somebody else?"

"What?"

"We have to face reality, Soul. We won't be able to be together forever."

I don't know where this is coming from. "Maka?"

"Come on, Soul. You and I both know it. There is no such thing as true love."

"Hey! What has gotten into you? I'm not some guy you picked up in a bar like that jackhole Liz was dating. We're best friends… Aren't we best friends?"

"Yeah, but…"

To my great surprise, she starts crying. I don't know what to say, so I just wrap my arms around her and hold her.

"Maka, is something in particular bothering you? Did I do something wrong? The Thompsons better not have you believing I'm gay or something."

She laughs in between sniffles. "No, it's just you got turned on by-"

Oh, Lord Death I knew it. I'm Maka's boyfriend so I'm not allowed to get turned on by any other chick…even when they are intentionally being flirtatious. Damn, Kid's girls! Their aim was him, but because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time my meister is now crying. Oh, they are gonna hear about this! What self-centered little brats! Kid needs to be more in control of them and their behavior! I take a deep breath, doing my best to channel my rage at Kid's team and not at Maka.

"Maka, so what if I did?" I say trying to sound casual about the whole thing. "I'm not about to dump you to be with someone else just cause some part of my biology might think they're hot." She wails a little. Oh, I may be making this worse. Crapola. "You understand that they were intentionally being that way to mess with _Kid_, right? They've got some fucked up team dynamics right now and we're along for the ride, but I'm not into them and they aren't into me. In fact, I'm pretty sure they _both_ want to jump Kid's bones."

"But, you-"

"Would you rather I lie to you? I thought we were done lying."

"But you get jealous, too."

I grumble. She's got me there. "That's because there are a lot of guys out there who-"

"You don't trust me."

"Well, clearly you don't trust me! Maka, do you honestly think that I don't value what we have together?"

"You're a guy; you don't."

"Maka, listen to me." I pull her away from me in an attempt to look into her eyes when I speak to her, problem is it's pitch black in here so I end up just holding her shoulders. "You need to get one thing clear in your head. I will do stupid things. I will make mistakes and there will be times when I do shit that makes you hate me and vice versa. We both know that…hell, we've already lived through it, but _I am __**not**__ your father_."

"I…I… know that! I would never be with a man like my father!"

"But you seem to be scared I'm gonna turn into him. Maka, I don't think your dad became the slut he is after marrying your mom. She probably just refused to see the warning signs. I'm-"

"Soul, do _not_ talk about my mother like you know her!"

"Well, then don't get all pissed off at me for being a guy. I will get turned on by things, but I won't cheat on you!"

"Guys, just as an FYI we can hear you," Liz says from the other tent. "And Maka, Soul adores you. He always has and I'm pretty sure he always will so don't give him too hard a time. Most people are never lucky enough to have the kind of love you two do. So, don't be fucking stupid…and that goes for both of you."

Our tent is silent and I can sense Maka's upheaval. Now she feels guilty and like everyone is against her, but she doesn't deserve to be outnumbered. It's not her fault that her dad is an assbag.

"Soul, do I take you for granted?" she asks in a tiny voice.

"I dunno. Maybe, sometimes…but, I take you for granted a lot. That's part of the reason I left. I didn't realize how empty my life would be without you."

"I'm sorry," she buries her face in my chest and I sigh.

"Maka, can we just start over? Cause I don't want either one of us to feel bad. We've already been beat up enough by Avian Flu."

"Soul, I'm sor-"

"I told you. Don't worry about it," I speak the words right into her lips.

"Soul," she says knocking me over with her body as she kisses me. Now this is more like it! Her lips move from mine to my ear and she starts sucking on my earlobe. I moan from the pleasure and she stops.

"You've got to be quiet," she whispers.

"Right."

I bite my lip to keep from vocalizing as she does the most _incredible_ things with her tongue and starts to undress.

"Maka," I whisper. "Are you _sure_ you want to do this now?"

"Oh, yeah," she utters in a guttural tone as she pulls my shirt off and begins kissing my chest. "I've wanted it all day."

Well, that makes two of us then.

Soon she's wearing nothing but the skull necklace. She goes to take it off but I stop her with my hand and whisper in her ear. "It's hot seeing you with that on and nothing else."

She laughs at me. "How can you see anything?"

"I touch and feel and then my mind's eye sees." I say running my hands over her curves and she leans into my touch wherever my hand wanders. I sit up and pull her naked body close to me. Her hot, soft flesh presses against me and her nipples hard from the night air scrape across my chest and cause me to get in an incredible rush to remove my clothes, but when I reach down to undo my belt I find that she's already working on it.

"Soul, I want you to fuck me," she whispers in my ear and I growl back as she pulls down my pants and hovers over me on all fours. She pulls down my boxers and my excitement springs out of them all too eager for the chance to bury itself inside of her. I shake my legs trying to get my pants and underwear off, but they don't cooperate so she leans back and pulls them from around my ankles flinging them aside.

Oh, my God. You'd think by now I wouldn't be surprised by her sexiness, but every time we make out like this I find myself marveling not only at her body, but at how she knows just how to move it so that everything she does makes me want her even more.

She grabs my cock and slides it into her mouth and I gasp and then I remember the close proximity of our friends so I bring one of my hands up to my face and clamp it over my mouth. She moves her lips up and down me until I am soaked with fluid and then lowers her body onto me. I start to groan as I enter her and she bends forward and kisses my chest and says in her totally normal voice, "Soul, please don't embarrass me!"

"Sorry…" I say sincerely meaning it, but not sure how I can handle not making a peep when she is doing totally erotic, naughty things to me. She begins going up and then grinding down on me over and over until I get the overwhelming desire to leave a mark on her.

"I thought you wanted _me_ to fuck _you_," I whisper in her ear huskily and nudge her to get off me so I crawl behind her.

She turns her head toward me to see what I'm up to and I place a hand on either side of her hip just in front of her pelvis and as she kneels there on all fours I pull her backwards right onto my dick. She lets out a yelp. She even sounds like a puppy.

"Shhhh, Maka."

She lets out a little whimper and I start pounding myself into her. I go in and out and our flesh makes a funny slapping sound that normally would make me laugh my ass off, but all I can do now is marvel at how fucking great this feels. Sometimes her head goes down a little and sometimes she arches her back raising her head skyward and sometimes I know I rub against a special pleasure spot as I feel her tighten around me. Fucking her like this in the middle of nowhere feels primal and amazingly intense. My mind is filled with imagines of my cum spraying all over her, way up inside and all over her face and chest and legs…but I'm doing everything I can to delay my release until she's there with me.

Her panting increases.

"Soul, I'm going to cum…"she whispers.

"You sure?"

Her head bobs a little up and down and I give it to her harder than I think I ever have and her panting gets heavier and mixed among the gasps are exclamations of my name, how much she loves me, and how good she feels. I let go of her hips and put my hands on those sexy little tits of hers and lean forward and bite the back of her neck.

"You ready?"

She nods and as if we were coordinating soul resonance our orgasms begin at the same moment. Only problem is that Maka loses it so completely that she screams, "Oh, Shinigami, yes!" I realize her mistake and slide a hand from her breast to her mouth and cover it, but she licks it and starts sucking on my fingers in this ultra-sexualized way so all I can do is moan her name as I finish releasing and fall forward like a malformed clay pot on a pottery wheel.

We lay there panting.

"Is your arm ok?" I say apologetically. "I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking."

"I'd tell you if it was bugging me. Open and honest communication is important."

"Oh, we're back to that, now, are we?" I laugh gently whacking her with the back of my hand.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't sweat it. We're all a little insane right now. It's probably not the best time to be entering into a relationship and figuring things out."

"I think it's the best time," she says kissing me. Her moist lips pressing sensually into mine. "Because if not now, than when?"

"I guess, but you do know that whoever is on watch right now and everyone in the other tent knows we just had sex, right?"

"Yeah," she says slowly. "But they're so quiet… maybe they think it was someone else."

"I'm _pretty_ sure you said my name."

Even in the dark I can sense she's blushing. I hug her. "It's ok, Maka. That was totally worth a little embarrassment. Besides, why should you and I be embarrassed? We're in love, right?"

Maka and I lay there in each other's arms smelling of sex and drunk on lovemaking and I'm just starting to drift off when I hear Kid.

"I don't care if _they're_ doing it! Would you jump off a cliff if Maka and Soul did it?" and Maka and I have the best laugh we have had in what feels like ages.


	44. Chapter 44: Super Freakin'

_**Chapter 44: Super Freakin'; Rocket Man and Giraffe Woman?**_

"It's your turn for watch," Maka whispers as she nudges my foot with her hand. She's reaching in the tent still trying to keep watch while she rouses me for my shift. I drowsily come to remembering the events of the day and grin as the recollection of making love to her here in the tent returns to me.

She kicks me. "Soul, get up."

"I'm comin', slave driver. Gimme a minute."

I crawl out of my sleeping bag and brush past her as I exit the tent and even though I don't touch her I find her proximity intoxicating. I grab her hand and bring it around me.

"Soul! You're naked!" Oh, I guess I am. She shoves me back in the tent and I fumble around for my boxers and pants and shirt.

"Ugh!" She moans. "You are so slow sometimes." She leans over feeling around in the tent to help me find my clothes and I find her hand and yank her wrist so she falls into my arms.

"Good morning, beautiful," I say before clamping my lips onto hers. She wiggles around trying to get away and I laugh as I kiss her.

"Soul, knock it off. You're on watch duty."

"Ummmhhmm," I acknowledge. "And I'm awake, alert, and responsive…" I say huskily into the curve of her neck as I kiss it.

She moans, but it isn't an agitated moan. That is the moan of wanting more, I'm sure of it.

"Soul, I think that Professor Stein would say that you may be alert…and….ooooohhhh," she moans again. "But this doesn't qualify as adequate guard duty."

"Fine, then come with me."

"Soul, we can't-"

I stop kissing her and let her hand drop from mine. "I promise I'll behave myself. I'd just like the company. We can watch the sun come up."

There is silence for a moment which I know to be a good thing, because if she's quiet that means she is considering my request. It's when she answers fast that the answer is always, "no."

"Ok, but you can't be doing…that."

"Ok," I take her hand in mine. "Just a sec. I gotta pull my shoes on."

Our campsite is out of the chill of the snow territory as we are now at a lower elevation. Instead, there is that sense of crispness that autumn air has that I especially love.

Maka pulls out one of our sleeping bags and we sit down next to each other on it.

"Soul, I'm a little scared of what we might find when we get to Hidden Point…"

I put an arm around her. "Me, too."

"Do you think that our friends are dead?"

"Maybe some of them, but it sounds like Avian Flu wanted Black*Star alive so that's good news."

"What if by the time we get to him he's…different?"

"I dunno…I guess it depends how different. I mean, there's some things I'd _love_ to change about him. Maybe get him to not brag so much or realize when he's treating Tsubaki badly."

We sit next to each other in silence observing the world as it slowly becomes visible.

"Don't worry, Maka. We'll do all we can to get everybody back in one piece."

She leans against my shoulder. "Soul, I love you," she says with urgency. "I really, really do."

I smile. "Love you, too."

A little while later, the sounds of our friends stirring wakes me up.

"Some night watchman you are, Soul," Liz complains.

"It's ok. I was awake," Maka says. "I let him drift off. He was tired."

"I _bet_ he was," Liz says knowingly and Maka blushes. "Sounds like you gave him a workout last night." This could be a very long day for my meister and me if we keep getting teased about our vocal love making session.

Patti and Kid emerge from the tent. Kid is wearing a black t-shirt and flannel pajama pants and looking very drowsy. "Aw, look at him," Patti says meaning me. "He's sleeping so peacefully. See, Kid I told you sex takes away insomnia. That's why I think it would be a really good idea-"

"Enough! I am sure that Maka and Soul would rather you two not pry into their private lives."

"It isn't prying when we can hear it from _our_ tent," Liz defends and Kid walks up to her shaking his head.

"Could you two _please _behave yourselves? It reflects badly on our symmetry when you're constantly focused on sex."

Patti sighs, "Maybe if I had some I wouldn't be so focused on it."

"I find that _highly_ unlikely, princess," Kid says. "Now go into the tent and get changed, both of you, or I will go first and I will not react kindly if you barge in on me."

As we enter New Mexico we let out a cheer as we anticipate being in Hidden Point within the hour at the pace Liz and I have been driving, but it isn't long before we encounter heavy traffic. I shout up to Liz who has been in the lead for the last few hours, "What the hell? Construction?" Maka shakes her head and shouts that she doesn't know and I grumble. It seems extraordinarily unfair to come so close to what you think is the end of your journey for the day and then discover that you are stuck in some kind of bullshit traffic jam. Who has traffic jams? I didn't even know there were this many motorized transports anywhere except at the Indianapolis Speedway.

"Looks like we might be here for a while," I tell Kid and he grumbles, too. Our patience is wearing thin. We're all injured in one way or another and none of us have had a shower in a couple days. Patti, who is in the sidecar of the other motorcycle, unbuckles herself and turns around and starts blowing bubbles letting them drift back towards us. She waves and Kid and I wave back.

"Smile, sweeties. At least we haven't gotten into an accident! Love you!" she shouts, blowing kisses in our direction, which I feel safe in presuming are geared at Kid and not me.

"You know," I comment watching her. "Patti has a very annoying way of never being upset. Is that for real or some kind of act?"

Kid laughs. "It's real, for the most part." She tilts her head to display her neck as if offering it up to a vampire.

I laugh, "I think someone wants a kiss back."

"She always wants a kiss," Kid says. "I'm going to make her wait a little bit though." He says it rather mischievously.

"She isn't going to stop is she?" I ask.

"No, Liz and Patti are some of the most persistent people I know."

One of the reaper's hands reluctantly moves from my waist to his lips and he blows two kisses in her direction. "One for you and one for Liz. Now put your damn seatbelt back on before you get hurt." He shouts.

She giggles and shouts back, "We'd have to be moving for me to get hurt."

"I'm not convinced of that!" Kid shouts and then returns to the conversation we were having. "Patti can get really angry, but overall she's a very chipper soul. She's child-like in her optimism. It makes it hard to take her into gruesome battles. I don't want her to lose that quality. It's a rare gift she brings to the world."

"Makes ya kinda feel like a pedophile doesn't it?" I laugh.

He hits me on the back. "Ugh. I do not have _those_ kinds of feelings for her."

"Sure you do. You just aren't ready to admit it yet and that's ok. You just might want to do it before you're in the reaper mask fulltime." He grumbles. "When is that going to happen, anyway? I don't get how that works. Is there like a term limit on being Lord Death? Maka said something the other day about when I'm a Death Scythe you sending me out on missions and, honestly, it kind of freaked both of us out. Not that you won't do a great job, I'm sure you'd do a hell of a lot better than your old man, but thinking of you that way is…well, just plain weird."

"I know what you mean. My father is a nice guy, but has the organization skills of…well…you."

"Thanks. You could have at least said Black*Star."

"Fine. My father can be a bit of a nincompoop at times which makes me eager to ascend to the position, but on the flipside…I don't know what that really means for me. I suppose it doesn't matter as I don't even have a choice in the matter, but my father hasn't told me shit about it. Apparently, he doesn't consider it important to give me any kind of preview of what's to come or he doesn't think I'm ready yet. Which leaves me having no concept of what my future might be like and it affects every aspect of my life…and my partners'."

"Is that the real reason you aren't doing anything about your feelings?"

Kid grumbles. "That and…I…"

Kid and I hear a strange noise behind us along with a lot of shouting. We turn to see people bailing from their conveyances to avoid being hit by something coming up fast from behind us. I have a flashback to Falconer and his motorcycle, but this is definitely not a motorcycle…I'm not sure what it is but no motorcycle can move _that_ fast.

"Kid, what the fuck is that?" I ask hoping that with his vast reaper knowledge he might know about some kind of vehicle I don't.

"I have no idea!" he shouts as I give the handlebars a tug to pull us over to the side of the road hoping that we will manage to get out of its way.

"Liz, pull over!"

"Patti, tell Liz to get the fuck over!" We're screaming and waving our hands but the girls seem oblivious. Even Maka who is normally very vigilant with her observation skills seems spaced out. She may even be asleep. I can't blame her. It's been a long day and we are all fading fast.

Kid and I watch in horror as a rocket propelled old-fashioned bicycle, with the front wheel five times larger than the rear wheel, flies past vehicle after vehicle behind us headed straight for the girls. Kid leaps off our bike and runs toward the black motorcycle and I follow him not sure if he has some kind of plan or what but knowing I'm not standing by the sidelines as all my friends get clobbered by some kind of asinine new mode of transportation.

"STOP!" thunders Kid and I transform into scythe form figuring if nothing else a dude dressed all in black holding a big ole scythe in the middle of the street will generally get a decent amount of attention. People around us start clapping as though this is some form of entertainment for them. The cheering wakes Maka up who starts shouting at the girls and they all start scrambling to get as far away from the motorcycle as possible.

The bike is flying toward us so fast I close my eyes. We are about to get run over by the only jet-powered, motorized bicycle I have ever seen. At least our obituaries will make for entertaining reading. Then I hear the squeal of brakes. I crack my eyes open an inch and see that the gigantic front tire of the bicycle has stops about two inches from Kid.

"Hey, cool! You guys really know how to get in the spirit!" The shaggy-haired bike rider says. He seems totally relaxed and completely oblivious to the large numbers of people shaking their fists and cursing him that he has left in the wake of his travels.

Kid exhales a breath he has been holding and I turn back into my human form. We are both shaking like leaves in a tornado.

"What gives?!" The bicycle-riding dude asks. "Are you guys a meister and a demon weapon? Wow. I didn't know that your kind came to the Freak Show! This is gonna be more awesome than I thought! Can I-"

"Are you aware that your vehicle," Kid eyes the contraption with distaste. "Is a public menace that almost ran over our friends _and_ did damage to countless other people's vehicles behind you?" Kid says pointing at the numerous people behind his rocket-propelled bike. Many are standing in a state of shock trying to gather their possessions, mode of transportations, and perhaps digging through their belongings for a fresh pair of underwear. Others have gone form fist waving to flashing some very colorful hand gestures in the direction of the shaggy haired man's vehicle.

The shaggy haired man laughs, "Yeah, I've got some fine tuning to do before I go public selling these babies. But damn are they fast! I was in Kansas when I got up this morning."

Holy crap! "Well, I would advise you to return to traditional foot power or suffer my wrath. I need to go check on my ladies. Excuse me," Kid says glaring at the man and cursing the bicycle rider's nonchalant manner under his breath.

"Wow. Your friend's somethin' else, man. Where ya from?" he asks me. The dude doesn't seem like a bad guy, but he really doesn't seem to understand how what he has done was not only inconsiderate but extremely dangerous. What kind of idiot propels a bicycle by a rocket into an entire street load of people?!

"We're from Nevada. What was it you said you were here for?" I ask as Maka walks up and puts her arm around me.

"The fifteenth annual Frrrreeeeeaaaakkk Show! It gets better every year man. Freaky people come from all over to show off their oddities and _anything_ goes, man. It's like Mardi Gras only _wilder_. You ready to get your freak on little lady?" He asks Maka and for once she seems speechless.

"I think she's still in a state of shock from almost having been goosed by your bicycle," I tell him.

"Yeah, it's hard for some people to fathom this level of cool." I turn around and walk away from the idiot. I have zero tolerance for those with such a warped perception of what is cool.

"You ok?" I ask Maka and she nods. We walk over to the side of the road to join our friends. Patti and Liz are lying by the road side catching their breath.

"Everybody ok?" I ask. Patti and Liz nod.

"But we do have a minor problem," Kid says. "This carnival thing is a big deal…I guess. That's why all the traffic is backed up and I just talked to a gentleman over there who said that all the hotels for miles around were booked up months ago."

"Are you serious? Fuck. I really wanted a shower!" I whine. Great! Another night of camping. I grumble. My mind drifts to taking a shower with Maka and how we could lather each other up with soap washing off days of sweat and grime before getting ourselves all sweaty again. The vision is so beautiful, so wonderful that I refuse to give up on it.

"I say we off road it and find another way into town. Investigate, do what we need to do and then head out. If we're fast we might get far enough away we can find a hotel with space." All of us are exhausted, but everybody nods in agreement. We don't need to be caught up in the craziness of some big party when we are supposed to be working, not if most of the people it attracts are as stupid as rocket man over there. If we get in and get out we can head on to Mexico today.

It takes some effort, but we manage to find a way into Hidden Point from the east and we park our motorcycles there double-checking that we aren't leaving anything too valuable on them as it seems like this kind of event would be a target for any number of unsavory thieves or so our thieves in residence, Patti and Liz, inform those of us who are more naive.

"I'm starvin'," I announce as we walk into town and for once everyone agrees with me. We follow our noses to an outdoor vendor in a large plaza. She is selling all kinds of authentic Tex Mex items and we order enough to feed a small army and Patti uses her cuteness to our advantage and scores us a picnic table in the outdoor seating area.

I gobble down a couple quasadias before asking what the plan is.

Maka's stomach is audibly growling as she says, "I'll run Soul Perception as soon as I finish this taco. If I don't get some food into me I won't be able to do it as well."

Kid surveys the area. "Having this high a concentration of people shouldn't cause too much of a problem in picking up on the presence of any of class mates here, but it may make it harder to actually locate them if we perceive they are here."

I nod. The place is _packed_ and to make matters even worse there are so many people here in outlandish costumes that Avian Flu members could waltz right into town without getting a second glance. Patti points at a garish costume that makes an otherwise attractive woman appear to have a neck as long as a giraffe's. Patti loves it, but it makes me think of some of the experiments I've heard Professor Stein threatened to carry out before he got his screw implanted.

Maka grabs a second hard shell taco and devours it in about three bites, takes a large slurp of water from her canteen and then says, "Ok, here we go." She lowers her head and I can feel her mind as it navigates around my soul and the souls of our friends seated at the table with us.

Even though I have no Soul Perception ability of my own I match her soul wavelength to offer her strength as I'm sure it's got to be more draining to search amongst hundreds of people like this. She opens her eyes and reports to the group. "I don't sense any of our comrades, but there is another demon weapon here…not Tsubaki."

"Could it be Geoffrey?"

"No. It's an undisciplined soul, not like another student of the Good Arts. Honestly, I don't think it's had any training."

"Hhhmmm. Well we best ask around and keep our eyes out for the other Demon Weapon. That person might have information that would be helpful to us."

We quickly finish our meal and split ourselves up into pairs to see if anyone saw Tsubaki before she left town. Patti comes along with Maka and me. We walk around showing people a photo of Tsubaki that Patti had in her wallet. No one seems to have any information, but it's not surprising. A lot of people are like us and only arriving today and it may have been a couple days ago that she passed through here.

As we meander around the festival we encounter a lot of street vendors and even I struggle not to be sucked in by some of their wares. There's an entire booth selling miniature replica motorcycles. Maka grabs my arm and steers me away from it forcefully, but then we realize we've lost Patti.

"Ugh! We probably lost her back at that booth with all the cutesy stuffed animals," Maka says and I nod. We turn against the flow of traffic to return to the stuffed animal booth. The street is so crowded we end up apologizing every couple of feet for running into someone. When we get there we find that, sure enough, there is Patti standing next to the booth overflowing with adorable stuffies.

"We'll never find Tsubaki at this rate," Maka sighs as she marches over to get Patti back on task.

"Oh, there you are! Good! I have something to show you," Patti says taking Maka's hand.

"Patti, we don't have time to shop."

"There," Patti points to something in a small glass jewelry display case in the booth next to the stuffed animal vendor. "Doesn't that look just like a DWMA pin?"

My gaze falls on the silver object. To a normal observer you wouldn't know it as being anything other than a stylized Lord Death mask, but we recognize it immediately as the pin you receive upon admission to our elite academy. It's awarded in a special ceremony welcoming you into the world of demon hunting and Lord Death's army the first year you attend the DWMA.

"Excuse me," Maka says to the man behind the table. "Could we please see that skull mask pin?"

He takes it out and says, "That there is pure sterling silver. Very well cast."

Maka turns it over and confirms. It's stamped, "DWMA," and it's engraved with an individual number.

"Anybody know Tsubaki's pin number?" I ask. Patti and Maka shake their heads.

"Where did you get this?" Maka asks the salesman.

"I bought it off a girl who needed some money, if you must know. And I gave her a fair price. I'm selling it for fifty dollars. It's a beautiful piece."

Patti pulls out the photo of Tsubaki. "Is this the girl who sold it to you?"

"Yeah, I think so. She was very nice, but I felt kind of sorry for her she seemed kind of desperate. Told me she had gotten separated from someone she cared about and was hitchhiking to where he was. I told her that it wasn't safe for someone so young and pretty to be traveling alone, but she insisted she was a trained fighter and could care for herself."

"When was that?" Maka asks as we all cross our fingers that it was earlier today. Let her be near here, let us find her!

"Yesterday…er…maybe the day before. Everything kind of runs together round festival time."

"Do you have any kind of record? We're friends of hers-"

"You guys who she's lookin' for?"

"No, she's trying to find one of our other friends, but we'd like to travel together."

"Well, I'd be much relieved to know that she wasn't alone. She seemed sad and I feel like she didn't really want to part with that pin. Though, what a pretty girl like that would want with an ugly skull pin is beyond me."

The man tells us he has to help another costumer, but that he will look in his ledger and see when he bought the pin. He goes to take it back and put it in the case, but I shake my head.

"We're going to buy it."

I pull out our remaining cash.

"Soul, we need that for gas," Maka whispers to me.

"I know but I'm sure Kid can get us more. There is no way I'm going to leave Tsubaki's class pin here where anyone could buy it. It belongs with her."

"You never wear yours," Maka says.

"Yeah, but it would be one of the last things I would hawk."

Patti pulls money from her pocket, too. "I agree with Soul. She only sold it because she took off on her own and cause of that doesn't have any money from Lord Death."

I hadn't thought of that. Unlike the rest of us who have a budget for food and travel expenses she is doing this with whatever small amount of money she has squirrelled away somewhere. I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about what she might get asked to do to make quick money.

The salesman takes our money and a few minutes later returns with an accounting book in his hand. His finger slides down the page. "Aw, here she is. Day before yesterday…in the afternoon. I remember I'd just finished eating my lunch."

"She didn't happen to say where she was headed next did she?"

"No, sorry."

"Thanks."

I hand the pin to Patti. "Patti, how 'bout you keep this for now? I keep losing everything."

"Yup. I'll put it right here in my pocket," she says happily.

"We should find Kid and Liz and let them know there is no point in us staying here since she probably hasn't been here for a couple days."

I agree with Maka. It looks like we may be heading to Mexico without her which unsettles me. Tsubaki is strong and a good fighter, but no one should have to be alone.

We head into the square where we had our tacos and find that some kind of performance is about to start.

"Any luck?" Kid says hopefully as he and Liz try to find a spot to stand beside us that won't be in someone else's way.

"Sort of. We found someone who saw her, but that was two days ago. She sold her class pin for money."

Kid goes white.

"We bought it back," Patti says but Kid still looks disturbed. I suspect his perverted brain went the same place mine did when hearing how badly she needs money and we didn't even mention the hitchhiking thing to him.

"And they don't have any idea where she went?" Liz asks.

"No, but if Kid and Maka aren't sensing her here she must have moved on."

"Great!" he says angrily. "We better head out then."

Patti walks over to her meister and puts her arms around him. "It's ok, Kid. We knew it was a long shot. At least it sounds like the birds haven't gotten Tsubaki." He nods.

"I think I need a moment before we go." Patti nods and reaches up and caresses his hair before walking back over to us.

"Poor, Kid. He carries such a weight on his shoulders."

Liz joins her sister. "Yeah. I think he might start crying. I can feel his anxiety ratcheting up. His soul wavelength is doing that funny thing again."

"Has he been doing his meditation?" They ask looking to me for some reason.

"Uh…you mean when he puts his headphones on and zones out?"

"Yeah."

"I think so. I've been mainly paying attention to the road. Sorry."

"We need to try harder," Patti says. "I hate when he gets in the dumps."

"You know I think all your sexy talk might be stressing him out." I tell them and Maka nods.

"I don't know why," says Liz. "All we ever do is try to help him have a good time. It's not my fault he won't get laid."

"He's saving himself for love," Patti says. "I think it's sweet."

"It is sweet, but if he's not careful he's going to go so long without it he'll be too scared to ever do it."

"I think you two should give him a break. He's a reaper. That's gotta be hard," I say.

"Don't you think we know that!" Liz says. "I mean we're the ones in love with the guy."

I look back and forth between them. "You are? For reals? _Both_ of you?"

"Duh," says Patti rolling her eyes like I'm the world's biggest idiot. "I practically worship the ground he walks on, the big loser!" She bursts into tears and Liz wraps her arm around her sister.

"I know," Liz says snuggling her. "He doesn't make it easy."

The performance begins and Kid still isn't back from wherever he went.

"We present to you the Hidden Point FREAK show! First, a man with a tail. We call him Toledo!" A hunky looking guy with a tail walks out.

"Hey ladies, how bout I give _you_ some tail."

Maka and the twins curl their lips in repulsion as the man with the tail dances around the stage showing off the flexibility, strength, and length of his tail.

"What a sleaze," Patti says. "Eeeewwww. Look at those girls in the front row. They just threw their panties up on stage. Gross!"

"Next, we have a child so dangerous we have to keep him in a cage! Welcome, Bang! Bang! Brian!"

From behind the curtain a large cage is wheeled out. Inside, a small boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin sits in the box made of iron bars. He stands up and gives the audience a menacing look before transforming into a machine gun.

"He's a Demon Weapon!" I shout.


	45. Chapter 45: Ass Bags, Pricks and Dicks

**risenfromash**: This story now has over 50 favorites! Thank you! It brightens my day whenever I get reviews or people signing up to follow the story.

_**Chapter 45: Ass Bags, Dicks, and Pricks; Liz, Why so Rough?**_

I gasp. A Demon Weapon in a cage at a freak show! I try to be a pretty forgiving guy. I forgave Crona for almost killing Maka and me. I forgive Black*Star for all the shit he does that gets me into trouble and for not pulling his punch when he hit Maka that one time. I forgave Professor Stein for threatening to fillet all of us open. But there are a few things I see as black and white and the exploitation of Demon Weapons is one of those things and here it is right in front of me. I have to do something.

"Soul, calm down. We'll figure out what we need to do to get him out of there. I promise," Maka says. My meister doesn't even have to sense my wavelength to know I'm upset. At the DWMA I'm something of the local expert on the discrimination Demon Weapons have endured throughout the centuries.

"Maka, is that the weapon you were sensing?" I ask.

She closes her eyes for a moment to concentrate. "Yes, he's for real. It isn't smoke and mirrors. He's definitely a Demon Weapon…and…yes, he's the one I sensed earlier. He hasn't had any training. He may not even know what he is."

"We gotta get him out of there," I say.

Maka nods.

Our previous plan to head out of town is immediately put on hold by the entire group. Despite our eagerness to try to save our friends finding an untrained Demon Weapon takes precedence; as students of the DWMA one of our duties is to recruit other students, but Maka and I have never come across another weapon or meister other than Crona. I guess you could say Kid recruited the Thompsons, but that was before he was even officially enrolled so that was a little different.

"So…uh… Maka, how do we go about doing this?" I ask. I know we need to get to the kid and see how much he knows about his gift and tell him what Lord Death's school can offer him, but I don't have a clear idea of how we're supposed to go about doing that. "What do you think we should do? You think we can sneak back stage and talk to him?" I ask.

Maka shakes her head. "No, they've got security. Look at those guys on either side of the stage. I think they're like bouncers. Probably keeping the groupies away from tail man," she says with disgust.

Kid grins. "Patti, Liz, my dears…what do you think? You think you could sneak by the thugs and get back stage?"

"No prob," says Patti as Liz studies the stage set up. "There are ways we can do it for sure, but what are we supposed to do?"

"Invite him to come talk to us," I tell them. "We're under an obligation to try to get him out of here."

"Ok, but what do we do if he doesn't want to meet with us or they won't let him come with us?" Liz asks.

"That's a good point," Kid says. "He's quite the show stopper; they probably don't like him wandering around without an escort." He taps a finger to his lip. "I suppose you'll just have to take him by force if you have to," he says with a shrug.

"Ok, boss," Liz says. "We can go now if you want."

"That would be excellent. We'll meet you in that alleyway over there." He indicates a narrow alley cluttered with crates and debris and we start walking to it as Liz and Patti head toward the stage.

"You know, Kid, you're one scary dude," I comment.

He frowns. "Why would you say that?"

"One minute you're running in front of rockets and the next you're ordering kidnappings. Maka and I have such a tame existence compared to you and the Thompsons."

He shrugs. "I'm a Grim Reaper. It comes with the territory, I guess."

We situate ourselves in the alley and debate how exactly to introduce the concept of becoming a DWMA student to the boy.

"I think Soul should do most of the talking as he can talk from the perspective of a weapon and he is quite persuasive. Soul's presentation on what being a Demon Weapon means to him moved Patti and Liz to tears," Kid says.

Maka smiles, "It moved me to tears, too. It's the only "A" he got all last year."

"Ha, ha. Not all of us can be as nose-to-the-grindstone as the two of you. I get by. Why work so hard to get an "A" when I can still be a Death Scythe with a "C"?"

"Ah, Soul, maybe that will be a good angle to take with him. He doesn't have to actually apply himself, he can just coast," Maka says glaring at me.

"Oh, Lord! Are we going to fight about this _again_? I work hard at what matters. Do I ever not practice attacks with you? Do I ever say enough is enough when you work me to death? No. But I'm a weapon. All that theory crap may make sense for you meisters to study, but as a weapon, _I_ don't need to know it. Besides, I know you can't stand not to know absolutely everything so why should I learn it when I know you have it memorized and cataloged in your mind library. If I ever actually need to know any of that theory crap I can just ask you," I say grinning at my meister who looks irked.

Kid laughs. "He does have a point, Maka."

My meister groans. "I hassle Soul because I know that the real reason he doesn't study is because he doesn't think being a bookworm is cool and he fears that if he cracked open his textbook one more time than was absolutely necessary that he would turn into a know-it-all like Ox."

"Yet, my partner is the biggest nerdy bookworm in the entire school. Kid, don't you think that invalidates my meister's opinion entirely?"

He shrugs. "Opposites attract?" He pulls his pocketwatch from his coat. "Why are they taking so long?"

"Keep your pants on Kid. They probably just hit a snag. I'm sure they're fine," I tell him. It's true they are taking a while, but Maka and I aren't sweating it yet and neither should he. Still, I empathize with him. It's that feeling of being lost without your partner with you that causes this level of impatience.

Kid grumbles and begins to pace. "I hate sending them to do stuff like this-"

"Really? You seem to do it easily," Maka says.

"Yes, well I _seem_ many things I'm not. I _seem_ to not be bothered by the fact that banner over there proclaiming this plaza as 'Freak Central' is hanging crooked. It's appalling, an abomination. I _seem_ to not be annoyed that your partner insists on allowing his shoelace to drag on the ground rather than taking the extra minute it would take to tie it properly. I _seem_ to have gotten over the fact Tsubaki is not here, but believe me, _I have not _and I _seem_ to send Patti and Liz off easily but I am, in fact, counting in my head the dozen or so outstanding warrants they still have and fearing that any day now the long arm of the law will interfere with our team or Avian Flu will get them and just when I've managed to get them so well trained…"

The dude is starting to come a little unglued. I look to Maka for assistance, but she also seems unsure of what to do.

"Kid, try not to get yourself, too wound up, ok? Remember, Maka and I are here to help you guys out. You're not having to do any of this alone and we'll find Tsubaki. I've got a good feeling about it." Ok, that's kind of a lie, but I don't have a _bad_ feeling about it.

"I just don't know what I would do if something happens to them… whenever they're out of my sight I get all pins and needlely," he says shaking his body as though trying to wake it up from sleep.

"Yet, you've been known to leave them alone in a tomb full of mummies," I point out.

He stops shaking and looks at me in surprise. "How on earth do you know about that?" Kid asks me.

I shrug. "Weapons talk."

Kid paces back and forth in the alley. "That's it. It's Soul Perception time and if I discover they have stopped to buy a new shade of nail polish I swear I will…" He closes his eyes and after a moment a smile returns to his face. "Oh, _there_ they are and the weapon boy is with them." He opens his eyes and says to Maka and me, "They'll be here in just a couple of minutes."

I walk over to stand next to Maka leaning on the brick wall in such a way that Kid can't see me speak to her.

"Oh, my Lord! He's worse than I am about you!"

She giggles. "I think it's cute how much he cares about them."

"Yeah, but he won't actually admit he's like this to either one of them. It's fucked up."

Maka laughs and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Here they come."

Patti arrives followed by Liz who is carrying a burlap sack that is wiggling. Liz drops the sack on the ground letting it fall and in no way trying to cushion it.

"Here you go," the taller sister says. "Package delivered. I'm done." She steps aside seemingly eager to be rid of the bag. Kid, Maka, and I stand there in shock at the Thompsons' less than sensitive care of the 'package' but Patti says, "Don't judge us till after you meet him." And then in a louder voice speaking to the bag says, "Brian, we got some friends for you to meet."

Kid motions for me to come with him. I stand by him as he unties the top of the sack and pulls the bag down and the boy transforms into his AK-47 form.

"Hello," Kid starts. "You have an amazing skill. I'm sorry if my ladies were a bit rough with you-"

The child transforms back into human form and we see that the girls have tied a red bandana around his face as a gag. Maka goes over and unties it and he immediately starts shouting, "What kind of freaks are you? What the hell do you want with me?" Then he whirls around to the Thompsons and waves a finger at them. "That was a dirty trick, you two! You could have at least done _one_ of the things you said you were gonna do."

Kid raises an eyebrow at the two girls and Liz shrugs. "You said to get him here you didn't specify how."

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Death the Kid. Liz" Liz waves disinterestedly "and Patti" Patti waves ecstatically "are my partners and this is Soul Eater and Maka."

"Great. That was really fuckin' interesting, but I got another matinee to-"

"Not so fast, short stuff," I say grabbing him by the collar. "We need to talk to you."

"Oh, and why would I want to talk to you?" he says as he spits the words at me. I switch my arm to a scythe and Liz and Patti transform into guns jumping into Kid's open hands.

"Whoooaaa. You can do it, too, huh?" He scans the five of us. There is no doubt that we have captured his attention, if not his respect.

"Yes," Maka says. "You and Soul and Liz and Patti are all Demon Weapons. Do you know what that means?"

"That we're way more special than you and that dick in the black?" he says pointing to Kid. I let go of the boy's collar and wrap my arm around him trying to make it seem like a chummy gesture though I feel a great desire to squeeze him till he pops like an engorged tick.

Liz and Patti transform back into human form standing behind their meister.

"We are students of the Demon Weapon and Meister Academy in Death City, Nevada," Kid explains. "My father founded the school to train the gifted to battle evil forces throughout the world ensuring that a balance is maintained between good and evil."

"Sounds fascinating, but I don't need to go to school. I've got enough talent to make it on my own."

"Yeah," says Liz sarcastically. "You seem to be doing really well for yourself. I know one of my greatest aspirations has always been to be housed in a cage during a freak show."

"I'd pay _good money_ to watch that show," Brian says leering at her tits. Kid's nostrils flare in agitation. I think we are all beginning to see why Liz dumped him on the ground. This boy is a real piece of work.

"The truth is you don't have much of a choice. There's a war going on right now and an organization called Avian Flu-"

"Whaaahhhahhhhaahhhhahhhhahhha! 'Avian Flu'! You guys are fuckin' nuts," he says slapping his leg and laughing.

"Excuse me, but you just cut off my meister who was trying to tell you that your life may be in danger. So, you might want to shut the fuck up. You got it?" Liz orders marching up to stand beside Kid.

"Listen up," Maka says trying again. "We fight demons. Kid and I are meisters. Meisters have the special ability to be able to wield Demon Weapons. Partnered together meisters and weapons work synergistically to create more powerful attacks than either could alone. Our job is to claim the souls of people who have become so evil their souls have become Kishin Eggs."

I nod. "That is what a Demon Weapon is meant to do; not live like some item in a museum. It's disgusting. Doesn't it make you mad to have people gawk at you like that?"

The boy shrugs. "Sometimes. But they feed me and I see the world. It's a better life than I had with my mom."

"Demon Weapons and meisters have an obligation to use their gift for the betterment of humanity," I say. "We are giving you the opportunity to do some good with your gift-"

"Nobody ever did any good for _me_."

"Listen here, you punk." Liz walks up to him and leans over him. "Years ago I thought I was a badass, too. Sis and I were thieves and not small time stuff. No, we took down banks, even a train. We thought we were cool, but it wasn't until we met Kid and he gave us the chance to use our abilities for good that we became truly happy. You've obviously had a shitty life. I get it. We did too, but you're being given a chance to change your fate and do what you were born to do."

The boy laughs right in Liz's face. Patti walks up and backhands him.

"You don't laugh at my sister! She just told you about the most important day of our lives, the day we met our meister. It wasn't until we started taking down demons that we really became bad asses."

"Let me get this straight. Kid there is your….what was it…master?" The punk asks. "Kinky! He ever share you with other dudes?"

"That's enough!" Kid thunders as he runs up to the youth pushing his partners aside. "You had better get one thing straight. You can be as big a prick as you want to me, but Liz and Patti are off limits."

"Oh, come on. I just wanted to learn more about what exactly they do for you. Cause I got a girlfriend and I need to make sure that I get at least that much. You know what I mean?"

I feel sick to my stomach. "How old are you?" I ask him.

"Ten." He says it proudly like that's more than enough time to have figured everything out.

"Ten?!" I can't believe this. "Ten and you have a filthy mouth and a crappy ass attitude. You need to worry less about girls and a lot more about becoming a decent human being. Have you ever had any friends?"

"I don't _need_ friends."

I'm so done with this punk. "Fine, then go, because if you truly believe that then you're not DWMA material. Because there is nothing we believe in more than supporting our teammates and we were inviting you to be a part of that, but I guess that's not what you believe in or want. So, go; live your life as an asshole without having anyone or anything to care about, but know that _you_ chose that life. You had a chance to escape and you let it pass you by."

He walks away, but before he reaches the plaza he turns back, "Hey, do you guys know Black*Star?"

My eyes open wider. He knows something about Black*Star! "What do you know about Black*Star?" I ask.

"He gave me pretty much the same talk, him and some other dude. They said they were gonna come get me and take me to some special school, but they never came back so when you see him tell him I fucking hate him. He's the biggest loser ever and I don't care-"

Nobody says that about my best friend! Without thinking I punch the brat in the face.

"Soul!" Maka jumps up and pulls me back. "What are you doing?! He's just a little kid!"

"He doesn't sound like a kid! He thinks he's all tough and he's shit talking Black*Star!"

"So, you know him?" Brian says. "Well when you see him tell him he sucks ass, because I would have gone with _him_, but he never came back, ass wipe."

"That's because he got attacked by Avian Flu, you little-" Maka places a hand over my mouth to muffle the cascade of obscenities flowing from it. I've completely lost it. I'm fighting her with every muscle I have and tears are pouring from my eyes. But, through my rage I hear her voice calmly explain the situation to him.

"Black*Star is one of our closest friends. He's been abducted by Avian Flu and he could be dead, but we have obtained information that says that he's being held in a facility not far from here. That's where we're headed. I'm sorry Soul hit you, but you have to understand, Black*Star is his best friend and he's worried sick about him."

"You're serious that there's some kind of war going on?"

"I'm not wearing all these bandages for the festival," she says.

The boy takes another long look at the assembled group of teenagers in front of him. I stop trying to get at him and Maka relaxes her grasp on me.

"Would my partner be hot?" he asks no one in particular.

"You would pick your own partner," Kid answers. "But I would suggest having a better selection process than 'hot or not'. And you'll need to improve your attitude or no one will be willing to partner with you."

"How come you have _two_ partners and this chick's only got lunatic boy?"

"I am most effective with a different kind of balance than most meisters. Over the years Patti, Liz, and I have found that we make an optimum team. Besides, I'm ambidextrous. It would be a waste for me to only use one handgun."

"Handguns? Bah. Why not use a hardcore gun, like me?"

"It would be hard for him to pull the trigger of an AK-47 with his pinky," Patti gushes.

"What?"

"Come on we'll show you on the way out of town," I say and start to walk out of the alley. I turn back to face him telling myself that this is his last chance. If he comes with us I will try to tolerate him. If he stays behind, so be it. "You coming or not? Because I was on the way to help rescue some of my friends so I refuse to waste any more of my time dealing with you. The choice is yours. Either continuing living the way you are now or take a chance on making a better life for yourself and the world."

Liz and Patti clap. "Beautiful, Soul. Just beautiful. The DWMA needs to make a promo ad with you in it saying those words."

"Shut the fuck up, you two," I grumble.

"We're serious," Liz says. "I'm not making fun of you. It's just shocking when you go all inspirational on us."

"So, Maka is that how you feel when he get romantic? Does he start spouting love sonnets and stuff?"

Maka laughs. "No, Soul still hates poetry."

"Damn right. Stupid ass poetry is for losers…and geeks, like her," I say pointing to Maka and she shakes her head at me.

As the rest of the group follows me I refuse to look behind me. If we get to the motorcycles and he's there he's one of us. If he isn't there I say screw him, because we need to get to Black*Star it's taken us entirely too long already.

I weave through the crowd with Maka behind me. I whisper to her, "Is he following us?"

"I don't know. You want me to look back?"

"No. It's like playing chicken. You and I can't look back. We have to show we're serious and we don't give a shit about him unless he chooses to come with us."

We get to the motorcycles. "All right," I say. "Let's mount up, and ladies, can we please go at least five miles before stopping for our first pit stop?"

"Where am I gonna ride?" I hear the voice and breathe a sigh of relief. He's a punk and I already want to pummel him into the pavement, but he needs our help and has chosen to accept it so I'm going to do my best to be nice to him despite the fact he is acting like a spoiled little a-hole and making extremely lewd comments about the girls.

I smile. "Well, Brian. That's a good question because it looks like we don't have enough seats…but Patti could go into weapon form…or you and Patti could squeeze into the sidecar together.

"That'd be fine," he says eyeing Patti's tits.

"Nevermind," I say immediately. "Patti you'll be riding in weapon form with Maka. Brian, get in the sidecar." Brian obediently walks over to the sidecar while Liz stuffs things into it.

Kid watches our newest companion and warily whispers to Maka and me, "I'm going to suggest that he never be without Soul or I. There are too many things we don't know about him and hopefully he's all talk, but I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Yeah, his soul wavelength is going crazy. It's unclear what he might do if triggered," Maka says she walks over to join him and the Thompsons at the other bike.

"I'm going to ride with Liz and Patti and the brat," Kid tells me as though it isn't a huge surprise.

"You sure you can handle it?"

"Yes, I should be fine. Besides, I've intruded long enough on your time with Maka."

"You want to get to be the one to shot that punk if he tries to lay a hand on Liz or Patti, don't cha?"

Kid grins. "You make me sound like an inherently violent person. I just happen to be a better shot than Maka so it's probably a good job for me. Besides, I've missed Liz and Patti. You just aren't the same…"

"But you have _no_ feelings," I remind him.

"I didn't say I had _no_ feelings. I said I didn't have _those_ kinds of feelings. The Maka and Soul passionate I-can't-be-out-of-your-sight-for-more-than-ten-minutes-without-missing-you kinds of feelings."

I frown at him. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Yes, I am. You make it too damn easy. The whole time we were riding today you were watching her and whimpering."

"I was not whimpering."

"Guys," Liz yells. "Unless your conversation is about how to figure out where Tsubaki is or how to break into a military level compound you should not be continuing to talk. Everyone else is ready to go." I look around suddenly aware that everyone is waiting on us, even Brian, who is staring at us impatiently.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I babble awkwardly.

Kid runs over and tells Maka to trade him spots and she hands him Patti in weapon form and I hear the handgun giggle happily. "Oh, Kid! I'm so happy you're gonna hold me!"

"Yes, I'm going to hold you…and Liz, too." He situates himself so that Patti is in his hand ready to shot while he has his arms around Liz.

Maka runs up to me and hops on the bike kissing the back of my neck. "It's just like old times."

"Only now we not only have a grim reaper with OCD with us, but a ten year-old who thinks he's forty."

"He'll snap out of it soon, I'm sure. We just have to be patient and gain his trust."

"Yeah, well, he's going to have to earn _my_ trust, too. Kid and I aren't letting him alone with any of you girls. He acts like a sex criminal."

"I think you're right. It's an _act_."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"I know," she says happily and I gun the engine before taking off for south of the border.


	46. Chapter 46: Barriers to Bliss

_**Chapter 46: Barriers to Bliss; What Did They Do?!**_

We easily cross the border into Mexico and after a bit of a comedy of errors at the border are directed to the nearest decent hotel in a town known as Comunidad Arenoso, or the "Sandy Community." What a claim to fame…they have sand! But for one reason or another the place attracts tourists and so there are plenty of English speakers which is good because we realize that out of the group of us Kid and Patti are the only two fluent in Spanish. I can manage only two phrases, "Where is the bathroom?" and "Will you have sex with me?" because, like every teenage male, Black*Star and I memorized that all important question in as many languages as possible on the off chance we should ever meet an incredibly easy foreign chick or if all other people died we would have a chance of repopulating the planet even if the only woman left didn't speak English. _I miss him._

"Did they have a room?" Maka asks.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long. My Spanish is pretty rusty. I guess I was asking for horses rather than beds for a while…but I think we have it all straightened out now!" Patti says chipperly and I pray that she's right because we've been going nonstop for hours and hours and all I want to do is sleep. You wouldn't think riding a motorcycle could be that tiring. It's not like I'm pedaling or walking, but it's exhausting nonetheless.

We go up to the room and see that it has two large beds, either kings or queens I'm guessing, and a sofa that we soon discover converts to a bed. Kid immediately assigns the beds with Brian on the sleeper sofa, Patti and Liz in the bed nearest the window, Maka and I in the other bed, and him taking the floor between the girl's bed and the window. This leaves the aisle between the beds clear for those middle of the night bathroom breaks that he and I both know the girls will be taking since they apparently all have bladders the size of grapes.

"Oh, Kid I'm sorry! I tried to get a roll away bed for you. I guess they didn't understand," Patti apologizes.

"It's not a big deal," he says good-naturedly. "I can pile a couple of our bed rolls on top of one another to make it more comfortable." Then he immediately moves on to a plan for dinner which is great because we are all starving since none of us have had anything to eat since we rolled into Hidden Point. Kid and Patti decide to go out to get food for everyone while the rest of us chill out in the hotel room. They say it's the least they can do since they haven't had to drive and then they hurriedly point out that Maka needs to stay since she's the only other meister and take their leave of us.

Liz asks if anyone minds her taking a shower and Maka, Brian, and I tell her that's fine and I then throw myself on the bed. I am pretty close to sleep right away, but Maka starts talking to Brian and I find the conversation too interesting to ignore, even though I would swear I'd kill to get some shuteye so I lay there with my eyes closed, arms crossed listening as they talk.

"So, Brian, how long have you known you're a Demon Weapon? You're pretty young to have the ability fully developed like that."

"About three years."

"Wow! At seven, huh? I've only heard of it happening that young when a child is under extreme stress. You mind me asking what was going on in your life when you first started transforming?" she asks politely but with enough interest that it's obvious she wants him to open up to her.

I hear his voice answer back nonchalantly. "My mom was dating an especially rotten guy. They'd get high and forget I was there and when they weren't high they'd fight, swing chairs at each other, that kind of shit. One night they were especially bad and I got scared and I transformed."

"I bet that scared them."

"Oh, yeah! It sure did, but it also gave my mom an idea and within a couple weeks she had sold me to the traveling freak show so that she had money for her next fix."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Maka says. "But I hope you can learn to trust us. There are a lot of really great people at the DWMA, except for my father…though, he actually sounds pretty great compared to your parents… but he's…well you'll see when you meet him…but overall everybody's pretty wonderful."

"I can't be too much worse off, as long as you guys feed me and stuff. I was getting tired of show biz anyways…three years is a long time. I kept wanting them to let me do something cool, but they didn't think I was ready. They kept telling me I was too young."

"Well, unfortunately, it sounds like you've had to grow up pretty fast. In a way it's like that with us. Fighting demons isn't exactly child's play, but you'll see that we try to balance that with a lot of good natured fun. Kid skateboards and everybody plays basketball, except for me. I suck at it. I try to make points from the yard line or whatever, but I can never do it. Let's see what else do we do for fun? The guys play video games. I read a lot. Soul is obsessed with Skeletoxin…We watch movies. We're pretty normal when we aren't out on a mission like this."

"Doesn't sound too bad. So, how long have you and Soul been together?"

"Oh, we've been partners for years…it's hard for me to even remember a time before I knew him, but then again it's natural for your partner to become a big part of your life. You live together, go to school together-"

"You _live_ together?"

"Yeah, you have to live with your partner. The Thompsons live with Kid."

"Wipe that look off your face! It isn't anything _kinky_. Everybody has their own room and bed…it's not usually like it is tonight, but when we're on a mission things are different. Hell, a few nights ago Soul and I slept in a public restroom together."

"Sounds glamorous," he scoffs.

"Yeah, it definitely _isn't_. We're slumming it a lot of the time and making it up as we go along. Our missions are usually just an objective and we have to figure out how to get it done so it's important that we pay attention in school and study hard when we aren't on missions."

"So, you and Soul…?"

"Something bother you about that?" Maka's words are as sharply edged as a razor. I continue to feign sleep because I'm curious how she's going to handle this.

"No, not bothered. I just think it's weird. It's like you're married."

"It's _much better_ than being married. Half of all marriages end in divorce, but that isn't the case for most DWMA partnerships. Most partners remain on very good terms even if they aren't working together anymore."

"So, what's the deal with Black*Star? When he talked to me he was with some dude-"

"That was Harvar, another one of our classmates."

"But he said that wasn't his usual partner. Something about how he was usually with some hot chick but she couldn't come with him this time."

"Was that his way of enticing you to join?" Maka sounds agitated. "Is that why you've been so keen on learning all about the partnerships?"

"No, I'm curious what would make a big, tough assassin act like such a pussy. He was really broken up and the dude with him-"

"_Harvar._"

"_Harvar_ didn't seem to appreciate it."

"Well, it's hard on everybody when partners who usually work together end up on assignments with other people. Back when Kid first enrolled Black*Star and Soul wanted to become a team and Tsubaki, that's Black*Star's partner, was really heartbroken about it."

"What happened?"

Maka laughs remembering my stupidity. "You can't be paired with just anyone. When Soul went into weapon form Black*Star couldn't even lift him. It was hilarious especially when you consider I can swing him all over the place and I'm strong, don't get me wrong, but Black*Star is a tank! But it didn't matter. Their souls work great as friends, but they aren't compatible as weapon and meister."

"Huh, and Kid's compatible with both Liz and Patti?"

"Yup. But Kid's always a bit of a special case with everything, because he's a reaper. He wouldn't even have to go to school if he didn't want to, but the three of them are determined to make their team as strong as possible so they undergo all the same training as we do."

"What lies you telling the newb about us?" Liz says walking out of the bathroom. She must be wearing pajamas and not just a towel because I don't hear a wolf whistle from the punk. Either that or he is smart enough to be scared of her.

"I was just telling him about how some people aren't compatible…as partners I mean."

"Oh, yeah. We're lucky that on this trip Maka can fill in for Kid in a pinch if they had to and, of course, Patti and I can wield each other so we're a pretty flexible crew, but sometimes it isn't like that. Kid has the worst time when he's partnered with anyone besides me or my sister. Soul is just about the only other weapon he can actually use."

"Does Soul really eat souls or were Patti and Kid just talking out their ass?"

"No, he really eats souls," Maka answers. "It's kind of gross to watch, because he can't chew them first so he just swallows them whole. I usually turn away."

"Soul _eating_ anything is gross in general," Liz whines. "But I suppose he has better table manners than Black*Star."

The door opens to reveal Kid and Patti carrying in multiple plastic bags filled with food.

"We decided that since we're in Mexico why not order Chinese food, because one language barrier is never enough," Kid jokes as he plunks down the bags of food. The smell of the food wafts my way and I sit up.

"See, he sleeps through guard duty this morning, but food wakes him up," Liz complains.

"Now, Brian," Maka begins. "It's important that you understand Soul was only sleeping while on guard duty because I extended my time on guard. He…we…would never allow such an important-"

"Maka, shut up and get some food," I tell my meister. "Brian, will have plenty of time to get initiated later." I pop open a Chinese food container that has something written on it with marker. I wonder if it's in Spanish, English, or Chinese but I can't tell. I start eating it from the container and Patti chews me out.

"Soul, you're _supposed_ to pass everything around first," Patti yells at me while shaking her head. "Just because Maka is happy to swap spit with you doesn't mean the rest of us are!"

The food is delicious and it is all gone amazingly quickly. After gorging myself I lie back down on the bed holding my gut.

"You need to learn to eat slower, Soul," Maka tells me. She has been telling me this for years, but for some reason she _continues_ to tell me this. I frown at her. For an intelligent person she has some very odd habits at times, such as giving me the same advice over and over again knowing I will simply chose to ignore it like I always do.

After the meal, we all gather in front of the bathroom mirror which is just outside the actual toilet and tub area and dial Lord Death.

"Well, hello, kids!" Lord Death says cheerily.

"We'd like to introduce you to a young Demon Weapon named Brian," Maka says.

Brian steps forward gawking at the way we utilize the mirror to communicate. "That's so awesome."

Lord Death chuckles. "It is awesome, indeed. So, tell me Brian would you like to come to the DWMA to study the ways of a Demon Weapon?"

"Depends."

We all groan. "Just say yes, already," Maka complains. "You know you want to. You don't have to act all disinterested."

"Is that my sweet, sweet string bean of a daughter? Oh dearest Maka, how are you?" Spirit comes into the frame.

"You're back?" I ask. "Where's Stein?"

"He's gone off to fetch Marie. Oh, Maka dear, tell me that Soul is keeping his hands to himself my dear because I can't stand the thought of you being sullied by-"

"Dad, for the last time what I do with my body is my decision."

Wow- that sounded like a pretty clear, "We're having sex get over it" message to me. I swallow_. __**He is going to kill me.**_ I take a deep breath. Don't avoid his eyes, Soul, that will show guilt. It's Maka. You love her and _he _is the douchebag who has a crappy relationship with her. Stare him down. You've done nothing wrong. And as soon as you're a Death Scythe you'll be able to kick his ass if you need to so don't act intimidated.

Spirit's nostrils flare. "But, sweetheart-"

"This transmission is to inform Lord Death of our progress toward our goal, _not_ for you to attempt to intimidate me into being who you want me to be," Maka states with a business like tone.

"Yes," Kid says. "There are a great deal more important things than your groundless fears that Soul is anything less than a wonderful partner to your daughter. Any further interruptions of this nature and I will discontinue this communication and in future only talk to my father without you acting as advisor."

Wow! This level of escalation is not something I had expected. I guess our meisters woke up on the wrong side of the tent this morning. Spirit stomps out of the frame.

"Kid, was that entirely necessary?" Lord Death questions.

"Yes, Father, it is. We don't need the additional pressure of having our _personal_ choices scrutinized while on this trip."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense, you are under a great deal of pressure." Lord Death pauses as though contemplating something and then says, "Good work everyone! Liz and Patti, excellent work helping to get the supplies to heal Maka and helping to locate another Demon Weapon, and Meister Maka commendations to you for your _expert_ intellect in teasing out the secrets of Avian Flu, and Soul… a better partner I have never seen. Kudos to all of you."

And then he begins to ramble off a bunch of landmarks and coordinates that will lead us to the Avian Flu facility. We all scramble to get a pen and paper to write the shit down as he spouts it off without warning us first.

"Now, I don't want you to just barge in there. Go check the place out and report back before you _do_ _**anything**_ as I expect you to be vastly out-numbered and I need to develop a plan for your takeover of the facility. Good day to you all!"

And then the transmission is done and Kid's dad is gone and we are stuck standing there with our heads spinning.

"He did it again!" Patti exclaims shaking her head.

"Damn that man!" Curses Liz.

"It's not a big deal," Kid responds and I sense that this is some part of a larger conversation that I have not previously been a part of. "Soul, Maka, you saw that too, didn't you? Kid's dad told me and Patti we did an amazing job and he didn't say _one_ damn thing about Kid."

"He did congratulate everyone," I say, not in defense of Lord Death, but just to state fact.

"Yeah, but he never calls out any of the _great_ things Kid does," Liz says walking over and wrapping her arms around her meister. "I'm just so sick of seeing Kid not get the praise he deserves."

Kid attempts to shrug but finds it difficult as both of his partners are now attempting to cozy up to him. "Father has very high expectations of me. I've learned not to expect accolades from him. It's obvious to me that he either fears accusations of favoritism or simply expects me to act perfectly because I'm a reaper."

"Or he's just an ass," offers Patti.

"There is that, too," Kid says smirking slightly as he walks over to the girl's bed and sits on the end of it. He looks more tired than I think I've ever seen him.

"You deserve to be loved just as much as anyone else," Patti says while seating herself next to him on the bed her hands roaming over Kid's upper leg dangerously near to forbidden territory.

Kid tries to stand up, but Liz sits down on the other side of him and quickly the girls have him encumbered. "I assure you that this is _not_ the kind of attention I would want from my father," he says to them with a tone of amusement as he observes how thoroughly they have entangled him.

"We know," they say in unison. "But it's the kind of attention _we_ want to give you."

I raise an eyebrow. _This is new._ We've seen lots and lots of flirtation, but this…this is taking it to some kind of new level and for whatever reason, Kid doesn't fight it as much as I would have expected. Instead he says, "Soul, take Brian out of here. I don't want him getting the wrong idea about partners."

"Hey Brian, want to go hit the arcade downstairs?" I ask.

"Can I come too, _please_?" Maka asks with a rather panicked expression and I nod.

"I figured you'd be coming. I doubted you wanted to stay," I tell her with a laugh.

"_I _want to stay," Brian says as he watches Liz and Patti sensually ease Kid down onto his back on the bed.

"Uh huh. This is _not_ something for a kid to see." I grab him by the shoulders and shove him toward the door.

We go downstairs and I get some pesos and head into the hotel's game room.

"I wanna play that one!" Brian says pointing at something called _Super Alien Invasion_.

"Have at it!" I hand him a bunch of pesos.

"It's nice to see him acting like a kid," Maka says as she watches him. He's focuses intently on blasting aliens with photon torpedoes…or something similar.

"Yeah. I know it's not his fault he's an ass. It sounds like his parents were pieces of work."

"Oh, you were listening in on that conversation. I thought so," she says.

"I told you. Kid and I aren't about to leave him alone with you girls."

She rolls her eyes, "I could take him. He's a ten year old boy. I'd just need to be firm and tell him to go sit in the corner."

"Maybe…or maybe not. Besides, he could be a spy."

"I think the only thing he wants to spy on is someone having sex."

"Yeah, he's a little young to be that obsessed…"

"A _little_ young? He shouldn't even have a clue yet. Did you?"

I think back…the pre-Maka days are kind of a blur. I shrug. "Not sure. Don't really care."

I glance over my shoulder. Brian seems absorbed in the game and he looks to have a knack for it. Good, he may be occupied for a while. I lean over kissing Maka on the mouth.

"I think we need to be a little covert with the kid around…" Maka says.

"Yeah, Kid and I talked about the same thing, but I also think it'll do him some good to see a happy, healthy couple. Maka, all we're doing is kissing. It's ok. Really." Only mistake is I hadn't counted on one kiss making me horny. Now I'm all antsy and I'm not going to get any release.

"Do you think Kid and the girls are…?" she asks.

"I doubt it. I'm sure he's going to chicken out."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"I think it is. He's way too uptight."

"But don't you think it's about time he pick _one_ of them and quit stringing both of them along?"

"I dunno," I say kissing her again. "I think you need to take the same instructions that Kid gave his dad and not make judgments. Kid's doing the best he can given that he's part of a very intense and unique partnership."

Maka frowns. Uh oh. I think we may be heading into dangerous territory here… "So, threesomes don't weird you out?" she asks crossing her arms. It doesn't seem like an overtly accusatory way she's asking so I decide to answer honestly; though I'm a little scared my answer may bite me in the butt later.

"Not really. Besides they're twins."

"You have watched way too much porn, Soul, and they aren't really twins. You know that's just a joke right?"

_They aren't twins?! Then why do people call them the Demon Twin Guns?! _ "Don't pretend you aren't into girl porn."

"What are you talking about?! I hate porn and why would I watch other girls?"

"Not that kind of porn. I mean your damn books. I saw how big the sex and erotica section of your mind library was, so don't play all innocent with me."

I can actually watch as the red of her blush moves from her cheeks outward like a flower blooming.

"Soul, I haven't read those! If you opened 'em you'd see they were all blank on the inside. They were just titles recommended to me by Tsubaki. I-"

"Don't be embarrassed. I think it's hot." I say kissing her neck which is very warm probably from a mix of embarrassment and arousal.

"Soul, you need to stop."

I sigh deeply. "Ok, but you have to play some air hockey with me."

When we return to the room the atmosphere feels back to normal. The lust filled, harem vibe is gone and the girls are sitting on the couch painting each other's nails.

"Hey, Kid's in the shower. I have dibs on the tub after him," Patti says. "But don't worry. I don't have my toy boats with me, so I'll be fast."

"Patti!" a voice comes from the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"Liz used all the damn shampoo."

"I did not!" Liz shouts back never once looking up from her toenails.

"Well, one drop is not going to be enough to make my white stripes white."

"I thought you were gonna dye them again, anyways," Patti says.

"Patti, go get more shampoo. Everyone else is going to need it, too."

Patti grabs a room key and Maka stands up to go with her without her even needing to ask. I flop on our bed and wonder what I could do to get my meister to be quiet enough so we could…

My fantasizing is interrupted by Liz who has come over to talk to me.

"Soul," Liz says quietly. "If you want the rest of us to get lost for a while later on tonight we would be happy to."

"Am I that obvious?" I ask feeling ashamed because she knows Maka and I did it just last night.

"I have a gift for recognizing horny dudes. Must be why I hooked up with Kid. There has never been a more desperately horny boy than that one."

"What about me?" asks Brian who has apparently been eavesdropping on our conversation.

"Brian, you don't even register as a kid yet, let alone a guy," lectures Liz. "And if you aren't a kid first you'll have a totally fucked up life. So, be a kid, enjoy the simple things, like sticks and sugary cereals, and waking up to presents on the morning of big holidays. It's bad enough you're already a Demon Weapon. Don't worry, girls will notice you eventually but it'll be a whole lot more fun if you actually like them as people."

"Yeah, Brian," I chime in. "I was gonna talk to you about that. All these girls are first and foremost friends. We may flirt or mess around, but they aren't sex objects…though they can be sexy sometimes. But you gotta remember they're equal team members and can be _extremely lethal _when pissed off so watch yourself because if you sneak a peek at any of them or do anything less than respectful to a DWMA chick it won't be me or Kid who snuff you."

Liz smiles. "You're such a poet, Soul." She leans over and whispers in my ear. "Thanks for earlier. We all really needed that…it's been a long time."

My eyes get big and my jaw drops. What exactly did they _do_?! I stare at her but she just smiles at me like some kind of angel-she demon hybrid and sits down to put on the next layer of nail polish.


	47. Chapter 47: All Kinds of Love

_**Chapter 47: All Kinds of Love; Liz's Scary Devotion? **_

We unanimously decide that as soon as each of us has had a turn in the shower it will be time for lights out, as we are all so tired we are essentially sleepwalking, with the exception of the punk, Brian, who seems wired. Maybe his bosses at the freak show fed him nothing but sugar and caffeine or maybe they let him stay up till three in the morning and sleep all morning, because he is sitting upright on the sleeper sofa wide awake. He reminds me of a meerkat looking out over the Savannah. I get the feeling it could be hours before he settles down and since we won't want him to turn the TV on I led him by music player.

"Thanks, man," he says to me as he pops on the headphones and lays back to listen to some tunes. I was the last person to use the shower so I have the honor of turning the light off. I look around to make sure everyone seems settled in and then flick off the light. Then, I tiptoe to join my already asleep meister in bed. I slide under the covers next to her gently wrapping one of my arms around her and smile dopily as I begin to drift off.

From across the room, I hear a squawk from Kid. It sounds like the girls have been unsuccessful in getting him to join them in bed so they have moved to the floor in protest.

"We're not going to sleep in the bed if you're not. You need as good a night's rest as we do," Liz whispers though I can still manage to hear her.

"And that's your justification for coming down here and crowding me, making it so _none_ of us get a decent night's sleep?" I laugh a little at Kid's indignant response to their flawed logic. "Oh, good grief! Can you girls never leave well enough alone? Must I always give in to your desires?"

I don't say it aloud, but I feel like shouting 'yes' as its pretty damn clear to me that's exactly what happens. He may fuss and resist but, inevitably, Liz and Patti get what Liz and Patti want. I just wonder if Kid has figured that out yet or not. Is he pretending not to realize that he is a pushover when it comes to them in order to keep the game going? Is all that resistance on his part some form of flirtation or is he really holding back for some reason he isn't sharing with anyone? He's told me being a reaper complicates things and I imagine it does, but it would be nice to see him with someone.

It occurs to me as I think about Kid and his partners that these were probably the kind of thoughts he had about me and Maka before we officially got 'together', because, I suppose, there were all kinds of warning signs that we wanted to be more for each other than strictly partners, as if being partners isn't devotion enough. Hell, I remember times that we would fall asleep together just as we are now, snuggled up in one another's arms, only to while vehemently deny that we had any feelings for one another the following day.

Now, I'm beginning to realize that me, Black*Star, and Kid have all been operating in that dangerous I-may-have-more-than-platonic-feelings-for-my-partner zone for a while, but there are still challenges for my friends in letting their partner or partners (I guess) know how they feel.

Black*Star and Tsubaki are obviously attracted to one another, but stupid ass Black*Star can't manage not acting like a Neanderthal long enough to ask Tsubaki out on an actual date. I suppose Tsubaki could ask him out, but I suspect that since she does everything else for him she'd like him to do _that much_ for her. Meanwhile, Kid is so action-packed with issues related to being a reaper and having OCD that you layer on top of that the fact he's partnered with not one but two young women who have chosen flirting with their meister as their favorite pastime. I can see why Maka and I were the first to get our act together and admit how we felt to one another. I smile. It was horribly scary, but at least, we did it and now things are pretty fucking awesome. I hope my friends can manage to get there one day.

I hear the other bed creak.

"For God's sake, Liz get your knee out of my back!" Kid grumbles and then I hear three little 'I love you's' before a reaper and his ladies settle down for the night. I don't care what Maka thinks. I'm routing for Kid to be with both of them. He adores both of them and they both say that they're in love with him. Besides, having two chicks at the same time is every guy's dream…and I don't see that ever happening with Maka, maybe if Blair weren't screwing Maka's dad. So, I think I'll just have to live vicariously through Kid on that one…though sex with Liz… I imagine she'd be yelling at me the whole time telling me I was doing it wrong. She's pretty bossy and sex with Patti…gross! It'd be like being with a little girl! Oh, well, to each his own I guess.

Lord, I'm as bad as Brian! I gotta make him see that it's natural to have these kinds of thoughts pop into your head, but that they gotta stay in your head or you'll be branded a creeper for life and in a school full of kick-ass chicks creepers do not fare well. He's gotta learn what thoughts you keep to yourself even from your partner or girlfriend. It isn't lying. There's just come things that should be kept private or strictly on a need-to-know basis.

We need to find him a cool guy to mentor him and be a big brother to him. Kirikou might be good at that. Not me though, I have a partner who I'm not going to let go of even temporarily. I worked too hard to get right here with her.

"This is nice," Maka murmurs, her words slurred from being half asleep.

"Yeah, it is." I want to tell her how happy I am. How there is nowhere I'd rather be, but I don't want to sound sappy. Then as if knowing the feelings buried in my soul, she takes my hand from around her waist, brings it to her lips, and kisses the back of it.

I'm so lucky, that Maka and I were smart and strong enough to finally admit the truth to one another.

At first, all I hear is some rustling, but when the light comes on I know something must be up.

"Guys, there's a problem!" Patti says emphatically.

Maka and I sit up and in the other bed Liz and Kid sit up. So, they did all in end up in bed together, I'm not surprised. And by Jove he doesn't have a shirt on now! Those three!

"Patti, sweetheart," he starts, a dazed expression present on his face. "This doesn't have to do with the face on the moon again does it? Because we've talked about it; remember, everyone sees it, not just you."

"Yeah, Patti, I promise nobody stuck something hallucinogenic in your soda. The moon just looks like that naturally," Liz says yawning. "Now come back to bed."

"Yes, come back to bed," Kid mumbles yanking the covers over his head.

"No, it isn't that. I've gotten over the moon thing," she says simply. "Brian's gone. Look!"

"What? What do you mean he's gone?" Kid and Liz both sit back up wobbling a little from sleepiness.

"I got up to go to the bathroom and I noticed he's not here and he's not in the bathroom. Maka, he isn't in bed with you and Soul is he?"

I take this question seriously as I could totally imagine the little pervert trying to cozy up next to my meister while she was sleeping, but, no, it's only Maka and me. I get up and pull my jeans on. I guess I will not be sleeping but instead hunting a Mexican hotel complex for a lecherous ten year-old.

"Why would he leave?" Liz asks.

"Maybe he changed his mind," Maka says.

I try to think of any reasonable reason he might not be here. "Maybe he smokes and didn't want to tell us."

"Who does that remind us of?" Liz says turning to face her meister who just sighs.

"Well, we've gotta find him and figure out what's going on. I hate to admit it but we did put ourselves at some risk bringing him with us because he could be a spy for Avian Flu, but our other options were not great either." Kid grumbles, "I guess we should have kept watch."

Patti says, "It's not a big deal. Maybe he just went back down to the arcade." Kid and Liz fumble around in the blankets. "Oh, Kid, I threw your shirt on the floor over there." She says pointing to the floor where Kid was _supposed_ to be sleeping and he turns beet red and kind of hunches out of embarrassment as he slides out of bed to retrieve his pajama top.

"Tell you what. I'll go drive around the neighborhood and see if I can find him. He can't have gotten too far." Liz grumbles as she reaches for the keys on the nightstand between our two beds. Only problem is there is only one set of keys on the nightstand. "Uh, guys, who has the other set of motorcycle keys? Soul, please tell me they're in your pocket."

I shake my head. I _know_ I set them on the nightstand, but I check my pockets anyway.

"Oh, no. He stole one of the bikes!" I shout.

"Fuck!" The curse word is shouted from every single one of us at the same time, as though in stereo.

"Forget about trying to catch up to him. We need to leave now," Kid says. So much for a good night's sleep. We all start grabbing our shit as fast as we can scrambling to get dressed.

"He may have sabotaged the other bike, but if he didn't we can all ride on it. Kid can be in the side car with the girls in weapon form," I suggest.

"Right."

"Where are we gonna go?" Patti asks.

"We'll figure that out once we are out of here," Maka says. "Soul, is this going to be a tradition whenever we stay at a hotel?"

I shrug. "What do you expect? Rest and relaxation?"

We head to the door with our backpacks and knapsacks and just as we are about to file out of it, the door opens and a very startled ten year-old walks in with a set of motorcycle keys in his hand.

"What's going on? Where are you all going?" he asks seeming genuinely confused by the fact we appear to be checking out of our hotel room in the middle of the night

"You're back!" Maka shouts with relief.

Liz grabs the boy and yanks him into the main part of the room. "Where did you go?"

"I…I…I'm sorry. I wanted to drive the motorcycle! I just went out for a few minutes. No cops saw me, I promise," and for once his tone lacks sarcasm or sass.

"Why should we believe you? You sold us out to Avian Flu, didn't you?" she shouts. "Well, nobody is going to hurt my sister. You got that? I don't mess around with people trying to hurt Patti or Kid. So, tell me _what did you do_?" Liz is scarier at this moment then she is in when in cannon form and it makes Brian tremble.

"I told you. All I did was take the bike for a spin. I know I shoulda asked but I knew you guys it'd say no. Please don't hurt me! I swear I won't do it again."

I walk up to Liz and put my hand on her arm. My gut is telling me that he isn't lying. "Liz, I think he's telling the truth. Why would he bother to come back here if he were informing the enemy of our location?"

"Because he's gaining our trust," Liz says and it's true he could be attempting to do that.

"If I were trying to spy on you I wouldn't be doing such a crappy job," he says. "I'm not stupid."

Maka smiles, "We know you aren't. We're just a little on edge. Soul and I got ambushed at the last hotel we were at and Avian Flu ended up burning the whole place down." The runt's eyes get even bigger. It won't be long before he learns first hand that we aren't exaggerating the kinds of things we do as students of the DWMA.

Liz still hasn't released her grip on Brian, but, instead, turns to her meister for guidance. Kid has sat down on the edge of their bed. At first I thought he was sitting down to ponder whether or not he believed Brian's story, but something doesn't seem right. He looks awfully pale all of a sudden and is sweating a lot. Patti notices it, too, and runs to kneel by his side.

"Kid? Kid, what's wrong?" she asks imploring him for information.

His eyes grow wide and he grabs his chest. "Something's wrong I sense betrayal…but if it's not Brian…" He appears confused and his soul wavelength is unsteady. Maka can feel it too and she also runs to his side.

"What do we need to do, Kid? What's happening to you?" Maka asks.

Before our eyes, his befuddled expression turns to one of pain. "My father…!" He shouts. He extends his fingers in front of him and some kind of holographic image of Lord Death appears and we see that our leader's body is bound by numerous heavy chains.

"Father, what's happening?"

"Oh, Kid," he says amazingly jovially for someone who appears to be a captive. "I'm being taken! The school has been infiltrated."

"Where is Spirit?"

"I sent him away."

"Why?!" but it only takes us a moment to realize it probably has something to do with Maka and Kid's comments earlier today about how unwelcome his questions to Maka were.

"You have a good point, my son. It is important to keep your personal feelings separate from your work as a grim reaper. Never good to have the two intertwine."

"But, Father-

"I don't know where I'm being taken, but I'm sure you'll do just fine."

A wing comes into view slapping Lord Death. He can't seem to fight back. The chains must be forged with some kind of magic.

"But, Father, if you leave Death City you'll-"

"Finally have the vacation I've dreamed of! I know. How awesome is that?"

"Father, I will not stand by and watch-"

"I know and that's not the only reason I must cut this short. Any longer and they will trace your location. Toodaloo!" He wiggles his fingers under the chains to wave goodbye and then the transmission is ended.

We all stand in stunned silence.

"How could they take Lord Death?" Brian asks, but no one has an answer to tell him.

"Kid, we'll help you get him back. We can go now," Liz says.

"No. I appreciate that, but this mission is important to the health and morale of the school. We need to complete it and only then will I return to the DWMA to assume leadership of the school in my father's absence. However, we cannot afford to delay any longer. Avian Flu is moving forward with a strategic plan to undermine our ability to work as a demon fighting organization and we must fight back and show them that regardless of the damage they cause they cannot obliterate the DWMA or our mission. We take the facility _now_ and get our friends back."

"Kid, we'll do whatever you deem appropriate," Maka says.

"That is as long as neither one of us things it's a stupid idea," I say snickering to little the mood a little.

"Kid, do I have to bow to you and call you Lord Death?" Patti asks.

"Oh, God, please don't do that. I'm nervous enough already," Kid says and Patti puts her hand in his and smiles.

"You're gonna do just fine. You've got me and sis." Liz walks up to him and takes his other hand.

He stands there for a moment holding hands with his partners. He looks like he's doing some kind of friendship circle instead of preparing for battle, but after a moment he begins assigning jobs to each of us.

"Maka, you'll need to navigate using the coordinates my father gave us earlier today?"

"Brian, you're gonna ride in the sidecar and keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary and don't ask me what's ordinary in Mexico, because I've no idea."

"Soul, you drive. We will leave one of the bikes here. I'm going to ride on my board with the girls. I need to be ready for anything."

The girls transform into gun form and he spins them with his usual flare and smiles. "I'm looking forward to seeing Black*Star, again. The ladies and I miss getting to blast him from one week to the next."


	48. Chapter 48: Renegade Reunion

_**Chapter 48: Renegade Reunion; Why?!**_

As we travel to the coordinates we've been given the sun begins to come up and it makes me think of what life would be like for us if Avian Flu didn't exist or had the good sense to not attack us. Right now we have no idea what has happened to the other students and staff at the school or even the normal citizens of Death City. I'm now finding myself relieved that Tsubaki wasn't in DC, such a turnaround from a few days ago.

I try not to speculate on what danger our friends might be in and concentrate on doing what Kid has set out to do. Break into the facility, free our comrades held there and then get back to DC pronto to see what needs to be done to restore order.

"We should be getting close," Maka says referring to a note pad in her hand.

"Maka," Brian says pointing at her.

"What is it?" she says in a sharp tone as she is trying to concentrate on making sense of the nonsensical directions Lord Death provided us with.

"Your skulls are doing something," he tells her.

"My what?" she says and I see out of my peripheral vision that she is extending her arm with the intention of whacking our young companion on the top of the head with her notepad.

"Your necklace is glowing," Brian says. "Should it be doing that?"

I take my eyes off the road for a moment and crane my neck. "Fuck!" I say. "Why's it doing that?"

"I think it might mean enemies are near. But I'm not sure. Last time it was hidden under my clothes at first…"

Kid who is skateboarding on our left side shouts to us that he'll see if he can perceive demon souls nearby. A moment later, Kid lifts his head and points to his left. "There is a small grouping of demons over there. I think they're heading our way. We'll need to take them out. We don't want them informing headquarters to be expecting us."

"Right," I say turning the motorcycle. "You lead, we'll follow." As Kid passes us he twirls his guns limbering himself up for a fight. Ever since he learned of his father's capture he has looked extremely serious with his jaw set firmly and an unwavering stare as though he intends to bore through the walls of the Avian Flu compound with his eyeballs, but to my surprise as he leans down to increase his speed he smiles and laughs. The girls must have said something funny because for just a moment he seems like he does when the world isn't on the line and we're doing run-of-the-mill kishin egg collecting for an assignment.

"How close are we?" I shout, but Kid doesn't seem to hear me.

"Maka, I think it's about time for us to ditch the bike." She nods. Having a motorcycle is great to get from point a to point b in a hurry, but unfortunately I can't be her weapon and our chauffeur at the same time so we always end up having to make the tough call of when to switch from motorized transport to our feet.

My gut has served me well, because as I pull over to park the bike we start hearing bird calls and the flapping of wings.

"What's that sound?" Brian asks as we all get off the bike.

"That is your first experience with demons," I tell him. "I'm guessing they are a bunch of Avian Flu's flying forces."

Maka closes her eyes, "Yeah, there's a bunch of flyers coming this way from the southeast."

"Maka?"

"Sorry, uh…from your right…about two o-clock."

"I see 'em," I transform, but I'm distracted. It should just me and Maka, but we have a tag along with us. What the hell should we have Brian do? He's completely untrained and he has no meister.

Maka turns to our young companion, "Brian, please don't take this the wrong way. But I'm going to need you to hang back. Soul and I can't be worried about protecting you."

"But-"

"I'm sure there is a way you can assist us, but I don't have time to figure it out right now. Soul and I need to do what we've been trained to do, got it?"

His shoulders slump, "Yeah, I got it."

"I warned you that being a student of the Good Arts wouldn't be glamorous, but trust me you can learn a lot through observation of other weapon/meister teams. I know I have, so watch and learn. Soul, you ready?"

"Always," she grasps me firmly in both her hands and I know that in just a moment she will be across the field, but first I have an idea. My upper half pops out of the scythe. "Wait just a sec." I tell my meister as I fish around in my pocket. "Runt, you're in charge of the bike. You think you can handle that? We may need it in a hurry so listen for our call. Ok?" I say as I toss the keys to him and he catches them grinning from ear to ear. "No prob. I gotcha covered."

I descend back into my total weapon form as I hear Maka say, "Soul, have I mentioned yet today how much I love you?"

Grinning, I answer, "Depends on how you count. Do you go from midnight to midnight or the last twenty-four hours?"

"Very funny, Soul."

"Because, later on today after all the ass kicking is done you might just have to remind me how great I am."

"Oh, Good Lord, haven't you gotten cocky."

"Only cause I know you're about to provide me a wonderful breakfast of kishin eggs."

She runs toward the incoming flock. We hear a squawk from the birds and one plummets to the earth with an arrow in its chest.

"What the?!" I twist my scythe eye around… "Where'd that come from?"

As if in answer to my question jumping from a tree in front of us a muscular figure with a quiver on his back appears.

"Robin!"

He grins. "Maka, Soul, glad you could join the party! Though, I think Tsubaki and I have been doing pretty well by ourselves."

"Tsubaki?" Maka shouts happily though she never allows her eyes to leave her target. "You know where she is?"

"Of course, see that bunch of birds over there getting their asses kicked?" In the distance, I see a clump of birds that are hopping around. "She's the one doing the butt whooping." The archer runs a few paces, stops and then takes three shots in rapid succession. One of the shots hits a bird in the wing, the other hits the same bird in the neck, and the other misses it, but grazes the bird next to it.

Robin sighs, "It isn't the same without Geoffrey. I miss my exploding bolts." The young man shouts across to Kid, "DK, I've got the one on the far side you concentrate on that one with the blue beak."

We run to assist Tsubaki in taking down the ones on the ground. When one bird gets repelled backward Tsubaki comes into our line of sight. She is fighting using a manji style sai in each hand, wielding them with a furious speed in order to block attacks from the bird peoples' powerful legs.

"I'm so happy to see you guys! I would hug you…if I weren't-" she grunts as she pushes back what appears to be an extremely strong Avian.

"There'll be time after we've claimed their souls," Maka says as she runs forward holding me. "We'll help Tsubaki with the ones on the ground. Kid, Robin concentrate on the flyers."

"On it," Kid says as he begins resonating with the girls and his pistols begin their transformation to cannons.

"Soul Resonance," she directs and we begin to sync ourselves with one another. That bizarre heat occurs and I could kick myself for forgetting to suggest that we talk to Kid about it, but at least we've gotten used to it enough to be able to ignore it. We charge at a clump of bird people on the ground. Tsubaki steps back to get out of the way as we use Witch Hunter to slice through half of them. One of the bird people only gets grazed by our attack, but as he reacts to it Tsubaki is given a golden opportunity to attack and she literally jumps on it. Knocking the bird person to the ground and pummeling him with the handle of the sai.

Kid concentrates his efforts on the blue beaked one positioning both his arm cannons to blast it out of the sky. The attack hits and the bird is vaporized leaving only its soul floating slowly down toward the earth. A few more flyers attempt to retreat, but Robin shoots them and his arrows easily find their mark knocking two more birds from the sky. The final flyer descends but remains in the air trying to attack Maka, but Kid pivots and shots it with a rain of his soul wave 'bullets' and as quickly as it began the battle is over.

Liz appears and stretches like she tends to after being in weapon form for an extended period of time. "That, my friends, is how you kick ass. You get in there, shoot to kill, and don't do any of this talking bullshit. It's a waste of precious resources." Patti laughs and transforms right in Kid's hand so he goes from holding a pistol to having Patti's ass in his hand. He turns red and sets her on the ground.

"I disagree, sis. I think Kid's speeches do a good job of unnerving the enemy."

"No, you just like when he talks because you think he has a sexy voice and you enjoy when he takes charge."

"Well…yeah," Patti says blushing slightly as she smiles at her meister who says nothing but looks at her with what I think people would call 'bedroom eyes'. "We gonna go bust Geoffrey and Black*Star out now?" she asks him grabbing his arm excitedly.

"Yes, but first let's come up with a plan," Kid tells her.

We hear the sound of an engine and we see Brian driving the motorcycle over to meet us. He's a little small and unsure of himself, but he's doing a decent job with it.

"Wow," he says as he pulls up. "You guys kicked ass." Then after a pause he continues, "Who the hell are you two?" Brian asks Tsubaki and Robin.

I leave Maka to do the introductions as I walk from demon soul to demon soul happily gulping them down. It's nice to actually be able to eat souls again. It's been too long. Brian watches me for a moment before wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I told you. Soul eating is gross," Liz reminds him. "But it's Soul's signature thing. It doesn't feel like a victory unless it's followed by the sound of him chomping down a bunch of kishin eggs."

The archer extends a hand to Brian. "My real name isn't Robin, but everyone calls me that. Patti came up with it since I'm an archer and enjoy the company of 'merry men'," the meister says with a wink, but Brian totally ignores his hand, his eyes glued to Tsubaki. Tsubaki is wearing a shirt that has a hole cut in it to reveal her cleavage which is glistening with sweat from her recent exertion and it is clearly too much for our young friend to handle.

"So, you're Black*Star's woman, huh?" Brian asks and every head in the room whirls toward Tsubaki to see if she's going to blow up at that phrase we know she dislikes, but she doesn't seem pissed off like she did when the assassin himself said it to her.

"I wouldn't use those words," Tsubaki says sweetly, her hands clasped in front of her. "But, he and I have…had been partners for a long time…"

The ten year-old continues undaunted his eyes staring directly at her tits. It's obvious to me he's being a hornball, but Tsubaki continues to be polite either because she's too damn nice or because she's so talk she is used to everyone staring at her chest when they speak to her. "I met him before him and Hoover-"

"_Harvar_," Maka corrects him.

"Yeah, whatever," the young weapon continues. "Got captured. He really misses you."

"Oh, he does? That's so nice of you to say," she says reaching out to hug him. She pulls him towards her and he burrows into her ginormous bosom. "I miss him something awful."

"Black*Star told me to make sure to take care of you if I found you, so I've been on a mission to find you," he bullshits. "I'm a Demon Weapon, too." I swear I can see him salivating as he stares at her tits and his hands are creeping down towards her ass.

"Well, now that we all know each other, we've got to get down to business," I say loudly as I grab the runt's shoulders and attempt to peel him away from Tsubaki's breasts. He continues to try to cling to them, but with some effort I manage to successfully pry him away and drag him a few feet away from the assembled group of DWMA students.

I smack the back of his head and in a low voice scold him, "You remember what I told you?"

"Aw, she's way too nice to nuke me," he whispers back. He doesn't even try to deny the fact he was totally trying to cop a feel.

"Yeah, well you remember Black*Star, the assassin? _ He's_ not too nice to hurt you and he hits first and thinks later so it won't matter that you're just a little kid. He _will _hurt you."

"For a sight of that rack it'd be worth it."

I groan. We need to find this kid a job and fast otherwise while we're working to save the world he'll have nothing better to do than scheme up ways to see all our girlfriends naked.

We give ourselves a couple more minutes to catch our breath before we get back down to business. It turns out that Robin has been in the area for a couple days casing the place in an attempt to come up with a plan to bust his boyfriend, Geoffrey, out along with any other DWMA students being held there.

"I quit checking in with school because I didn't want Lord Death ordering me to leave without getting Geoffrey back. I couldn't leave him here," Robin explains.

"Well, at this point none of us need to worry what my father thinks," Kid says quickly.

Patti straightens her back and salutes Kid. "That's right! My meister has assumed all duties and responsibilities of Lord Death in the absence of his father."

Robin and Tsubaki's eyes grow large. "Absence? You mean he's not at school? What happened to your father?" Tsubaki cries.

"He has been captured," Kid says grimly. "However, there is no reason to panic; I'm confident that this will prove only to be a temporary arrangement. He's still alive. Had he been killed I would sense it and as I haven't felt anything like that he must still be alive and simply being held somewhere until we are able to go and free him."

Robin stares at the reaper. "Does this mean I have to stop calling you 'DK' because I think it suits you so much better than 'Lord Death'. I'm not sure that I can stop myself from calling you that…and maybe a little harmless flirting from time to time." Before Robin started dating Geoffrey, he had asked Kid out. Neither one of them has ever told me or Maka the details of how Kid went about turning Robin down, but however it happened, it seemed to only make them better friends.

"Oh, I wouldn't be lucky enough to have something happen that would stop you and the girls from flirting with me. Don't worry. No one has to do or act any differently, except that I'm in charge and we do what I say as there is no one higher up to confer with and I say that we take the compound today. The sooner the better so I can then begin planning for my father's rescue."

Patti's eyes flutter as she watches her meister and she stands on tiptoes whispering something to her older sister who nods in agreement.

"Robin and Tsubaki, what do you know about the facility?"

"Oh, I don't know anything," Tsubaki says apologetically. "I just ran into Robin this morning…or rather almost got killed by him," she mutters under her breath.

"Yeah, sorry, about that! Guess I'm a little bow-happy these days," the archer acknowledges. "You know how I get when Geoffrey isn't around."

"So, Robin tell us what _you_ know about the facility and the forces here."

"Sounds good, you got something I can use to draw a schematic?" He asks. Our friend has obviously used his time well as he has all kinds of intel about the facility that we didn't know including that there isn't a ton of security guarding the compound.

"In truth, other than the five head honchos they mainly rely on their obscure location and the locals to protect them."

"The locals?" Maka asks.

"Seems that this area was kind of a slum in the past…with little work for the people, but Avian Flu changed that. Most of the people around here are somehow employed by Avian Flu or benefit from Avian Flu. The group is amazingly well loved for a highly militarized organization."

"So, are you saying that a bunch of people with torches and pitchforks are going to come after us if we wreck the place?" Liz asks.

"Something like that," Robin continues. "Though I think instead of pitchforks and torches it'd be guns and some motorized lances they have. They look really wicked kind of like a catapult with a crank powered arm, but I haven't seen them in action. There are a couple parked around the nearest town."

"Do you know anything about where our friends are being held?"

"No, I haven't been able to figure out where they are at and I have a suspicion that a great deal of the compound is located underground. It's very possible that the five buildings are connected to one another by tunnels, but I have no confirmation of that."

Robin's map reveals that there are five separate buildings. He's identified one as the gymnasium and one as some kind of office building, but the others he's not sure of their function.

"Smack dab in the center they have a huge open space. I'm guessing they use it as a place to practice duels or maneuvers, but it's painted like a helipad so they may also use it as a Launchpad when needed. The entire place is surrounded by a chain link fence with barbed wire, but there are places where the fence isn't that well maintained. It shouldn't be a problem for us to get in. My only worry is how many enemies might come pouring out of those buildings or the nearby town once they realize they are under attack."

"So, what do you think we should do?" Maka asks the group.

"I vote we take out the big five. That will make a lot of the lesser demons panic. Some might even split, then we explore till we find our friends," I suggest.

"I think we should split up and have one team trying to find and free our friends while others try to take out the leaders. Best case scenario we end up with more people to help us gain control of the place."

"I think it depends a lot on the skill level of the people we have to fight."

"And how we group ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Robin, have you tried wielding Tsubaki?" Kid asks.

"Yeah, but no dice, man. I can't do it."

"Not at all?"

"No and not for lack of trying. Black*Star's clearly got something I don't."

"Like balls," Brian mutters.

"Excuse me?!" Robin glares across the group at our new recruit.

"I didn't say anything," the young weapon lies.

"Like hell you didn't!" Robin says outraged.

"Brian, quit being an assbag," Liz orders. "I know it's hard for you to comprehend this but we're one big team here and you gotta treat everyone with respect. Besides, that we're all friends so you insult one of us you've insulted all of us. Right, guys?"

"Right," we all say and Brian rolls his eyes.

"Fine, I didn't mean anything by it, I was messing with ya, Robin, but I can't believe you keep talking about your boyfriend all the time. Shouldn't that be something private? The rest of us don't want to hear about that perverted crap."

Robin's face is full of outrage. "Why is it that because you're straight you can be a perverted little creeper, but since I'm gay you think I can't talk about the man I love?"

"I just think it's weird."

"And who put you in charge, little man? Having Geoffrey captured by Avian Flu has been the absolutely most devastating thing that's happened to me. It's no different than it is for Tsubaki."

Tsubaki raises her hand slightly, "Except, technically I'm not Black*Star's girlfriend or anything. There always seems to be a bit of confusion on that point, but Black*Star and I are-"

"Stupid for each other," I say. "Now, Brian, here is what you're gonna do. You're gonna shut your trap about people's personal lives and keep your hands off the girls and we're gonna see if you can actually be of some use."

"Soul!" Maka starts to scold me for my sharpness, but I glare at her. Someone needs to put this brat in place and Liz can only do so much because he's got no respect for chicks.

"Robin, see if you can wield Brian."

"No way. I'm not partnering with some homophobic ass. I'll be more effective with my bow, anyway." Robin argues.

"But, how many arrows you got left, Hood?" I challenge him and he twists to look in his quiver. He only has four arrows. I completely understand why he doesn't want the runt to be his partner. If I were a meister I wouldn't want him as my partner either, but this is an emergency situation and sacrifices must be made.

"Come on," Maka encourages. "I know you want to do whatever it takes to get Geoffrey back. So, just try it."

"Hey, don't I have some say in this?" Brian asks. "I don't want him touching-"

"_No_," Kid says simply. "You don't have _any _say. We've fed you and watched over you and put up with your sexist and rude remarks to the best of our ability. _We aren't asking_. You are getting an order from the new Headmaster of the very special, elite academy you plan on attending and that order is to transform and let Robin see if he can use you as a weapon. You're a demon weapon and he's a meister without a usable weapon. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out."

"He's got his bow," Brian says weakly.

"_Now_, Brian," Kid says as the Thompsons transform into pistols.

"Two can play at that game," Brian says transforming into his AK-47 form in an attempt to look more intimidating but Robin uses it as an opportunity to try to lift the young weapon and he finds himself picking up the machine gun easily.

Robin grimaces as he stands there holding the automatic rifle. "Oh, dammit. How the fuck can I be more compatible with you than with Tsubaki? That's crazy."

"Hey, I'm not happy about it either," Brian says and I fear he is going to end the statement with a very inflammatory term, but he says nothing more and the group lets out a collective sigh of relief.

"All right. Here's the plan. Robin's identified that the leaders have some kind of mid-morning meeting. I think we attack then. Maka and Soul, I think you need to just run around and try to figure out where the captives are. You're fast and skilled. Robin with Brian as his weapon will come with me to take out the leaders."

"What should I do?" Tsubaki says.

"I want you with me," Kid says. "If we start getting overwhelmed Patti and Liz can wield each other and I can use you."

"How do we want to go about getting in?" Maka asks. "It looks like we could scale the fence or blow it up at the southeastern corner."

"I think we use the bike," Kid says.

"You're gonna trash the bike?!" I say. I haven't bonded with this one like I did with Brunnie, but it seems such a waste of a lovely motorized transport.

"Yes, they won't be expecting it. Soul, you drive it and Maka you sit on the back wielding Brian."

"We come in like a tank blasting the place," I say nodding.

"Yes," Kid says.

"Kid, you sure you haven't been playing too many video games?" Liz asks. "This doesn't sound like a typical DWMA plan."

Kid nods and smiles at his weapon partners. "That, my dears, is intentional. Because these…evildoers have accessed our archives they know what we are taught and the strategies we typically rely on, therefore, when in doubt we are going to not do things the normal way. Other than using soul resonance we are going to do this in a very guerrilla, gangsta, kind of way."

Patti claps with delight and squeals Kid's name.

Kid averts his eyes as he turns red. "We only have an hour. Maka and Robin practice with Brian. Tsubaki I need you to practice with me. Soul, you'll be our look out."

"What are we supposed to do?" Liz asks and Kid smiles.

"Just be yourselves and that will be enough."

"That's a bullshit answer if I ever heard one," Liz complains.

"That was a complement!" Kid shouts in exasperation. "That was me saying that you are helpful just as you are and that there isn't a single thing I would change about either of you."

"Then why are you yelling at us?" Liz asks and Patti echoes her big sister's comment.

"Because you are so damned infuriating! You want a job, fine! Figure out a job for yourselves."

"We already have," Patti says. "We're going to watch you work with Tsubaki and point out everything you're doing wrong."

"Yes, constructive criticism is important, right, Kid?" Liz asks.

The substitute Lord Death turns to me and whispers, "Why, Soul, why?"

"You chose 'em," I whisper back smirking at him.

"I don't know why," he mumbles.

"I do." My smirk grows into a grin.

"I do _not_ have feelings for them!" he whispers loudly at me.

"Oh, I didn't mean that. I meant that you're a masochist. And, yes, you have a ton of feelings for them. For _both_ of them."

"Soul, shut up," Kid orders as he marches away holding out his hand and shouting for Tsubaki to come transform.


	49. Chap 49: Change Isn't Always Inevitable

_**Risenfromash: **_This is a super long chapter compared to my others, hence why it's taken me a while to get this one posted. I could mess around with it for a while longer, but I'm ready to move the story forward and you are probably wanting that, too, so, sit back and get comfy or split it in two with the first part ending as they head to the Avian Flu compound.

_**Chapter 49: Change isn't Always Inevitable; First Times for Everything?**_

Instead of feeling the horrible sick feeling I used to whenever Maka wielded another weapon I enjoy watching her as she teaches Brian the most basic lessons a demon weapon needs to know. He's a total punk, but I think he'll end up fitting in ok at the DWMA.

Kid is trying hard to be an effective team with Tsubaki and admittedly he is doing better than he did in class with Harvar or Jacqueline, but it still looks like a disaster.

Patti and Liz give up on attempting to coach their meister. Patti heads to her bag to rummage around it for something and Liz comes over to talk to me.

"I'll trade you," Liz says. "You can go coach Maka and the brat. I'll take a turn as look out."

"You giving up on helping Kid and Tsubaki?"

She nods. "Kid is hopeless when he isn't paired with me and Patti. Look. He's actually hitting himself with her." She shakes her head. "I guess it's a good thing that Lord Death's job is rarely on the battlefield because I would weep for the future if he was supposed to save us all."

"Well, he'll have you guys, right?"

Liz sighs, "Not if he doesn't grow some balls."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell Patti, ok?" Liz says nervously as she watches her younger sister munching on a snack she pulled out of her bag.

"Sure."

"I've gotten some hints from Lord Death that when you ascend to the lordship, or whatever the hell you call it, that you're supposed to be free from…entanglements."

Liz has a tendency to look bitchy, but at this moment all I can see is pain on her face.

"I'm sorry."

She shrugs as though it's no big, "I'm more worried about Kid. He needs somebody you know? He tries to be a lone wolf, but he's way too needy."

"Yeah."

"I'm just hoping the rules might get bent a little for Patti. I think they're good together."

"What about you?"

"I land on my feet," she says with a bitter edge to her voice.

"Yeah, but..." I don't know what to say. It sounds like there is more going on at the Death mansion than some light hearted sexual tension. There might actually be something more to all of Kid's denial and the mixed signals he gives his partners. "Have you talked to him about any of this?"

"No. I haven't figured out how to bring it up. But after this little episode I guess I'll have to." She cringes as she sees Kid clumsily swinging Tsubaki. She shakes her head and suddenly turns to me smiling. "But what the hell am I doin' bitchin' to you about our problems? Get over there and make sure the perv isn't molesting your meister."

"Thanks," I jog across the field to where Maka and Brian are practicing. It's odd to see Maka's techniques with a gun in her hand.

"Soul, tell me a target," Maka orders.

"Piece of shiny litter. 3 o'clock." She turns and shoots. She misses but I'm impressed by how speedy she was about turning to the target and she at least got in its vicinity. Really, it's not too bad for having virtually no practice.

"My backpack over by the bike." Oh, that was dumb…why the fuck would I want her to shoot my bag or the bike. Shit! I could really use some more sleep. When we get back to DC I'm skipping class for a whole week. It's not like they'd expel me… I wish I could convince Maka to skip with me. I swear that'd be the most awesome thing she could ever do for me…cut class and just hang out and do nothing with me for a whole day. No training, no reading, just hanging out and sleeping.

I close my eyes in fear of the devastation I will see as a result of my poorly chosen target, but then I hear cheering. "Got it!" Maka exclaims happily. So much for my only other pants and the other stuff in my backpack. I'm just relieved she didn't hit the bike. That would have been bad.

My meister hands Robin Brian. "Ok, you try. I want to talk to Soul for a few minutes." I watch as Maka and Brian instruct the lanky archer on how to properly hold a machine gun. I'm guessing Hood isn't an action movie fan or he'd already know.

"Ugh! I don't know if I can do this! Even before Geoffrey I was an archer. I don't know anything about using a gun!"

Maka pats him on the shoulder. "You'll be just fine. Brian's doing most of the work you just need to hold him steady and aim him. Don't worry." The lanky archer nods.

"I'll try my best, that's all you can do, right?" he says psyching himself up.

"Right," Maka and I encourage.

"I just don't want to let Kid and Lord Death down," the professional archer admits his head hanging downward.

"You won't," Maka tells him. "You're not only a great archer, you're an amazing meister."

He puts a hand on his heart and mouths the words, "Thank you" to my meister and she smiles.

"It's not lip service. You're good, Robin. Sometime we need to duel."

"Sure, but with our real partners."

"Absolutely," I say. "But, we'll take you and Geoffrey down just so you know. We don't pull punches for no one."

Robin grins. "You guys are going down."

"That's the spirit," I say wrapping an arm around my meister.

"I'm just glad there isn't a mirror," Robin says shaking his head. "I think I'd die if I could see how stupid I look right now."

"You do look kinda dumb," I say and Maka glares at me. "But don't worry. It's not gonna matter how you look. Everybody is gonna be running the other way when they see you and your BFG."

Maka and I turn from the meister and his novice, temporary partner.

"You're doing better than I expected," I admit to her as we walk away.

"Yeah, me, too. Brian's actually a fast learner."

"Did you have to hit him?" I ask.

"Only twice."

"That's not too bad," I admit.

"I don't think he's into tiny tits," she says grinning at me.

"Well, then he doesn't know what he's missing…" I cup her head in my hands and kiss her not caring who sees.

"Soul," she says turning red. "Not in front of our friends."

I shrug. "They all know."

"Yeah, well…I still get embarrassed."

"Ok, then let's go somewhere private," I whisper huskily in her ear. She looks so hot all determined and focused like this.

"Shouldn't we be training?" she asks uncertainly.

"Probably," I admit. "But…" I pull her into the shadows of a big tree. "I think we both need this. Today's gonna…" My voice trails off. I don't have words for what will be happening. There are so many unknowns. At this point it's hard to imagine what the next day will bring. I'd never expected any of this. We're in fucking Mexico and Lord Death has been captured. What the hell is going on these days? And what exactly do these stupid Avian Flu people even want? You'd think that they'd be trying to contact Kid to make some kind of demand or gloat over their capture of our leader or some shit.

"Don't worry, Soul. We know our stuff and there are plenty of us here. It's not like when it's just been you and me."

I nod. "Just don't do anything _too_ awfully stupid. Ok?"

"When have I _ever _done anything stupid?" She says with that teasing grin.

"I recall a time you sucked on the top of an enemy's head mid-duel." I counter.

She laughs merrily as though that's a routine part of every battle. "That was Crona; that doesn't count. Besides, it all worked out in the end."

"Which made it fucking _brilliant_, but if it had failed it would have been just plain stupid." I hug her.

She runs her fingers thru my obnoxiously out of control hair. "I don't know why you're lecturing me. It was you that pulled me back from madness that time. You had more to do with our success than me."

I rest my chin on the top of her head. "I guess sometimes I just worry that we're like cats and only have so many lives before our luck runs out."

"It won't run out today." She says it with such confidence that my doubts melt away.

"Well, good, because I'm actually missing having Black*Star for soul collecting competition. His trash talking keeps me motivated. Where we at anyways?"

"I think we're back at thirty-seven, maybe thirty-nine... I can't remember exactly." I groan. What's it been now, three or four times, that we've failed to bag a witch and have had to start over? I never would have thought getting _one_ witch soul would be so damn hard.

"I didn't realize you were lacking motivation. I guess I'm not a very good meister."

"Naw, you're awesome. I'm just lazy. You know that. If it weren't for them having our friends here I might have decided to sit this one out."

"You are such a bad liar. You know you would do any mission Lord Death sent you on."

"I don't know about that," I say honestly.

"Well, now that Kid is Lord Death you will."

I nod. Of course, I will do anything Kid needs me to do. With Kid it's all more than school and career it's friendship, too. "Which reminds me. We need to look at the bike. How are you gonna ride backwards while shooting? You won't have anything to hang on to." She chews her lip which means she's not sure.

"Come on, let's go figure this out. I don't want you to fall off." As we examine the bike trying to figure out how to give Maka some stability on the bike I survey the scene to see what everyone is doing.

Robin and Brian are continuing to practice and at the moment they appear to be bickering with one another, but the argument doesn't look heated enough for anyone to need to intervene. Tsubaki has found a shady spot to sit in and is drinking water from her canteen and snacking on something near Patti, but Kid and Liz appear to be absent.

"I think Brian really likes you," Maka tells me pulling me back to what I'm supposed to be doing.

"Is that good?"

"I think so. He could learn a lot from you. I think you two should-"

"No way! When all this settles down I'm not spending my free time mentoring some creepy pipsqueak. I'm gonna be busy with you, video games, basketball, and getting caught up on _Skeletoxin."_

"I'm sure he'd enjoy doing some of those things _with_ you." She says it sweetly in an attempt to butter me up.

I frown. "You missed the part about you."

"Sure, we'll spend time together."

"_Lots_ of time," I whisper in her ear. "Special _alone_ time."

She laughs. "Soul, you're so silly. Before long you will be tired of having me around all the time."

I give her a squeeze. "I'm not convinced of that."

She looks down at her watch. "Crap. It's almost time."

Patti skips over to us. "You 'bout ready?"

"Yeah, but where're your sister and Kid?"

"They went for a 'walk'," she says winking at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask genuinely confused.

"It's the kind of walk you and Maka take, where you disappear into the shadows for a while and come back later grinning and with your shirt untucked."

"Patti, my shirt is always untucked and Maka and I have been known to go on real walks, occasionally."

"Well, I don't think Liz and Kid do."

"Patti, I think you exaggerate things about-"

"Oh, look here they come," Patti says pointing to shadows from which Liz and Kid, in full reaper regalia, are emerging.

"Wow, Kid!" Patti says cartwheeling over to him. "I didn't know you had it with you."

"I always have it with me, I just usually prefer not to wear it, but given that these _vial creatures_ have taken my father they need to know that they have not disrupted the functioning of the DWMA and that we are still a viable organization."

"_Are_ we a viable organization?" Patti asks.

"We will be doing everything in our power to be one and it is important that we give that appearance to Avian Flu."

Robin gets in the sidecar and then Tsubaki gets in, changing into weapon form to save space. Maka climbs on the bike behind me placing one of her feet on the bar that holds the sidecar in place.

"You sure you're stable enough like that?" I ask her nervously.

"Soul, I'm fine. Just because I have a tendency to fall off of things like buildings and bridges-"

"And down our stairs," I interrupt her.

"That was one time. You've fallen down our stairs once, too, you know."

"Yes, and I was shit-faced. _You_ were completely sober when you did it."

"There was a patch of ice."

"In July?" I shake my head. That girl will never admit that she sometimes she has clumsy days where it's all she can do not to trip over those sexy, long legs of hers.

She gets herself positioned and I hand Brian to her.

"Maka, do you drink?" Brian asks. "Cause I know how to make this killer Tequila Sunrise."

I stare down at the weapon Maka is now holding. "You make alcoholic drinks?" I'm appalled. He cusses, he's more pervy than the rest of us guys combined, and now I find out he has what sounds like an extensive knowledge of adult beverages. What next? Am I gonna find out he fathered a child a few years back? Good Lord, we need to rehabilitate this kid fast.

I sling my leg over the bike. "Ok, Brian, now behave yourself. I assure you this is the one and only time you will be between my meister's legs."

Maka hits me, but I catch her hand and hold it as we wait for the rest of the group to do their final preparations.

Brian continues to blabber on about alcohol. "Yeah, in the off season they'd stick me under the bar and I'd mix drinks and hand them up to the bartender to give to the customer. Drunk people aren't super observant so it was easy to work a little magic and make it seem like they had the fastest best bartender around. I made decent money too. My favorites are mudslides, sex on the beach, grasshop-"

"Your favorites?!" I shout. "You aren't an alcoholic are you?" I have a sudden fear of us going out on a limb for our new recruit just to discover that he has a worse addiction problem than the bum who's always slumped over in front of the _The Lucky Pumpkin Saloon_ in DC.

Kid extends his hand and his skateboard materializes. "Ladies, you ready?"

"Yeah, but you sure you want to wear that thing?" Liz asks.

"It is an honor…and an obligation. I'll be fine. Just remember, it's still me under here, all right?" He says smiling at his weapon partners. He starts to pull down the mask but Patti reaches up and places her hand on it on the way down and gives him a kiss on the cheek. He smiles and for the briefest of moments their eyes meet before a slightly redder reaper hides his face behind his skull mask.

As soon as his face is covered he says, "Soul, you got the bike all ready?"

"Yup," I nod. It's going to be a shame to wreck her, but using her as an offensive vehicle will be worth it if we can manage to knock out some of the bird people with Maka's soul wavelength.

"Ok, everyone ready?"

The group lets out a whoop.

"After you, Soul." Kid says bowing like an attendant at a fancy dress party.

"Make way for Lord Death!" Maka and I shout as we begin to fly across the remaining miles between us and Avian Flu's compound.

I run through the plan a final time in my mind as we approach the compound even though the plan in theory is damn simple. First, we ram the front gate. Robin uses his bow and remaining arrows to take out the couple of sentries at the gate. I pull into the compound and do a three-sixty while Maka uses Brian to clear the field of any enemies meanwhile Kid and the Thompsons head for the meeting of Avian Flu commanders that's held in the office building on the north side of the compound. I ditch the bike and Maka grabs me as she hands Brian off to Robin. Then the two of them along with Tsubaki will join Kid's team in annihilating the compound's higher ups while Maka and I rove around looking for our friends and to find clues to the organization's plans and motives.

"That's it," Robin tells me.

I scan the horizon and see a bunch of ugly concrete buildings in the distance on my left hand side.

"K, everybody we gotta move fast, cause they're gonna see us," I shout.

From Robin's feet I hear Tusbaki say a prayer that Black*Star is ok and my soul echoes it. That asshole better be just like he was or I'm gonna be a fucking wreck. I love all my friends, but who else can I get really stupidly drunk with or stay up till three am playing video games with?

We approach the gate and I get butterflies in my stomach. What if we get trapped in the chain link? What if they shoot us? What if we get inside and Black*Star and our other friends aren't there?

"Soul, it's gonna be ok," my meister says and I feel a hand tenderly caress my back.

"What are you doing? Hold on to your weapon and the bike! Are you crazy?"

"Calm down, Soul. Black*Star's fine."

"How do you know?"

"Cause I just found his soul."

"Oh." I feel silly. I forgot she could do that. Sometimes, I forget she has these more obscure superpowers while all I can do is turn myself into a scythe.

"Alright, I'm standing up," Robin says.

"What the fuck? You're gonna stand?"

"Don't worry, Soul. I used to do this on the back of horses."

Robin carefully stands up in the sidecar and aims his bow and loads an arrow.

"Ok, guys, I'm lining us up. Kid, you good?"

"Right behind you."

On either side of the gate there is a guard. I can't tell what they are armed with. I'm focusing on the gate. If I can hit it just right I can get the chain link to simply crumple yanking the gate off its hinges, but I gotta hit it _just _right…I hold my breath. I've done some crazy things on Brunnie. Maka and I have ridden in all kinds of conditions, I've driven up and down staircases, through crowded marketplaces, across sand so hot it threatened to melt the tires, but I have _never_ done anything like this.

I pray that Kid's physics lessons have paid off and that I can really bust through this thing, because not only will it make for a dramatic entrance it will get us well on our way to having the upper hand in the conflict.

I start counting down to the impact. Robin takes his shots at each of the guards and as the arrows whiz through the air, I shout the numbers out seven…six…five…four…three…two…ONE!

The bike impacts the gate and makes a horrible sound as it yanks and twists metal on its mission to get through and then we lurch forward with part of the gate scraping across the tops of our heads.

I feel blood leaking from the cut as I send the bike into its turn. We see people, some more bird like than others, come pouring from the rooms.

Maka, her skull necklace glowing, showers the area with soul wave 'bullets' and then I hear the Demon Twin Weapons begin their rhytmic banging. The air is filled with what sounds like a drum regiment having some kind of seizure.

"One more time, Soul!" Maka shouts to me and I spin us one more time. I hear Robin moan and complain that this is worse than a roller coaster and Tsubaki say that she's glad she can't see anything.

"Are there a lot of them?" she asks.

"Yeah, but don't worry. There won't be for long," I say.

The demons are a blur and I hope there are no innocent people here because _everyone_ is getting pelted by Maka. Brian is hooting and hollering. It is obvious that this is his calling.

"Maka, you're amazing!" I hear him say in awe of my meister's shooting.

"None of that now," I shout back to him.

"Soul, he was just complimenting me!" Maka says as she blasts the chest of a particularly intimidating bird person.

"That's how it starts, Maka. _ I_ of all people should know. K, we ready to ditch?"

"Yes, please!" Robin moans sounding nauseous and I'm glad we don't expect him to do any more sharpshooting because I'm guessing none of us will be able to walk in a straight line for a while.

I dump the bike and as planned Maka hands Brian to Robin while Tsubaki jumps out of the sidecar in human form and begins fighting a couple of nearby birds. A few have started taking to the skies and I look overhead.

"Soul, let's find Black*Star and Geoffrey. They're over this way somewhere." I almost ask how she knows and then I realize that she probably pinpointed them before she went postal on the compound. She begins using me to hack and slash through every demon between her and a building with a door labeled '3A'.

"Maka, you sure you want to go in there alone?" I ask her already knowing the answer.

"I'm not alone. I've got you."

I smile. "Fair enough."

She creeps up to the door and gives it a yank before jumping in with me at the ready, but instead of a hiding enemy we find only an empty stairwell leading down to an ominous dark area.

"Creepy," I say happily. "Let's go check it out."

"Already on it," she says running down the stairs. We can still hear the rain of bullets from the others, but here it seems surreal because it's so empty. It has an abandoned, hollow feeling. The stairs continue down but we've reached the first subfloor labeled 'B1'.

She cautiously approaches the door and opens it finding a hallway with a bunch of doors. Maka throws each door open, but there is nothing of any significance. Office supplies, a meeting room with a table, chairs, and a chalkboard…another room with a bunch of chairs…cleaning supplies…

"Maybe this building is just storage," I say.

"No, I sense there is something here. We just need to go further down." We return to the stairs and descend another floor. The next floor, 'B2', starts out much the same, but at the end of the hall there is a windowless door that is locked and is labeled 'Strategic Planning'.

"We need to get in there," Maka states.

"OK. We can take that door down. It doesn't look especially strong."

"I don't want you to get hurt." She says it not with the whimpering of a lovesick teenager, but a meister calculating that sacrificing her weapon at this point in the game isn't ideal.

"Then don't take the whole door down, just cut a hole so you can reach through and unlock it."

"Good idea."

She backs up and swings me like an ax and I hack a hole into the wooden door and she carefully reaches through and unlocks the door. Stepping into the room, at first I think that there's nothing special here. It's just another messy office space. There a couple tall metal file cabinets, a bookcase with some medical and science text books, and a big oak desk at the far end of the room that is covered in papers but then my eyes land on the bulletin board behind the desk and see what is pinned up all over it. It's covered with the names and photos of hundreds of DWMA students.

"What the…?!" I say transforming out of weapon form. I dash over to the board. Maka's green eyes have attracted my attention as they stare back at me from a copy of her student ID photo pinned to the board. The photo is mounted on a card with various info creating a profile of her. Below her name is listed her height, weight, and blood type followed by her relatives and their skills and attacks. The special attacks we do when resonating together are listed as well as her soul perception and her extensive knowledge of various meistering techniques. They even mention her exposure to Black Blood through her partnership with me. A section called 'personality traits' lists her as being hard-working, loyal, well-read, brave, and opinionated. Then it says, "Current weapon partner: Soul Eater Evans- to be eliminated _Future Partner: Justin Law_." Below the typed profile handwritten in red ink are the words, "Apprehension _top priority_. Generation of Enlightenment: Mother. _Resistance will be above average._ Bonded Level 1A to Soul Eater. Also bonded with Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Black*Star, Liz and Patti Thompson"

I rip the card off the wall. I am enraged. They have attempted to reduce her spirit and talents to a three by five card.

"Maka," I turn to her. She has tears in her eyes as she is looking at a poster listing names. I see mine as well as Patti's and at the top it is titled, "Rejected Hopefuls Scheduled For Elimination." I see the names of friends and people I don't know. A few have been crossed out and a date marked beside them. Harvar's name has been crossed out and then circled with the word 'escaped' written across it in lopsided letters pressed hard into the paper. Someone was not pleased he got away with his life.

"This is horrific…she says backing away from the list."

I nod. Do I show her the card in my hand? I think not. I go to stuff it in my pocket, but she sees it and snatches it from me before I can.

"Justin Law?! What does this Enlightenment bullshit mean?" she asks me.

"I'm not sure."

"Soul, grab that poster and all the cards you can reach," she starts flipping through files on the desk. "We should take these, too."

I look around for anything to stuff the papers into. All I can manage to find is a wire waste can and I start tossing files in it like crazy. She runs over and pulls down more of the profiles from the wall.

"We don't have time to get them all. Just grab what you-"I hear something from the hall. "Maka," I grab her hand and pull her next to a tall metal file cabinet. I transform into weapon form, but she points to how big that makes me. I'm visible, so I have to switch back to human form. I hold her hand and wrap myself around her. Worst case scenario I can shield her from an attack in human form. I know she doesn't like hiding, but it's our best option till we get a sense of whether the person is alone or not.

The person enters the room. My heart is beating like crazy. This person will not have missed the damage to the door and that things look torn apart in the office. It's obvious they office has been compromised.

"I know you're in here…Maka Albarn," a man's voice says. "You couldn't have gotten past me in the stairwell. We've been expecting you. We have great plans for you. You will be a mother of the Generation of Enlightenment. I know you want to know what that means and to learn what an honor it is to have been selected. Why don't you come out so we can discuss things like mature adults?" We hear the speaker take a few more steps into the room. "I know you are either under the desk or hiding by the file cabinet. I'd say that there is a sixty-five percent chance you are using the file cabinet for cover and a thirty-five percent chance that you are relying on the desk. You'll have to pardon me. I'm a bit of a statistics nerd."

This is bad. We are trapped. Our only option is to jump out and attack. We ready ourselves. When she jumps out I'm going to have to act fast to transform as she starts to swing me.

"Soul, you're here, too, aren't you? I'm sorry that you've been deemed unworthy. I tried to convince the council of your potential but they are such traditionalists that not having a traceable lineage was a major black mark against you. That and those piss poor grades of yours. It's really amazing that Maka puts up with your slacking." The man takes a dramatic pause, presumably to see if he has hit a nerve that is sensitive enough to cause us to reveal ourselves, but my meister and I resist saying or doing anything other than continuing to hide out of sight next to the file cabinet.

"Is it true that Soul doesn't even know who his father is? _So sad_. Things like that won't be happening any more with Avian Flu in power. There will be order like never before. Everyone will be paired with the person that best helps them to serve the world. Unlike Maka who right now has done a poor job in choosing a weapon partner, but that is a mistake that can easily be fixed."

This guy's remarks aren't getting under my skin, at least not yet, because I've heard it all before. Rumors have existed for years related to my red eyes and pale skin. When I was in grade school some cruel kids claimed I was the result of a demon raping my mother. Other people have gossiped that my conception occurred during some dark ritual known only to witches and kishins. And, of course, I've heard _plenty_ of people insinuate that Maka deserves a more studious partner, but that is no longer a criticism that hurts, because time and time again I've proven myself and not to gain anyone's approval but hers. The girl who didn't care what was whispered about me and my red eyes, but treated me like a normal person worthy of love like anyone else. It's only now that I remember how alone I felt prior to her partnering with me.

"And rumor has it that your partnership has recently gone to a new level of intimacy. Really, Soul, how unprofessional of you to exploit your meister for pleasure." I can feel Maka's agitation rising. I try wiggling my fingers in her palm to remind her that no matter what this asshole says we're here together and that's all that matters, but I know that look in her eye. She is pissed.

"Shut the hell up, you bastard!" she shouts as she jumps out swinging me mid transformation. "Soul is the best weapon partner for me and he proves it every time we claim a soul together. It is your lack of compassion and love of numbers and figures that makes you fail to see that. Some things only make sense in the soul, not on paper, not with statistics."

For the first time we get a look at our adversary. He's a man in his mid to late twenties of Asian or Polynesian descent with a muscular physic and a set of magnificent white feathered wings. Unlike the other Avian Flu members we've met, he is extremely attractive. If melding with birds made most people transform into this instead of goose-stepping, long-necked weirdos I could see the appeal, as it is I think this guy was just super lucky.

"Tell us where our friends are and I'll allow you to live…for the time being," threatens my meister waving my cutting edge dangerously near him.

"Why, Maka, you seem confused. We are friends. Everyone here is your friend. Black*Star is fitting in well, as will you."

"I refuse to be brainwashed. I will never join an organization that transforms children into demons."

The expression on the man's face changes to one of disgust. "I don't know to what you refer."

"Like hell you don't. You kidnap kids and then you do something to them. You turn their souls into kishin eggs against their will."

"Are you sure it's against their will? You see that scroll on my desk? That's the list of people queuing up to have their souls melded with birds so that they can claim the skies, which was formerly only the territory of birds and gods."

"I have no need of flight. I am perfectly happy on the ground."

"And, therefore, you would deny others the choice? Tsk, tsk, Maka I thought you were more open-minded than that."

"You haven't given anyone a choice."

"That's because we are the only _logical_ choice. Avian Flu is powerful and we will redistribute the world's resources so that everyone has an equal share. In exchange, each member of the Generation of Enlightment will contribute their talents and skills to the world to the fullest extent possible. Everyone will do what they are best at and, therefore, there will be no failure. Everyone will be perfectly suited for what they do and who they do it with. For example, you will partner with Justin Law. You have amazing compatibility with one another, a fact you have neglected to notice due to your childish preoccupation with the demon bastard you currently…resonate with." He says it creepily and I get that same sick vibe I did when Falconer talked about Crona. I feel like there is a weird sick undertone to all of this, but then again maybe I only feel that way because they seem to want to kill me and pair my meister and girlfriend with a Deathscythe she hardly knows.

"I could slice your head off right now," asserts my meister with confidence.

"Are you sure of that? Would you really kill me when I have made no move to attack you?"

Her answer comes fast. "You bet. That's why I'm here. You have turned your back on humanity so we are here to claim your soul. Your soul is mine!" Despite her words, I can sense that his words have had an effect on her soul wavelength. It's more staccato than normal and I sync with it and try to guide her to a more relaxed beat. I don't fault her for questioning if killing him is the right course of action, because he doesn't appear to have a weapon and he hasn't done anything to us other than some mud-slinging. He's coming at us with an entirely different approach than Falconer, but there is no doubt this dude is evil.

The dark haired man laughs, "That isn't you. That's Soul's influence and a reflection of the poor training you have received from the DWMA, an obsolete school for thinkers of age old paradigms. Maka, join the new generation and allow yourself to be enlightened."

"Maka," I whisper to her. "We need to either attack or capture him. We don't have time for this. He's an Avian Flu member. You know what they've done: Hiro, the midget demons, Lord Death, our school, the hotel-"

As I list his organizations blights on humanity I see him doing something odd with his right hand, but he's sloppy and my meister has seen it as well.

"_Now_, Maka!" I shout and she kicks him with her front legs pushing him away from her. Then I see the glint and figure out what he's got in his hand. He's brandishing a small throwing star. That's gonna hurt like a bitch… He throws it and Maka leaps narrowly dodging the star hitting her in the chest, but then he's got another one in his hand again. He has some kind of dispenser built into his shirt that feeds them to him! Great!

Maka scrambles to get behind the desk as a throwing star hits my handle. I let out a yowl, 'cause as I predicted getting hit by one of those hurts super bad.

"Come on, Maka," the man says. "You're _making _me do this. You don't need to get hurt. We haven't hurt your friends. Wanna see?" He leans slightly back and directs his voice to the hall. "Black*Star, can you come in here please?"

My best friend wanders in casually and then sees us and runs over to in front of the desk. "Maka, Soul, is that what all that noise was? When did you guys get here? And why are you bleeding?"

"Cause we're getting you out of here and have met some resistance," my meister explains.

"Oh, you must have misunderstood. This is Ling," Black*Star motions to the man. "But I call him Ramen. He's my buddy."

"Black*Star, you fucking idiot," I greet my old pal. "This guy is trying to kill me and turn Maka into some kind of…I don't know, weapon breeder or something. It's disgusting. We're getting you out of here. This is all very weird. You see that don't you, buddy?"

Black*Star scratches his head. "That does sound weird. You say he used throwing stars against you? What'd you do to piss him off? Cause you really don't want to piss him off. He's cool unless you don't do what he tells you to do."

"Black*Star, what has he been telling you to do?" Maka asks.

"Hang out here. Watch some movies. Get to know this one chick, Sandra, practice my fighting-"

"None of that seems odd to you?" She asks her eyes focused on the dude and not Black*Star.

"No, not really. It's pretty much what I do at home…or did. This is my home now. Me and Sandra have a little-"

"Ugh!" Maka groans. "Do you remember fighting them? They brought you here by force. Do you remember Harvar? He told Lord Death the whole thing."

"I think it was a big misunderstanding," the assassin says.

If I weren't in weapon form I'd face palm at this point. I've never heard Black*Star use the word 'misunderstanding' in his life. Hell, that would have been a _great_ thing to say to Tsubaki a few days ago, but was that word in his vocabulary then? No, of course not. Wow, my best bro can be a _real_ winner, sometimes.

"Black*Star! You have been manipulated and brainwashed. Can't you see that?" I shout. I'm terribly upset at him and his stupidity even though I think that by default if you've been brainwashed you don't have control over your thoughts so it isn't really your fault.

"Brainwashed by who?" Black*Star asks looking around the room as though he expects the Boogeyman to suddenly appear.

"Maka, this is pointless. You know how Black*Star gets. We can knock some sense into him later. We need to take out Noodles."

My meister groans, but her eyes never leave Noodles. "You realize that the two of you are being incredibly racist, right now, don't you?"

"What? Because I called the guy who just nailed me with a throwing star 'Noodles'? Fine, I'll call him what he deserves to be called…Assbag Cock-sucking Shit for Brains Mother Fucker, my meister and I are going to take you down."

"Ok, I prefer 'Noodles'," Maka says.

"I knew you would. You can't take filthy language."

"If I couldn't take it I wouldn't last as your partner. I simply believe there are better words that you can use in place of expletives such as 'fuck'."

Noodles laughs. "See what I mean? You two are _terrible_ together? You waste so much time fighting each other, I could have run out the door!"

"Yeah, Maka, you haven't changed one bit, have you?" marvels Black*Star. "You're still super annoying and super brainy. I'm not even sure I _want_ to have you come live with us, but whatever."

Our friend starts to walk towards us.

"No, Black*Star," the Asian man says. "Only _her_."

"What? You telling me my buddy, Soul, doesn't get to hang out? But he's super cool and I _totally_ love him. I can't live without him, man. We do everything together and you gotta see him shoot hoops. He's really good for a white guy, especially a _really, really_ white one."

"He is _not_ to be enlightened," says the winged man firmly.

Black*Star looks puzzled and waggles his finger back and forth between the two of us. "So, you're breaking up Soul and Maka?"

"Maka will be paired with a far more compatible weapon."

"Then what happens to Soul?" asks the befuddled assassin.

"He will _not_ be part of the new generation."

"Yeah, and what does that mean?"

"He is to be eliminated. You may do it yourself if it makes you feel better." Oh, yes, I'm sure that Black*Star will feel better about my death if he does it himself, what kind of fucked up logic is that? These people's brains are diseased, I swear.

"Eliminated? You mean like killed?" Black*Star says as calmly as if he were considering what item to order from a menu at a restaurant.

"Yes, killed. Soul is not to be part of the Generation of Enlightenment. The council has deemed him unworthy."

I survey the scene. We are behind a huge wooden desk, much too heavy to flip. Black*Star is standing in front of the desk between us and the winged freak and _both _him and Noodles arebetween us and the door. My meister keeps looking left and right trying to decide which way to bolt when we have the chance. At some point we are just going to have to make a run for it, but Black*Star is blocking Maka from getting a good swing at Noodles.

"So, you want me to kill him," Black*Star says once again confirming what is very clear to me which is that this guy wants me dead.

"That is correct, or you may leave the room while I do it."

"Oh, no. He's my friend I guess I better do it."

I am feeling very _uncomfortable_ with this, but I'm way too proud to beg for my life even from a friend…or former friend. I can't say I know what we are now. At least, I'm in weapon form and they aren't using that purple mist crap on me, because I'm a lot more durable as a metal scythe than a dude of flesh and blood.

"What you got I can use?" Black*Star says turning to the man and holding out his hand. The man looks down to draw something from his waist and my friend kicks him in the face knocking him backward into the bookshelf.

"Maka, now!" he yells signaling us that it is our time to be on the offensive. Maka charges at the man swinging me as she goes and slices him cleanly in two as Black*Star rushes to get out of her way.

"Black*Star, I love you, man! You really had me going!" I say while transforming back into human form as I walk up to the man's soul and open my mouth.

"Aw, no worries. I can't believe that douche was gonna split you two up. Some of the people here are so stupid, but don't worry. I can get things straightened out so you both can be in the new generation or whatever. I mean, you two have gotta be together. You belong together, just like me and Sandra."

"Whose Sandra?" Maka asks giving me a wary look.

"She's my fiancée. You'll love her. She's super nice and we're super compatible like you and Soul. She's gonna help me to become greater than a god."

"Dude, you're getting married?" I ask waiting for the punch line.

"Yup. Awesome, huh?" he says patting me on the back. "Life here is pretty sweet. All we gotta do is occasionally go out on missions when they tell us to."

Maka continues to wear a look of concern upon her face. "Won't you get in trouble for us killing-"

"Naw. It's no big. I'll just tell them he was spouting old paradigm bullshit. They off people for that all the time." It's the casual way in which he says this that makes me know for sure he isn't pulling my leg. He has really changed. They've messed with my best friend's head to the point where I can't trust him anymore and my partner and I are now somewhere under the compound with no way of communicating to Kid and the others what's happened. This is not good.

I whisper to Maka, "I think we may end up needing to knock him out."

"I agree, but first let's have him give us the tour."

"Agreed."

Black*Star proceeds to lead us on a walk through a labyrinth of underground tunnels. This place seems to be easier to get lost in than the DWMA's basement which is saying a lot. I'd love to hang back some and talk to Maka about our situation but I'm worried that either Black*Star will hear us or we'll hang back too far and lose him in the twists and turns of the corridors.

Most of the hallways are plain concrete and the doors iron. It makes me think of a prison or some kind of archaic mental hospital never more so than when we pass a room where we hear some crying.

"What's in there?" Maka asks.

"Oh, that's where some of the hatchlings are kept."

"They sound upset."

"They probably are." His lack of empathy chills my blood.

"Can we go inside and talk to them...the 'hatchlings'?" She is looking at me for back up.

"Yeah…uh…if we're gonna live here don't you think we should meet everyone?" I ask.

Black*Star shrugs. "Ok, but it won't be super interesting. Just a bunch of sobbing kids."

He punches a code into a panel by the door and it opens.

"Black*Star! Have you come to keep us company?" a brown-haired boy asks.

"Do you want to play a game with us?" another little kid asks. This one could be a boy or a girl…I can't tell. I scan the room. There are four kids all younger than Brian, but all old enough to be in primary school.

One little girl is sitting on her knees clinging to a coffee table. "Who are you?"

"I'm Maka and this is Soul."

"Are you Bird Sick people?"

I grin. I think I like this kid. "No-"

"Not yet," Black*Star says happily. "But they will be."

"Don't do it!" she shouts running up to us. "Don't! People change! They come here to gain wings and strength and powers they should never have. Don't change like Black*Star." Tears are running down her cheek. She must have seen him before.

Maka leans over and hugs the girl and pulls her aside. I try to distract Black*Star with some stupid questions hoping that will give Maka the opportunity to tell the girl something to calm her down or let her know that the compound is under siege and that we will be taking them with us.

As we leave the room I notice that the girl who had been upset is gathering the other children around her. Maka winks at me to let me know that they will be expecting our return. I take Maka's hand in mine. I'm not sure how much more of this place I want to explore right now. The quiet is creeping me out and I'm ready to check that our comrades are ok. Maka pauses for a moment and closes her eyes. Then she leans my way and whispers in my ear. "They're all ok. We've won."

I exhale a breath I didn't realize I was holding and my step becomes a bit of a strut. Now I feel like we can come up with a strategy for dealing with Dumb Ass here. I shake my head. If I find out that the Avian Flu mindfuck only works on the weak minded I'm never going to let him live it down. How could he have let this happen?

Black*Star leads us up a couple flights of stairs and then opens a door and fresh air comes pouring in as we blink at the bright light of the laughing sun. We step out and I quickly orient myself. We seem to now be between buildings four and five coming out of a little shed like building labeled '3B'.

We hear a shout and Patti comes running up to us. "We've been looking for you everywhere! Kid said you were ok, but I was so worried."

"Black*Star!" She flings her arms around him, startling him so that the hug is completely a sided affair that pins his arms at his sides.

"Oh, hey, Patti!" Black*Star says startled by her exuberance. "Nice to see you, but you might not want to-"

"Black*Star! What do you think you are doing?!" An unfamiliar voice is coming from above us and I look up to see a form standing on the roof of building five. "If that is another woman, I will beat you!"

"Uh…yeah, Patti. My fiancée is a little possessive. Sorry. You better get offa me. You don't want to know what she did to the last girl who-"

The woman jumps from the roof landing about ten yards away from us. "What the hell Black*Star, you've moved on from porn mags to other women?"

She walks up to my friend and slaps him in the face completely ignoring the rest of us. "I'll be at home and if you know what's good for you, you will get your ass there in the next five minutes. I'm setting my watch."

"Sandra," he whines. "I was just saying 'hi' to some old friends of mine-"

"There is no excuse for your philandering and wild ways. You are mine." The girl has dirty blond hair and is dressed entirely in hot pink and black with a bow in her hair about the size of Kid's hover board. So far I'm not impressed by her manners or her taste in clothes and I can tell by the expression on my meister's face she's thinking the same thing. After consulting her timepiece, Sandra stomps off in the direction of whatever corner of this hellhole Black*Star and she refer to as home.

I'm so busy watching her storm away that I don't notice Tsubaki emerge from one of the neighboring buildings. "

"Star!" She shouts his name and rushes to him tears of joy pouring from her eyes. "You're ok. Thank, Lord Death! I've been so worried. I'm so sorry about everything! Let's not fight!"

Maka and I start shouting for her to stay back, but her entire being is focused on nothing but her former meister as she runs to him, wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him on the lips. Sandra whirls around rushing to attack this female throwing herself at her man, but even before Sandra reaches his side, my friend has pulled Tsubaki's arms off him.

"Hi," he says smiling, obviously not having minded the kiss. "But do I know you?"


	50. Chapter 50: Something to Celebrate

**Risenfromash: **Ugh! This chapter has been a pain in the ass and I don't know why so I apologize in advance. I think the next few will be better reads.

_**Chapter 50: Something to Celebrate; Black*Star's Fog?**_

"Do I know you?" The words echo in my head. "Do I know you?" That's how Black*Star greets Tsubaki after all she's been through to come and be with him. Those two have supported one another through some of the toughest things life can throw at you, yet he doesn't seem to recognize her. This is awful. It's like we're stuck in some kind of twisted alternate reality.

For a moment the words hang in the air and I find myself instinctively reaching for Maka's hand and mine brushes hers as it makes its way toward me. Somehow I know she's thinking the same thing I am. That could have been us. I was so close to losing her. Oh, Shinigami, do not let this be permanent. We've got to get him back, if not for him and all his friends, for her. Tsubaki has always been such a self-less, patient person calmly putting up with his stupidity and always being there for him when most people would have given up on him. He needs to be there for her.

It's hard to watch Tsubaki's face as his words sink in. First, there is shock and she steps back a little and narrows her eyes as though wondering if he's playing some kind of joke on her. He has been known to have difficulty determining when humor is or is not appropriate, but it only takes her another moment to see that he's not faking his ignorance. His eyes lack the intensity they once had when looking at her; no longer do they see her as being his world, 'his woman'. Now his eyes merely sparkle with the interest of a stranger who has been wished a 'good morning' by an attractive and sweet-tempered stranger. As Tsubaki realizes he isn't pulling her leg a look of horror comes over her face and she begins to tremble.

Maka takes a step toward Tsubaki and I follow, too chicken to let go of my meister's hand in this strange world we have found ourselves in.

"Yeah, do you know him, _slut_?" Sandra challenges as she returns from wherever it was she had marched off to. She steps between her 'fiancé' and his former weapon partner crowding both of them and forcing Tsubaki to take another step backward. "Because I don't let other girls touch _my man_." Oh, good Lord. This situation is awful enough without this…person and her attitude.

Tsubaki is fighting back tears. Her voice quivering she asks, "Black*Star…who…is…this?"

My meister walks up and puts an arm around Tsubaki as Black*Star leans around Sandra and her gaudy hot pink and black monstrosity of a hair bow and says happily, "This is my fiancée, Sandra. She's a battle ax."

"I bet she is," I mutter and Maka frowns at me.

"That isn't productive," my meister scolds me.

"I know, but what should we do?" I whisper in Maka's ear. She's the smart one, after all, and I had never thought I'd be having to intercede between two women fighting over Black*Star of all people. Then again one of them seems absolutely bat shit crazy so there is that.

Tsubaki stands there attempting to wrap her mind around what is happening. "You're… getting married… to another Demon Weapon?"

"Oh, are _you_ a Demon Weapon, too?" Black*Star asks. "I'm a meister, but I'm from a long line of assassins."

"Yes, I…ah…remember. We used to…ah…work together," Tsubaki hangs her head and looks down at the blouse she is wearing that has a prominent star on the chest that matches his shirt.

"Really? When? I don't remember that at all." Leave it to him to not even have the decency to apologize when he says this. His contentment and calm throughout this is very unnerving.

"Oh. I guess it wasn't that big a deal, Star. I…ah…nevermind!" Tsubaki turns away from her former meister and runs across the compound almost colliding with Kid who is headed our way on his board. Maka and I watch her go and I debate whether it's better to give her some alone time or if we should rush after her and try to comfort her.

"Maka, what do you think we should do?" I whisper to her.

"We need to get them alone later and see if we can-"

"Hey, _bitch_," Sandra shouts over Maka's whispers leaving me unable to hear my meister's idea. "You got something to say? Cause if you do you can say it to all of us."

"Hey," I say putting up my hand. "There is no need for name calling. No one here is the enemy. That was Avian Flu-"

"I knew it! You are an enemy!" Sandra slugs me in the gut yelling something about defending her belief system and then starts barking for Black*Star to join in on beating me up.

Kid joins us still wearing his reaper outfit, a pistol in each hand and one of the guns yells at us, "Knock it off all of you. We have shit we need to do, assholes." Kid pushes up his mask and removes his robe carefully folding it before placing the mask on top of it and it then disappears much the way his skateboard does when he is done using it. The reaper frowns.

"Who the hell are you?" Sandra demands rudely.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kid answers, suddenly seeming more cordial. "I've forgotten my manners, obviously. I am Death the Kid. I'm the temporary acting leader of the Demon Weapon Meister Academy and this is my good friend, Soul Eater and his mesiter, Maka Albarn. We are some of Black*Star's closest friends."

Black*Star once again has to lean around Sandra to be visible. He grins and says, "Hey, Kid. Meet my girlfriend-"

"Fiancee," Sandra interrupts.

"Right," he nods. "Fiancée, Sandra."

Kid tosses his guns in the air and there is a flash of light as the Thompson sisters appear, their jaws hanging open. "You're getting married? What about Tsubaki?" Patti asks

"Who? Do you mean that girl who was just talking to me? The one with the cute star shirt?"

Sandra whirls to look at him. "How dare you call her cute."

"I didn't. I said she has a cute shirt. It has a star on it just like mine. She's got good taste."

Hearing this, Kid's team realizes why they saw Tsubaki tear across the lot crying, and from the expressions on their faces I can tell that this situation fills them with the same terror that it does Maka and me.

It is Kid who speaks first. Instead of challenging our friend to remember his former partner Kid says, "Well, the Thompson sisters and I are overjoyed to hear of your upcoming nuptials."

"Thanks," Black*Star says as Sandra stands there with a frumpy look upon her face.

"_Wow!_ I was not expecting this!" Kid says enunciating each word so that he can communicate with the rest of us, while appearing to congratulate the happy couple. Black*Star and Sandra aren't picking up on his placation which doesn't surprise me given that they both seem about as dumb as a box of rocks or at least now they do. Never having met Sandra before I don't know how much of this is from Avian Flu messing around in her head and how much of this is how she would be normally, a part of me hopes she's nasty normally because I hate to think our enemies might have the power to turn a nice person into such a pushy, argumentative one.

"Yes," I say back following Kid's lead. "Who would have thought that Black*Star would be getting married at such a young age to someone he met," I look at my watch. "_Less than a week ago_."

"Well, you know how it is with true love," Sandra says smiling. "Black*Star and I are _so compatible_. I can hardly wait to make a baby with him."

I literally gag. I have images of horrible little assassins dressed all in hot pink running around like rabid Tasmanian devils.

"Soul, you need to play along," Maka whispers. "We need to try and get her to trust us or we'll never get time with Black*Star to-"

"Bitch! I already told you once I don't like people whispering about me!" Sandra shouts.

Kid's eyes widen and I nod at him. Yes, she really is this unpleasant and probably bat shit crazy on top of it.

Kid speaks softly and calmly, "Now, 'Sandra', is it? Is that anyway to talk to a friend? Maka is one of Black*Star's friends and she cares about him-"

"No other woman needs to care about him. He's mine!" shrieks Sandra clutching Black*Star's wrists as he stares at her with a dreamy look on his face.

I see Liz balling her hands into fists. Part of me hopes she decks Sandra a good one and maybe Black*Star, too.

Kid glares at the angry young woman. "Now see here. We are here to take Black*Star back to his home and we'd-"

"No one is taking him anywhere without _me._"

With a tone of frustration the reaper quickly says, "No, of course, we wouldn't dream of it." I feel like saying that _I_ would dream of it, but I know that would probably earn me a punch from both Sandra and Maka so I remain silent.

"This _is_ our home. We're gonna stay here and have babies and be part of the Generation of Enlightenment. Can you offer me enlightenment?"

"Actually, we can," Maka says. "The DWMA can help you to refine your skills as a Demon Weapon."

"Oh, you're a Demon Weapon?" Kid says surprised.

"She's a battle ax," I say raising my eyebrows.

"Of course she is," Kid says smirking a little.

"Yeah, I'm a battle ax. You got a problem with that?"

We all shake our heads.

"Good, because I don't need refinement. I'm good just the way I am now."

Black*Star smiles, "Isn't she great?"

It's clear to me at this point we aren't going to get anywhere with this, not right now anyway and I think Kid senses it, too.

"How about this? Sandra, would you agree to come with Black*Star to his home in Death City to meet his friends so that we can have a party to celebrate your engagement. I know a DJ that owes me a favor and you could all come to my place and enjoy the pool. It would be a nice little get away from Avian Flu business."

"That sounds awesome, doesn't it honey?" Black*Star says enthusiastically. "I'd love for you to meet Professor Stein. He's really funny. He's got this screw in his head and when it gets too loose he starts threatening to dissect people."

Sandra debates Kid's invitation and then looks at Black*Star. "Well if you want to. I guess we could. It's about time someone do _something_ to celebrate our engagement. All Raven did when I told her was ask if we were doing it yet."

The entire rescue team cringes. I think we've never even considered the possibility that Black*Star could be involved with someone romantically other than Tsubaki and thinking of these two together just seems wrong like when you see a super old guy macking on some teenager.

"Let's make sure to gather _everyone_ in the compound together and then depart. We can plan the party on the way. Do any of you happen to know where Geoffrey is? Robin has been looking for him."

"Wow, Robin's here, too! Awesome!" Black*Star says grinning ear to ear. "Geoffrey's probably in his room. He was on security detail last night."

"Well, could you show Maka and Soul where that is and make sure _everyone_ is gathered together. We don't want to leave anyone behind."

Maka nods. Prior to our attack on the compound we had discussed the importance of thoroughly checking the place for prisoners as we know that Avian Flu has been abducting kids in addition to people from the DWMA and we don't want to leave with anyone locked or tied up or whatever.

Before we start to follow Black*Star and Sandra, Maka runs over to Kid and says something in a low voice. She's probably telling him about the kids and how we need to get them and all the files we can carry out of that Strategic Planning office before we head out.

"I tol' you! I don't like people whispering in front of me. Bitch!" Sandra shouts and then charges at Maka intending to take a swing at her, but Maka senses her coming and before I know it Maka and Sandra are in an all-out hair pulling, leg kicking, fist pounding brawl with Black*Star standing back with his hands behind his head happily watching the catfight.

What has happened to us? It's like I've stepped into one of those awful talk shows that Becca used to watch at the diner.

Kid, Liz, Patti, and I all try to pull the girls apart, but they are both very strong and determined young women and it proves to be more difficult than I expected.

"Black*Star, any chance you could help, man? Cause unless you want both of them to be completely black and blue…"

Black*Star shrugs, "Sandra likes to fight. _She's_ tough enough to handle it, but I guess I could understand you worrying about _Maka_." He says my meister's name dismissively and it angers me.

I stop attempting to break up the fight and ask, "What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" even though I know _exactly_ what he's implying. Kid shakes his head in disgust. I suspect our behavior is not what the Shinigami-in-Training was hoping for on this mission.

"Nothin'. I just know you don't like seeing your dear little meister get hurt," Black*Star says in a mock whining baby voice.

"Oh, that's _it_, Black*Star!" I shout at him getting right up in his face as he yanks his obnoxious girlfriend from the fray.

"Sandra," her fiancée says. "That's enough. Soul is sworn to protect his meister and he doesn't want to get beat up by a girl-"

"Excuse me?!" Oh, I am beyond pissed now. Why exactly did we all waste our time coming here to help this guy and his Avian Flu approved mate?!

"Maka and Soul are my friends, Sandra. Please don't fight with them. I like them," Black*Star says quietly.

"But they are enemies of Avian Flu," she insists. "And _she_ has bad manners."

I can't believe this chick. What a freakin' bitch!

Maka ignores Sandra's comment, but hangs her head in shame. "Kid, I'm sorry-" Maka's face is red and her ponytails are all tussled and hanging eschew. "I don't know what came over me."

"No worries," Kid says not seeming at all troubled by her escalation of the conflict. "But we _do_ have a lot to do before we can depart so go find Geoffrey while the rest of us gather up some supplies. Meet us at the front gate as soon as possible."

Maka and I nod and I take a deep breath as I renew my focus on the mission and trying to ignore the slew of annoyances coming our way from Black*Star's fiancée.

Black*Star and Sandra lead us into one of the buildings and down some staircases to what they call the 'dorms', though they look more like jail cells to me than apartments. Each room contains a bed and one shelf that are bolted to the wall, a table and a chair. Each door has a small window looking out onto the hall and each door is secured with a keypad lock system.

"I always forget which one is Geoffrey's," Black*Star mutters as he walks down the hallway.

"Just follow the sound of the snoring," Sandra tells him.

As we walk through the dormitories I peek in each window on the left side and Maka does the same on the right side looking for people.

"Hey, Maka. There's someone in this one. Isn't this that underclassman … Kelley… Christine… Carla… Clarese…? I swear there is a 'c' or a 'k' in there…"

"Eri_ka_," she says emphasizing the last syllable.

"Oh, you sure that's her name? I thought it started with a 'c'."

"I'm pretty sure," Maka says.

"Hey, Black*Star can we let Erika out?" I ask.

"Uh, I'm not sure that's such a good idea. She only arrived yesterday and she still hasn't figured-"

"Honey, she will want to celebrate our engagement," Sandra scolds.

"Oh, ok. I guess." He punches in numbers on the keypad and I listen to the tones the keys make in an attempt to learn the code.

I open the door. "Erika?"

"Soul Eater? What are you doing here?"

"We are letting you out to go to a party to celebrate Black*Stars engagement to Shelley."

"Sandra!" The possessive woman shouts.

"'Sandra', isn't that what I said? It's what I meant."

Erika looks confused. I don't think they've messed with her head yet, so I lean close and whisper. "Just go with it. We're busting everybody out of here, but you need to pretend you think that Black*Star and this chick are the cutest couple ever and it won't be easy cause she's a witch. So keep your distance and play along, ok?"

"That's ok. It ain't him I'm after," she says strutting out of her cell as I wonder what in the hell she meant.

I peer into the next room and discover there's a DWMA student in it too, this one I don't know anything about, but I know I've seen him at school. You don't easily forget a dude with a rainbow colored mohawk. Instead of asking for the code I stand in front of the keypad and try to recall the tones that Black*Star had entered. My ear for music pays off and I get it on the first try.

"You're with the DWMA aren't you?" I say as I open the door.

"You're that guy. Maka's weapon, right!"

"That's me."

"Awesome! You guys busting us out of this joint? I wanna help. These assholes ganged up on me and Giovanni."

I put a finger to my lips and whisper to him. "We think we got all the demons, but some of the students are a little confused about whose side they're supposed to be on."

"Yeah, tell me about it. That friend of yours, Black*Star, did this to me." He lifts his shirt and shows me a huge bruise on his side. I wince.

"Yeah, he's…_super_ confused right now. Sorry about that. You know where your partner is?"

The man with the colorful hair avoids my eyes and my heart sinks. "I think they killed him, man. I dunno. I don't know for sure, but I haven't seen him since they attacked us."

I motion for him to come on. We move through the ward like this and Maka and I find a total of six students that Avian operatives appear to have brought to the facility the day before. Erika and her meister Lydia, the dude with the mohawk whose name is Freddy, Magumi a meister whose weapon partner, Nikolas is also here, and a weapon named Jacob. Jacob's meister, Tran, and Freddy's weapon partner, Giovanni are unaccounted for. I try to remember the names on the list to be eliminated, but it's too much of a blur for me to remember if the missing students were like Patti and I and to be exterminated, but I'm sure we'll know soon enough because I'm confident that Maka told Kid to get all those documents out of the Strategic Planning room.

As we make our way through the ward we begin to hear the rhythmic snoring of Geoffrey. It doesn't surprise me that he snores. The guy is built like a linebacker. His is the next to last room in the hall. Black*Star punches in the code on the key pad and we hold open the door as there are too many of us to all cram into the Demon Weapon's cell.

"Gee-off," Sandra yells. "Get up." Geoffrey rolls over and almost falls out of the bed as he's such a big guy he has to hang part way off of it. He moans.

"Sandra, you know I hate when you say my name like that and leave me alone. I was on security all night. They think more students are coming to join us…"

I can see Maka take note of his comment. It could refer to Erika and the others or it could mean _us_ and if that's the case we could it be in some kind of elaborate trap…though you'd think they wouldn't sacrifice so many of their head people if they knew we were coming…then again…

"Yeah, I know. They're here now," Black*Star says. "And there's some other folks here that I thought you'd wanna see."

Geoffrey makes some grunting sounds and pulls himself up. "Fine," he grumbles. "I guess I'm up now, but I swear to God Sandra if you don't leave me alone so I can sleep…"

"Quit your whining, you pansy-ass," Sandra goads him.

'I'm up, I'm up," he mutters as he slowly opens his eyes and then takes in the assembled group of students. "Wow, so many! This is the biggest take yet, isn't it?"

Maka and I let Black*Star and Sandra explain that they are going on a little trip to DC along with us. Geoffrey sits up and pulls on his shoes and joins the group without comment.

"Is there anyone else here?" Maka asks.

"No, that's all other than our leaders. I'm not sure where they went. Maybe they had a big war game or mission to do today, but I don't think a council meeting was scheduled," Black*Star says and then adds, "Of course, I know what happened to Ramen." He puts his hand up for a high five from me and even though he's happy about the defeat of one of our enemies it deeply unnerves me to hear him refer to anyone in Avian Flu as his 'leader'.

"Well, if they've vanished then don't you think we ought to bring those little kids with us…the 'hatchlings'?" Maka asks Geoffrey…I guess he seems to be the sanest person at this point.

He frowns. "Yeah, we can't leave them by themselves."

"But, they cry all the time," Sandra says with distaste. "I really don't like kids."

"You told me you wanted a kid…didn't you?" Black*Star says looking even more befuddled than earlier. It's clear to me that his mind has been dulled. He isn't sharp enough to pick up on things that don't make sense. He hasn't even picked up on the fact there was a shit-ton of noise earlier in the compound and now all the leaders are gone. They seriously can't put together the pieces to figure out that we just came in here and cleared out every Avian Flu member, but that may be for the best at this point. I think we need to get them back to DC where we have some more help before we try clearing their brains of whatever fog has made them so clueless.

Maka and I rush the group along before Black*Star and Sandra are able to get into some kind of tussle over the issue of kids. We assign each kid a buddy who is one of the DWMA students that hasn't yet been mindfucked so that Maka and I can keep our attention on Black*Star, Sandra, and Geoffrey.

After so much time wandering underground tunnels lit only with crappy fluorescent light bulbs, it feels amazing to step out into the fresh air and sunlight again. I can't imagine how those poor kids could stand it down there. I felt like I had been buried alive. I stretch my arms and grin. Life ain't great, but at least we are alive and free and you gotta feel good about going through those depressing cell blocks and opening the doors to let people out.

We head to the thrashed front gate of the compound. I'm happy to put this place behind us. I have a hunch that getting Black*Star back home might awaken in him some of the memories he has lost or had suppressed. If not it will at least make the rest of us a lot less unnerved.

As we walk across the open space at the middle of the compound, Robin catches sight of Geoffrey and comes running to his boyfriend calling his name. Geoffrey smiles and opens his arms to his meister.

If there were ever two people destined to find one another in the world, I'd say it has to be those two. The chances of a professional archer who happens to be a meister finding a Demon Weapon who was a bow have to be remarkably low. Before, Geoffrey joined the DWMA, Robin drove us all a bit nuts because he a total diva. He had travelled all over on the competitive archery circuit and was a big award winner and he had no qualms about letting everyone know it, often _over and over_ again, but he had been really unhappy paired up with a Demon Weapon, names Carlos who was a crossbow. Then quiet, unassuming Geoffrey lumbered into our ranks. He was the total opposite of Robin. He didn't lack talent but after several years of getting pushed around by kids at his school he had no fame-seeking tendencies, instead, he just wanted to be left alone to live his life and do some good. They teamed up and the rest as they say is history.

"Well, good! At least those two seem to remember each other," I whisper to Maka as we turn to watch them, eager to witness at least one happy reunion today. "What the hell is Black*Star's problem then?"

Kid waltzes up smiling, "Now that makes it all worthwhile doesn't it? Those two are so-"

Kid's words stop abruptly when we hear a shout of pain and see Robin's head jerk backward as he falls to his knees at his Demon Weapon's feet. Geoffrey appears confused as he steps backward a bloody knife in his hand.


	51. Chapter 51: Inappropriate Responses

**Risenfromash: **This story now has over 100 followers! That's so exciting. Soul would say you are all very cool people with good taste

_**Chapter 51: Inappropriate Responses; Busy work for Betterment?**_

Kid runs to Robin as Maka and I charge at Geoffrey.

"Get back, everyone! Soul!" Maka shouts for me to transform as we charge at our adversary, our friend and classmate, Geoffrey Rosenbalm.

"Geoffrey, do you know who we are?" Maka asks while twirling me and assessing the situation.

"Yeah, of course, you're Maka and Soul," he says sadly.

"Why did you just stab your meister?"

"He's an enemy of Avian Flu same as you. It's what I _must_ do," he watches as Kid applies pressure to Robin's stab wound which is somewhere on his back near the shoulder. Patti tears from Kid's side to get the med kit from the bike as Kid barks orders to his partners like a paramedic in a war zone, but we must focus our attention on Geoffrey.

"Can you see Geoffrey's soul?" I ask my meister.

"Yeah. It's not a kishin egg yet. He's like Black*Star…confused about who to trust and what's important. I think he's really scared."

"What are you gonna do? We can't kill him." I don't know why I bother to ask. I already know what she's going to do. She's gonna take a huge risk, like she did with Crona and while I don't think it's the wrong thing to do I can't say I'm thrilled about it.

Geoffrey's eyes keep shifting back and forth between my meister and his boyfriend laying on the pavement bleeding in Kid's arms. Robin looks pale, but Tsubaki has taken his hand and is talking to him trying to keep him from losing consciousness.

"I…I…had to…" stammers Geoffrey. "I didn't want to. Oh, God, I didn't want to…" He drops the knife from his hand and begins sobbing out his lament. "I love him, but I had to. I have to. I don't have a choice!" Geoffrey wails as he tugs at his hair as though trying to pull portions of his brain out through his hair follicle.

Maka drops me to the ground and goes to our friend's side. Immediately, I transform back into human form. I understand that she doesn't want to make Geoffrey feel threatened, but he _did _identify us as enemies of Avian Flu which is the reason he stabbed his _own meister in the back_, so I'm not feeling super confident that we are doing the right thing backing down on our offensive stance, but it's Maka's call; she's my meister. Therefore, I stay in human form right by her side ready to protect her in any and every way I can should she be attacked.

Geoffrey turns from us, his body quaking with sobs. "Maka, please kill me. I can't live with having hurt him like this. I can't-"

Maka puts her arm on his back. "It's not your fault. Things are very strange right now for all of us."

"You should get back," he warns. "I don't know what I might do. You can't trust me."

"Listen to him, meister," I say very quietly near her ear.

"You don't have any other weapons do you?" she asks Geoffrey.

He shakes his head. That's good news, if he isn't lying, but honestly Geoffrey is like a grizzly bear. Even unarmed he could be lethal with his fists or feet due to his strength.

"I'm…security," Geoffrey explains bitterly. "It's my job. I must protect the Generation of Enlightenment. All enemies must be-" His back straightens and his eyes assume a vacant look.

"Maaaakkkaaa," I shout grabbing my meister's arm and pulling her behind me as he starts to take a swing at her. Just in time, I manage to block his giant hand with both of mine. I try to stop the strike by meeting the force behind his fist with my own determination…and it isn't going real well.

"Geoff… rey," I grunt the words as I attempt to parry his blow. "I know… you don't mean to be doing… any of this. We aren't… mad at you. You gotta understand that. Like Maka said… this isn't your fault, but I _will_ hurt you… if you try to hurt anyone else. That's how it's gotta be. Do you understand?"

"No one else needs to get hurt today," Maka says stepping from beside me to stand on my right.

Geoffrey's fist relaxes and the force behind it dissipates and I breathe a sigh of relief. The bulking youth alternates between looking homicidal and seeming truly remorseful for his actions.

Kid shouts, "I've got to get Robin to a doctor. I'm taking Patti with me for protection. Liz is in charge." I nod, but I don't take my eyes off Geoffrey. We can't let our guard down. We can't afford more mistakes. We have got to get these kids out of here. We've got to be well enough to defeat Avian Flu once and for all so that they can't take people's free will away ever again.

Geoffrey gazes at the wincing form of his meister in Kid's arms. With the last bit of strength the archer has he shouts, "I…still…love…you, Geoff…ree."

"I love you, too," Geoffrey says hanging his head as he watches Kid zoom away on his board with a gun in one hand and a very pale, willowy boy in the other.

We all stand there in shock at what has happened. The only violence between students at the DWMA is in the form of our duels. A student doing this to another student, especially his partner is unheard of. Avian Flu has successfully turned us against one another and I suspect that has been their plan all along. I can't decide what is more sad, the sight of Robin and Geoffrey still clearly in love and caring about one another, but not being able to hold each other or Black*Star's memory wipe leaving him with no apparent recollection of his relationship with his former partner.

"Geoffrey, don't take this personally, but we're gonna have to cuff you, big guy," Liz says walking up with a pair of manacles in her hands. "And you better understand that Maka and Soul aren't going to let you hurt anyone else so this is gonna happen whether you like it or not."

He shakes his head. "I won't fight you. Not the real me, anyway."

Liz cautiously walks up to Geoffrey and for once she is scared and not that phobic fear she gets every Halloween when we go through haunted houses together and she clings onto Kid for dear life. This is true fear. Geoffrey starts tremoring and muttering to himself.

"Liz, get out of there," my meister tells her reading the signals from Geoffrey's soul.

"No, I've gotta do this," she says with determination. "Kid left me in charge. It's my job."

Geoffrey begins to mutter the word 'job' over and over again and rock back and forth.

"Soul, transform. We're gonna go in with her. Liz, we're here beside you. You're not gonna get hurt," my meister tells her and Liz nods as she creeps toward Geoffrey.

"And, I'm not gonna hurt _you_, Geoffrey," Liz says compassionately.

"You should for what I've done…" Geoffrey continues to mumble to himself softly but every now and then I can make out a word like 'enemies' or 'flight' or 'enlightenment'. I never thought I'd be so terrified by another student. It's like Professor Stein all over again.

Liz gets close enough to grab one of his hands and he starts to get up and Maka swings me so that I'm pressed against his side, another millimeter and I will slice into him, but he holds still and Liz makes quick work of handcuffing him. Seeing the task completed we all breathe a collective sigh of relief as Liz pats Geoffrey on the arm. "I know it seems like a shit storm right now, but we're not gonna give up on you and neither will Robin. We'll figure out what to do to make things better, ok?" Geoffrey doesn't answer but Liz's confidence makes me feel better. It's nice to know that someone as jaded as her can still have faith that things will turn out ok in the end.

"You," Liz barks. "Yeah, you, Rainbow Brains, I need you to be on Geoffrey duty. Ok?"

"No, problem, but what exactly does that mean?"

"Keep an eye on him. Make sure he's being taken care of. Take him to pee if he needs. That kinds thing, kay?"

"Sure, and my name is-"

"Don't bother. I won't remember it," Liz says walking over to Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki, bring those wheelbarrows around from building 2. We'll put these documents in them."

"Everybody we need to be ready to ditch this place as soon as we can. Make sure you have everything you need. Maka, when's the last time you had your dressing changed?"

"Uhhh…" there has been so much going on that I remember us changing it but I have to think about it to figure out was that yesterday or the day before.

"Uhhh is not a good enough answer, Soul. Attend to your meister's wounds. And do something about your head. You're so pale you look especially gorey when you're bloody. We may be having to ride in a coach or something we don't want to freak too many people out."

"Sandra, you and Black*Star find us some food we can eat now and snacks for the road. A lot of us have had nothing to eat. We also need canteens or jugs of water. A bunch of us don't have our own canteens."

Liz continues ordering everyone around, but I tune her out as I dig through the med kit for the stuff we need to attend to Maka's wound.

Maka sits down in the shade of one of the buildings and starts taking off the previous wrap.

"There's over twenty of us now," Maka comments as I take a look at the deep punctures.

"Yeah, I know it's a shit ton of people to get back to DC. If there isn't a train I dunno what Kid's gonna do. He can't buy that many motorcycles. Or maybe he can…I guess the dude is loaded."

Maka nods, "I suspect his personal allowance is a tad bigger than ours, but I think everything now is on the DWMA's dime. Ouch!"

She lets out a yelp as I squeeze at a part of the wound. We've been so happy that the special Avian Flu enchantment or curse or whatever seems to have lifted that we've sort of been neglecting the physical wound and a pocket of pus has formed.

"We need to give you a shot of Penn," I say and she moans and tries to talk me out of it.

"Maka, it's just a shot. You've been through worse _today,_ I guarantee you."

She grumbles. "It always makes my fucking arm hurt."

"I'm sorry; what was that?"

"It makes my arm hurt, Soul."

"That's not what you said. I heard another little something in there."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, yes I did. But I'll let it slide this time, but next time little missy you are going to get a talking to about your dirty, potty mouth."

She glares at me as I pop a nonstick pad with a bunch of goo on it on top of the wound and begin wrapping gauze around it.

I draw up an injection of antibiotic and she offers me the shoulder on her unaffected side and it occurs to me that it wouldn't bother her so much if I could give it to her somewhere else. I kneel next to her and whisper, "You know, now that we know each other a little better I could do it in your butt."

"Soul?!" her head whirls around to look at me as her eyes widen and her face turns beat red.

"What?" I'm clueless as to what is wrong… and then it hits me.

"Meister! The shot! The _antibiotics_!" I say lifting up the syringe. I can't believe her mind went _there._ What is going on in that head of hers? "And you say my mind is always on sex!"

"Oh! You meant the shot…of course," her eyes avoid mine as she gets even redder. Her embarrassment is adorable.

"But if that's something you're into I'm sure we could _squeeze_ it in later," I whisper huskily in her ear.

"Soul!" she makes out like she's gonna hit me, but I dodge easily and laugh. "Soul, it's really inappropriate for you to be talking about such things with everything that's been happening."

"Yeah, I know. But you started it."

"I didn't say anything!" she protests so innocently.

"Really, meister, you gonna play innocent with me? When, I just caught you thinking about_ butt fucking _before noon," I grin at her devilishly and she whacks me in the top of the head and I let out a yowl she hit me right on the laceration from the damn chain-link fence.

"Oh," she says hopping up. "Oh, Soul, I'm so sorry! I forgot about your head."

"I'm fine," I say still grimacing a little from the stinging.

"Here lay down with your head in my lap and I'll get it cleaned up."

I don't protest. It's probably nothing worth worrying about but, we both need things to do or we'll be worrying about why Kid and Patti aren't back yet and what that means for Robin and us getting home. Maka's hands feel nice playing with my hair until they find the hairs on the edge of the cut and I squirm.

"Soul, hold still," she says whacking me gently in the face.

"Well, don't yank on my damn hair."

"Quit being a baby, Soul. I'm not pulling on your hair; I'm just trying to get through it. It's like a jungle."

"You're the reason I've never cut it," I explain shifting the blame back to her.

"What do you mean?" she says continuing to part my hair along the cut.

"Years ago I thought about cutting it and you said you liked it this way… so I left it."

Maka smiles. "I see. So, your grimy, matted hair is my fault because of something I said years ago."

"Exactly. That and how much I love when you run your fingers through it. Ouch! Except for that. That really fucking hurts, Maka."

My meister laughs merrily at my misery. "If you don't stop it I'll just get a razor and shave it all off."

"No way. You cannot shave me bald. You do that and I'll look like some damn chemo patient."

"Well we may have to. Maybe we could just shave right where the laceration is and then-"

"You are not going to give me a damn comb over. Oh, no you don't! I don't trust you now." I say struggling to get up as Maka playfully holds me down. I spy Tsubaki walking by and I holler for her. "Help, Tsubaki! My meister wants to shave my head."

Tsubaki grins and walks over and sits across from Maka. "Is he being a bad patient?" she asks in a sing-songy voice as she smiles down at me.

"Always," Maka answers with a laugh. "He's impossible. He expects me to hold perfectly still while he's stuffing things in and out of my arm and giving me shots, but, Shinigami forbid, I be allowed to clean one of his cuts."

I grumble. The girls are ganging up on me.

"Well, you know how boys are," Tsubaki giggles. "Black*Star's the worst. I always have to sit on him to get him to hold still." Then she gets silent and sighs.

"Don't get discouraged. At least we have him back now," Maka tells our friend.

"I know, but I feel terrible. I'd almost rather he wasn't back then see him and that girl... ugh, I'm such a horrible person!" Tsubaki starts to cry and Maka lets go of my hair and I sit up.

"Hey, Tsubaki, you are _not_ a horrible person. You weren't prepared for this. None of us were. He's not the same right now, but that doesn't mean he's gonna stay like this."

"Oh, Soul," Tsubaki reaches out to me. "How can you be so strong? Isn't it tearing you up to see him like this?"

"Well… I don't like it, that's for sure. But, I wasn't in love with the guy." Tsubaki avoids my eyes. "Tsubaki, it's ok. He likes you, too." She starts to argue with me, but I cut her off. "He's _told_ me."

She smiles a little, even though she still has tears coming from her eyes. "That's nice to know, I guess. But it doesn't really matter now." Her sadness is palpable.

"Yes, it _does_ matter," Maka says. "Because we're all determined to get Black*Star back to the way he was… God, that's something I never thought I'd say! But, it's the truth. Avian Flu did something to him, but if they could do it surely we can undo it. There has to be a reversal or an antidote or something and we'll figure it out."

I echo my meister's determination. "Don't give up hope, Tsubaki."

"What about Sandra?" she says turning to look across the way to where Black*Star and Sandra are serving some crackers on paper plates to some of the other students.

"We don't even know who she is. She's a Demon Weapon, but she doesn't go to our school, so I've got a lot of questions about her," Maka says.

"Me, too. Like whether she was born a bitch or if Avian Flu made her that way."

Tsubaki laughs. "So, it isn't just me?"

"Hell, no!" I laugh and Maka nods. "I forgot you missed Maka and her getting into a fist fight."

"You, what?!"

Just then we hear a shout from Liz. She sees her meister. She's been standing by the gate waiting for them for quite a while now. Everybody with the exception of Freddy and Geoffrey go running to the gate.

I see Kid on his hoverboard with Patti riding piggyback, but Robin isn't with them. Oh, Lord Death, I know I only talk to you when I'm in dire straits and that might kinda piss you off, but if Robin is dead… that can't happen. It just can't. I close my eyes and feel my meister squeeze my hand and we sync our wavelengths for a moment. Come on, Lord Death, hear our prayer!

I open my eyes and see Patti hold out her hand and give a thumb's up and I'm so relieved I feel like a balloon that's being deflated.

A few minutes later, Kid arrives and leans over allowing his shorter weapon partner to get off his back.

"Thanks for the ride," she says happily and she beams at everyone. "He's gonna be ok."

The assembled group of youth murmur and Kid puts up his hands to silence the crowd. "There was an arterial bleeder, that's why he was losing so much blood but they found it in time and he's not hemorrhaging anymore. They stitched him up and are letting him get some rest and I've made arrangements for us to get him before we head for home by train."

We all cheer none more so than the four little kids who seem to have warmed up to their buddies and are happily holding hands with or riding piggy back style on a number of the DWMA underclassman.

Kid indicates he wants to talk to us and pulls over his partners, Tsubaki, Maka and me.

"How's Geoffrey?" he asks nervously.

"He's subdued for the moment. Maka and Soul helped me get him cuffed and I assigned Freddy to keep an eye on him," Liz reports.

"Very good," Kid nods. "I knew you could handle it. Which is exactly what I wanted to talk to you guys about. You five are going to be my inner circle. It is very difficult at this juncture to know who to trust and even though only Geoffrey and Black*Star seem to have been indoctrinated by Avian Flu, we can't assume that all the other DWMA students have not been effected. They could be harboring wounds similar to Maka's or in some kind of sleeper phase, or who knows. We are dealing with a ton of unknowns here. Which leads me to my request. I am going to be leaning on all of you a lot from now on and I ask for your support and your discretion as we can't assume that we can trust anyone and we have a lot to accomplish in a very short amount of time. Is that ok with everyone?"

"Of course," Maka answers for both of us. "But what about Robin? Do you have some reason not to trust him?"

"No, nothing of the sort. Robin has asked that he be allowed to travel with Geoffrey even while Geoffrey is restrained. Robin wants to work on rehabilitating his partner right away. Apparently, Geoffrey is given to depression and he's very worried that if Robin seems to have abandoned him that Geoffrey will get in a downward emotional spiral that will be bad news for all of us. So, I told him that he can focus on learning as much as he can about what Geoffrey's experience has been and how best to undo the damage Avian Flu did to him and not worry about other stuff right now. I hope none of you have a problem with that."

"No," Liz says. "I think that makes perfect sense."

"The good news is that I've chartered our very own train so I doubt that Avian Flu will be able to track us down too easily as we aren't on any printed time table. This lets us focus on what we need to do and get some much needed rest."

"Here is what I propose. We continue to keep the little kids with the DWMA students, but we have Tsubaki or Patti or Liz always present to keep an eye on that group watching for any suspicious activity that would lead us to believe that any of them are spies or may become violent. We keep those we know have been indoctrinated together. That would be Geoffrey, Sandra and Black*Star in their own car with one of us as their escort at all times. Sometimes this will be Robin only, other times one of us may be there as well and, of course, Robin is going to need to take breaks."

"Are you sure that having all the Avian Flu affected students together is a good idea even with a chaperone? Couldn't they form a team to fight us?" Liz asks.

"There is certainly a risk of that happening, but I'm hoping that since there is a significant difference between what is going on with Geoffrey versus Black*Star that they won't find that kind of comraderie with one another." Kid ponders this. "Then again who knows? We're in uncharted territory so we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open to what is going on. The one I consider the greatest wild card is Sandra, because we don't know anything about her. We don't even know if she really is a Demon Weapon, none of us have seen her transform have we?" We all shake our heads.

"What about Brian?" I ask, shocking myself by actually being concerned about the little asshole.

"I think he can help out with the room the majority of the group is in. He's untrained, but he's smart. I think having him with everybody else will be useful because he looks at things from a different perspective than the rest of us."

"You might want to have him spend some time with Black*Star and Sandra. He looks up to Black*Star a lot and he was hitting on Sandra mercilessly a little bit ago and she actually seemed to like it. It made her less…"

"Hostile," Maka says finishing my thought. "I think he could sneak in there and gain their trust more than the rest of us."

"Good idea," Kid says. "We'll think about how to use that to our advantage. Right now our first goals will be to collect as much info from the little kids about where they live and how they were captured. They may have witnessed or heard information that is valuable to us and we need to make arrangements to get them back to their parents as soon as possible. Then we need to delve into all these files as they will cast a light on a lot of Avian Flu's philosophies." Kid smiles at his assembled team.

"Now to the train!" he shouts to everyone and we all start grabbing our stuff to follow the young reaper as he leads us away from the depressing Avian Flu compound toward the nearby town to pick up Robin on our way to the train station.

**Risenfromash: **I just had to tell you that I had actually written on the page Soul's statement about the antibiotic injection just as he says it with no innuendo intended and then I read it back to myself and totally cracked up because I realized it was such a perfect thing for him to innocently say and have Maka's mind go there for once.


	52. Chapter 52: Serving Meisters

**Risenfromash: **Another fluffy chapter before we delve into we delve deeper into the evil of Avian Flu. Thanks for the recent reviews…they brightened a stressful afternoon on the side of a freeway with an overheated car but no worries. I am back home now and happy to be writing again.

_**Chapter 52: Serving Meisters; Should a Weapon Do It All?**_

By the time we reach the town we are all pretty pooped. It wasn't that long a walk, but we are all hauling a ton of crap with us: boxes of documents, food and water, and other supplies we should have with us just in case of trouble. As we enter town I can almost hear the theme to High Noon. This place looks like the only doctor here would also cut hair and over leeches as a therapy. I'm amazed that Kid found someone competent here.

"Patti and I will be right back," Kid shouts to us as he veers toward a business on the main street. I glance at the business they're headed to and even thought the sign is in Spanish the graphic design conveys enough for me to know that Kid did get a little creative out of desperation.

"You took him to a veterinarian?!" I shout at my friend.

Kid nods as he follows his skipping partner to the front door of the clinic.

"Yes, and they were most helpful. I find that veterinarians and their staffs are always very compassionate. It should just be a minute." Kid disappears into the building with Patti and we all stop to have a break wary that we were told that the townsfolk are sympathetic to Avian Flu.

"Would a vet really know what to do for a person?" I ask Maka worried that Robin may come out neutered or with one of those lampshades around his neck.

Maka laughs. "I think in principle it's the same thing. Medicine is medicine."

"Yeah, but he doesn't need a dewormer!"

"Maybe, he does. Maybe we all do. We are fighting birds," Maka says with a hollow laugh. It's been a hard day on all of us, but she seems more troubled than she should. I don't know what's bugging her, but I know better than to ask right now. Maybe when…if…we ever get any alone time I can ask her what's on her mind.

Robin reemerges no longer as pale as a ghost. He smiles and waves a little.

"No worries, people. I'm just fine. Now let's blow this joint. We've already spent much longer here than I'd like, that's for sure," he says with a smile and once again I say words of thanks to Lord Death or our lucky stars or karma or whatever the hell is constantly saving our sorry butts from the close shaves we find ourselves in.

The train depot is on the other side of town, but the community is so small that we can practically see it from in front of the vet's office and it isn't long before we are descending upon it. As soon as we walk in the girls all dash off in the direction of the bathroom having been boycotting the Avian Flu compound's restrooms due to Patti's assessment that they were 'beyond disgusting'. As the girls fly from our sides, Kid invites me to step outside with him for a few. He lets Robin know that we're stepping out and we duck out a side door. As soon as we are out of sight of the rest of the group the reaper franticly starts patting himself down for wherever he stuffed his cigarettes and muttering about how badly everything has gone thus far. Were it not for his cigarette quest, I suspect he might throw himself down on the ground sobbing.

"What an awful operation," he grumbles as he puts a cigarette in his mouth and lights it. "What a nightmare. I don't know if I can do this. I can't fill my father's shoes. I mean, it's possible, but I don't know what I'm _supposed_ to be doing. The _bastard_ hasn't trained me at all, but here I am thrust into the role and-"

"Kid, you're doing fine. You're a natural," I tell him seriously.

"Don't placate me," he says glaring at me so intensely that it's actually scary. "I know I'm doing shitty. I'm garbage…"

"Oh, come on, dude. Give yourself a break. None of us have been prepared for this kind of enemy."

"I should be and my father definitely should have been. And look at him. He got his fucking ass captured. What a worthless leader…and I can't even begin to fill his shoes." His shoulders slump. "Oh, why was I even born? I can't handle this? I can't even write my name right. I'm scared of germs…I'm worthless…absolutely worthless, garbage-"

Smiling at him, I ask, "Isn't this insecurity why you travel with your own cheerleading squad?" In response he gives me a dirty look.

"You of all people should know that insults the role of the Demon Weapon."

"Hey, I didn't say anything about the Thompsons as weapons. They serve many functions…" I realize I'm treading into some shark infested waters here, but I go for it. "They help keep you sane, dude. Don't hide from them when you need their help. It's important for your partners to know what you're going through."

"Disliking the way I write my name is one thing. Feeling like a failure because I can't manage to get a painting to hang straight on the wall, those are things they have helped me learn how to deal with." I quirk an eyebrow at this statement. "More or less," he admits. "But running an operation where one of our team members gets stabbed by a supposed comrade is quite another. And, dammit, what the hell are we going to do about Black*Star? How can they wipe a person's memory like that? I've never even heard of such a thing being possible. It's like we've walked into a clichéd sci-fi movie. It's absolutely terrifying."

"Kid, I think you need to calm down. Things didn't go that badly. We cleared the entire compound."

He shrugs as though this is no big achievement, "I used Death Cannon."

"Holy shit. Really?"

"It was total overkill, but it was fun, except, of course, that the girls are whining saying they're exhausted," and for some reason the reaper chuckles at this. "In actuality clearing the compound felt too easy. It wasn't a trap, but it didn't feel like we met enough resistance either. It worries me."

"Things are always easy with the Death Cannon aren't they?"

He smirks. "It does tend to make negotiates end quicker that's for sure."

"See there ya go. You and the girls did great. You just don't know how to applaud your own achievements. You're like Maka in that way. You're always so focused on improving you don't acknowledge how well you've actually done."

"If you tell me the mission was a success because we all made it out alive I will hit you."

"Why, did someone already beat me to it?"

"Yes, the little princess has already told me not to be too troubled because there were no fatalities on our side and I maintain that is an achievement bar set far too low. Do you realize that Robin could have died had he continued to bleed out and even the best stocked vet clinic does not have units of human blood lying around."

"You would have given your own."

"Hmpf. I am not a universal donor," he says grimly taking an especially long drag on his tobacco stick.

"Kid, have you eaten at all today?"

His eyebrows crumple. "Have you suddenly become a girl, Soul? Or is this part of being a weapon to fuss over meisters like you're their mother?"

Laughing I say, "I am most definitely not a chick, but I have learned it's important to take care of yourself if you want to keep going. We're all running on empty man you more than any of us."

Kid shakes his head as he turns it to direct his exhalation away from me. "I can't eat, but don't worry the girls will try to get something into me. They'll pester me till I succumb." He shrugs. "It's what they do."

"About that-"

"With all that's going on, you're really gonna ask me if I slept with them yesterday, aren't you?"

"I _know_ you slept with them yesterday," I grin from ear to ear. "I wanna know if you did more than that."

"You really are a pervert aren't you? You do understand that it's none of your business what I do with my partners or anyone else for that matter, don't you?"

"Hey, man. I'm just trying to figure out if I hear the girls screaming your name if Maka and I are supposed to bust down the door cause you're under attack or stuff our fingers in our ears and pretend we don't hear anything."

Kid laughs. "Well, under that pretense I suppose your prying makes sense."

"So, did you?" I admit it. I'm nosey, but he's my friend and he often seems lonely and kind of miserable and I think the girls are good for him. So, as one of his closest friends I need to know how much of a push I need to give them to help make something happen other than this insane sexual tension that feels like it could burst like a balloon at any moment.

He shakes his head. "No. Of course not."

"Still in denial?"

He lets out an especially long exhale of smoke. "No, not as much. I'm coming to terms with some very complicated feelings. And, of course, I'm scared shit less." I start to interrupt, but he puts his hand up to indicate he isn't done talking. "Not because they're women, but because they're my partners. You know how it is. I don't want to screw things up. The three of us have a very precise and delicate symmetry… except of course for their height and their boobs and the length of their hair. I've never been able to convince them that they need the same hair style and breast augmentation surgery is out of the question, having a partner out of commission for the length of time for recovery would be unthinkable…"

"I get being scared Kid, but don't miss out on something good for yourself."

He nods. "Maybe once all this crap is over- Oh, shit!" He has seen Erika pop out from around the corner of the building. "I've got to go to the men's room. Could you please do something with this for me?"

He hands me his half smoked cigarette and dodges back into the building before Erika makes it to me.

"Wasn't Kid just out here?" she asks confused.

"Yeah, but I think he had to go to the bathroom."

"So, you're like one of his closest friends, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Can you tell me is he dating anyone?"

Oh, so that's what this is about. I'd picked up on some tension between the Thompson sisters and this chick earlier and had wondered what was going on, but now it makes perfect sense. Erika must be one of Kid's adoring fan girls. There are a quite a few of them at the DWMA. They stalk the son of Lord Death hoping to gain the prestige of dating him. According to what Maka has told me, the girls are especially competitive with one another because in the entire time he has been a student at the academy no one has been successful in getting him to agree to a date so the first one who actually gets a, "Sure, I'll go to dinner and a movie with you" will assume something like goddess status or something. Chicks are fucking weird. That's all I've gotta say.

I wish I could tell the whole lot of them to knock it the hell off, because while some guys would enjoy the attention Kid is most certainly not one of them and he's so damn nice that he is constantly worried about hurting their feelings when he turns them down.

This chick's got him running to the men's room mid-cigarette so I know she's got to be especially clueless about how off base her tactic is, but she probably thinks she's so special that she will attract him with some sort of magnetic charm.

"Kid's a real private guy. He doesn't talk much about that sort of thing."

She ponders for a moment, before appearing to draw a conclusion that is to her liking. "Well, that just means he hasn't met the right girl yet. I'm sure that when he meets the one he'll be more than happy to show her off."

Kid can be kind of flamboyant about things, but he doesn't strike me as the type who would really 'show off' a girl. I think he's more like me and would like to sneak away to some quiet nook and just be left alone with said girl or, if my suspicions are correct girls (plural), but I remain quiet and shrug.

"So what's his type anyways?"

I shrug again.

"Ugh," she groans. "You're no help. You are friends aren't you? How can you know so little? Is this the kind of help you give your meister?"

"No, but my meister is usually requiring assistance on more pressing matters."

"Hey, don't judge me, Soul. You can't tell me that you and Maka aren't doing the horizontal tango every chance you get on these long missions. The whole school knows you two are crazy about each other. I just want to make sure that Kid is equally well taken care of."

How fucking presumptuous is this chick? "I think his partners do a fine job of taking care of him." As soon as I say it I regret it. Kid will kill me if I inadvertently fuel a rumor that the Thompsons serve any non-demon hunting needs of his.

Hissing like a snake, Erika replies, "Kid needs to open his eyes and realize that there are more than just those two fish in the sea. There are plenty more to choose from and you can let him know I said that."

"I don't think I will. I really don't like to see other people trying to tear apart existing partnerships. It's one thing if the existing team isn't working well, but Kid and the Thompsons are a powerhouse and you shouldn't mess with them."

She glares at me. "In your humble opinion."

"_In my opinion,_ and I don't need to be humble. I'm well on my way to becoming a Death Scythe and I work with one of the most esteemed meisters at the academy. I am many things, but humble is not one of them."

She stomps off in a huff and I laugh. Some people make it way too easy to fuck with them.

I smash the cigarette under my foot, stoop to pick it up, and toss it in a nearby garbage can. Then I head back inside to find my meister. She is sitting on a bench in the station her nose buried in one of her books. At least she's making use of them since we've lugged them over the border.

I sit down next to her and lean back and watch the commotion around me. Tsubaki is attempting to teach one of the little kids some kind of song and finger rhyme thing. Patti is giving another one a piggy back ride. Liz is standing against a wall looking pissed off at the world…and Black*Star and Sandra are making out. Gross! Oh, her damn bow is whacking him in the face. It pisses me off so much I feel my blood boil just looking at them, which pisses me off even more because I'm a _dude_; I shouldn't care who Black*Star is swapping spit with, but I do.

As I quickly look away I discover Kid has reappeared from wherever he has been hiding and tells us that our ride is coming.

"Soul, Maka, you're in the same car as me and the Thompsons. Come on."

He leads us outside and I squint and look far off in the distance. There is something black coming from a long way away with a cloud of smoke above it.

"Is that a steam engine?!" I ask.

Kid shrugs. "There aren't any bullet trains around here. We're just lucky I could convince them to get this one out of mothballs for us."

"Is that thing gonna be safe? It's not gonna blow up on us is it?"

"I don't think coal blows up, Soul. You're probably in more danger on a modern train."

"Probably?"

The reaper laughs. "Death comes to all of us."

"Is that your family motto?" I tease him and he shakes his head as he turns around and starts calling for Liz and Patti like a parent trying to round up their rugrats.

As we get ready to board Kid tells us that we have the sleeper room next to him and the girls and that we should take a rest for an hour and then meet them in their compartment and we'll get to work. As we board the train we see that it is not only staffed with the engineers necessary to drive it, but also a number of stewards who are assisting other students to get on board and load the items we have lugged with us from the compound.

We wish Kid's team a nice rest and walk down the hall to the next door and open it so we can enter our sleeper compartment. I was expecting something crammed, but the space actually has a cozy charm I like. I flop down on the bed and pull off my shoes and socks. My meister pulls off her shoes and tosses our bags on the floor and climbs into the bed next to me.

"Ooohh," she groans. "I am so tired."

"Me, too."

"What a miserable morning."

"You sound like Kid."

"He's taking it hard isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's kind of a wreck. He hid it well at the compound, but he's starting to lose it now."

"The girls will make him feel better, I'm sure," she says. She snuggles close to me and I wrap an arm around her shoulder.

"Honestly," I say. "I don't think things went _that_ badly."

"You didn't have some chick trying to rip your hair out," Maka says.

"Yes, I did," I snicker and she hits me.

"I told you I was sorry!" and we both laugh for a moment before our little room is plunged into silence. I don't know what to say. It's nice to be alone with Maka again, but I feel too overwhelmed by everything. I don't even know where to begin to share all the thoughts bouncing around in my head. Finally, Maka speaks. "I feel so sorry for Tsubaki. I can't imagine how awful that must be."

"Yeah."

"I think one of the first things we should do is find out as much about Sandra as we can."

I nod. "But let's do what we were told to do. Let's just rest for a while."

My meister grumbles a little. I know she wants to start combing through those files for clues.

"Maka, rest."

She growls a little.

"You could read a book."

"I don't want to read a book."

I gasp. "Who are you and what have you done with my meister? Your brain hasn't been wiped too has it?"

"That's not funny," she says with a definite sharp tone to her voice. "I just think we should be working now."

"Kid wants us to rest and I agree with him."

She rolls her eyes. "There's work to be done."

"There will still be work to be done in an hour. Come on, meister. Avian Flu's demise does not hinge on whether we start digging through those files now or in an hour or even two hours from now. It'll be ok. Now _go to sleep_." I close my eyes. Oh, blessed sleep, come to me! She makes a whiny little nasally noise and my eyelids pop back open. "Are you intending to do this for the entire rest period? Cause if that's the case you can find yourself another bunkmate because your better half wants to go out like a light."

"Soul… I love you."

"Love you, too," I mumble not opening my eyes and hoping, praying that that is one of those 'I love you's that immediately proceeds sleep. I smile. Sleep…

"How could that man say such horrible things about you? How could they want you dead?" Oh, Lord Death, it _isn't _a before sleep 'I love you'. Instead, it's some kind of pre-emotional outburst 'I love you'. Why will this woman not let me sleep?

"Maka, don't worry about it. _I'm_ not worried about it."

"I'm not _worried_ about it. I just don't think it's fair."

"Life isn't fair and what Avian Flu thinks of me isn't any skin off my nose. I'd rather have them hate me than like me."

"Why would they think I belong with Justin Law?"

"Cause they have a twisted sense of humor? How the hell should I know? _Go to sleep_."

She gives me a chaste kiss on the lips and I hug her. "Don't let it get to you, ok? Nothing is going to happen to me and they can make up all kinds of asinine theories about my conception. Frankly, I don't give a damn. What is important is that you and I are together and safe and we will do everything in our power to keep it that way. Ok?"

She nods and I feel something wet on my face. I open my eyes. She's crying.

"Maka, what has you so upset?"

"If they get me I'll be like Black*Star. Even if they don't kill you they'll delete you from my memory."

I sigh. I have to tell her something I'd rather not admit out loud. "Maka, don't tell Black*Star I said this, but he's not exactly the brightest bulb on the candelabra. He's more of a meister by default than a meister with mental acuity like you and Kid. I think you would have a much better chance of standing up to their manipulation. Besides, Black*Star and Tsubaki like each other, but they aren't us. I don't believe there is any force in the universe that could make you and I forget one another."

The tears are coming harder now. "Oh, that's so romantic, Soul."

"It won't be some day when you dump me. Then you'll be begging to forget me."

"Oh, I'm never going to do that," she says softly, her lips mere millimeters from mine. We kiss and all I can think is that I hope she's right. I hope she never does leave me and I hope we never forget how nice it felt to be here like this together lying face to face in one another's arms kissing.

"Soul…" it's only my name, but it's a question. I know it is.

"I'm too tired."

"It doesn't _feel_ like you're too tired."

"That just happens whenever we kiss. Don't worry about it."

"Every time we kiss?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

She is silent for a moment. "I'm too tired, too," she says sounding very disappointed.

I pat her on the back. "Don't worry I'll give ya a raincheck, I promise."

Our lips caress one another one last time before our eyelids droop and we both fall asleep.

There is a knocking at the door and I realize that Maka and I forgot to set an alarm to wake us up to meet with Kid. I shout that I'll be there in just a minute and to come in and Tsubaki enters.

"Hey, Kid said I should come wake you guys up. Did you have a nice nap?"

I nod. "I could use another ten or twelve hours, though."

She laughs. "At least your room is quiet. I'm in with the kids and they are chatterboxes."

Maka looks sad. "I'm sorry, Tsubaki. You could take the upper bunk in here."

Tsubaki shakes her head. "No, it's ok. I need to supervise the kids and other students and, no offensive, but I'd rather not be around too many couples right now."

Maka and I nod and follow Tsubaki out and next door to Kid's compartment. His room is a little larger than ours, probably a deluxe suite or something with a table that can fold down from the walls. There are piles of documents everywhere and Kid looks like hell. The bed is currently positioned like a couch and he is hanging off the seat upside down.

"Thank you all for coming," he says. Then he rotates his head to take in the room. "Patti, where is Liz?"

"She's probably talking to Rodrigo."

"Rodrigo?"

"The steward who helped the two of us bring all the papers in here."

"Oh, him," Kid says quickly. "Wait, he doesn't speak a word of English."

"It doesn't matter. Some things can be expressed in any language."

Kid sits upright and wobbles a little as the blood that has pooled in his head rushes back down his body. "What are you saying?"

"He caught her checking out his ass when he was setting down the boxes."

"And…?"

"And…you know sis. She has needs."

"What?!" Kid looks repulsed.

Patti shrugs. "I'm sure she'll be here in a minute or two. She would never miss out on an assignment just to have sex."

Kid begins to twitch all over as though he is experiencing some kind of spasm.

"Are you telling me that Liz is probably having sex with one of the stewards right now?"

Patti looks at her timepiece. "Either that or wrapping it up. Hard to know. Depends on how much foreplay this guy-"

Kid's eyes have grown to be the size of saucers and the twitching has increased. "She just met him! He's a complete stranger! He doesn't even speak the same language as her."

"Oh, Kid, you're so naive sometimes. It's just sex," Patti says. "Do you want me to go find her? Would that make you feel better?"

"No," he says crossing his arms. "It would not. Because I don't feel bad in any way. Why would I?"

"Because you'd rather it was you."

"Now see here! I would not! I just think it is inadvisable to sleep with a strange man you just met."

Patti shrugs again. "She's not like you, Kid. She actually does something about her needs. At home she might just take matters into her own hands so to speak, but she can't very well do that with you around so-"

"So, Liz skipping out on an important strategy meeting with other DWMA students is my fault because I don't somehow ensure she has enough orgasms?"

Patti walks over to Kid and sits on his lap and pats his knees. "I'm so glad you understand. I was worried you might not get it since you're doing such a good job of waiting for the right person," she says while she smiles adoringly at her meister's face.

"Get off of me," Kid orders gruffly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to get your sister," he says with a determination I have only seen from him when taking down a demon. "She should _not_ be out there with some random stranger doing Shinigami only knows what."

"Because she should be here doing it with you," Patti says smiling.

Distracted, the reaper shouts back, "Precisely!" but then catches his slip-up a moment too late. Throwing up his hands, he backpedals, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that she should be here with _us _in our meeting, and-" He opens the door and, still looking back at Patti, collides with Erika.

"Oh, hi, Kid. You're just the man I was looking for. I just wanted to come and make sure you didn't need anything. I'd be happy to help…with anything…anything…_at all_." She says it in a voice that conveys that anything encompasses all manner of bawdy activities. Kid says nothing but steps to his left trying to pass her, but she steps that way too.

"Oh, Kid, I didn't know you liked to dance so much," she laughs as he grumbles.

"Erika, could you please excuse me, I'm trying to-"

We hear Liz's voice coming from the hall. "Excuse me, Erika. My meister and I have an important meeting. Don't you and Lydia have some activities you should be doing with the little ones?" She shoves her way past the pushy underclassman which is a trick since LIz has a duffle bag on her back. KId steps backward to let her into the room as Erika continues to stand in the doorway looking confused.

Turning back to the other weapon Liz says, "Erika, get lost, ok? How many times does Kid have to tell you he's not interested? Don't make him have to tell you again," Liz says and she slides the door shut in front of Erika and pulls the privacy shade down. Liz turns around and observes Kid looking even more frazzled than he did when we first arrived for the meeting.

"Kid, are you ok? She didn't grope you did she?"

He mumbles, "Garbage, failure, excuse of a man…piece of garbage…"

She raises her eyebrows, "That's what I was afraid of. Here." She opens her bag and tosses Kid a skateboarding magazine. "I got this for you at the depot. Sorry I didn't give it to you to look at during rest hour, but somehow Freddy's bag and mine got swapped so I had to go hunt down Rodrigo to help me figure out where my duffle was-"

"Enough!" Kid says with great agitation. "I don't need to hear it."

"Sooorrreee, Kid. I didn't realize it would be such a big deal to be a couple minutes late."

"You didn't tell me where you were going," he says.

"You were meditating. I didn't want to disturb you."

Patti interrupts, "Um, guys. I think we should talk about all of this later. Like sometime when Maka and Soul and Tsubaki aren't all here, ok?"

Liz and Kid suddenly seem to become aware that they've been doing all of this in front of an audience and they each grab the nearest file folder and open it in front of their faces.

"Right, now to learn…stuff," Kid says clearly having lost his mojo due to his lady issues. "Uh…" he stumbles and then says, "Right, uh, we need to study all these files to learn what they know about us and what they are trying to accomplish by indoctrinating students, etc. We cannot make more mistakes like the ones made today."

Liz lowers the file folder shielding her face, "Kid, things didn't go exactly hiccup free, but things could have gone a lot worse."

"What happened to Robin is my fault. We should have been more cautious in approaching those being held, we should have initiated quarantine immediately. That's what my father would have done."

Liz sits down beside him and strokes his leg. "You're being too hard on yourself. Robin got hurt, but he's going to be fine. We killed every enemy in the compound and we got a ton of information on their philosophies and plans. It was a victory."

He grunts. "I have two weapon/meister teams that can't function together."

"Black*Star makes Tsubaki cry even without the help of Avian Flu," Patti offers. "You've got to understand that sometimes that's part of the journey." She sits down crisscross apple sauce beside him and kisses the side of his face. "You make me cry, too, you know."

Kid appears startled and turns to look at her, obviously having his mind pulled from whatever self-loathing he was in the midst of. "I make you cry? You?"

She shrugs. "It just happens sometimes."

Kid turns his head and studies her face. "Well, will you please tell me next time I do something that hurts you, because I don't remember us ever fighting."

"All you guys do is fight," I comment.

"That's different," Liz says watching Kid and Patti as they stare at one another.

"Well, let's get to work," Tsubaki says picking up a file and tossing one to each of the rest of us and we set to work hoping that we can piece together what those crazy Avian Flu people are up to.


	53. Chapter 53: Revelations

**Risenfromash: **Thank you once again for your reviews. I am so honored that I get to be a part of your world, by offering you a little amusement.

_**Chapter 53: Revelations; All Kinds of Triggers**_

The task of examining all this shit is daunting. Presumably, there was some order to what was where when these documents were at the compound, but that organization has been entirely lost now. We pull down the big table and set small piles of charts on it randomly as well as some of those cards Maka and I found pinned to the bulletin board at the compound.

"Let's just take a look at whatever is on top and alphabetize them as we go," Maka suggests.

"What are we looking for?" I ask.

Kid shrugs. "We'll know when we see it. Patterns, ideas of who has provided them with all this intel, who they desire to use for what, and who they deem as expendable, that type of thing. I think we'll figure it out as we go along."

"Wonderful," I grumble eyeing the hundreds of files. I sigh and grab the top one from the nearest pile. The entire file focuses on a DWMA student, a meister, from the Shooting Stars class. It's not someone I really know so it feels a little weird to be flipping through his grades, health records, and even some kind of short story he wrote. A page in the file summarizes Avian Flu's assessment that he belongs in the Generation of Enlightenment due to his academic achievements, history of good dueling, and lack of medical disorders. There are some scrawlings in a red pen that I can't quite make out, but I'm guessing they are notes by a member of Avian Flu and I think they indicate that the organization may not yet have decided with whom they wished to partner him.

Other than the sloppy notes in red ink all the info contained in the folder appear to have been stolen from the DWMA at one point or another. It's unnerving to think that they have been able to steal this much confidential information over time, I think it's virtually our entire student record.

I notice that Maka is jotting notes on a pad of paper and then I feel like I should so I write down the dude's name, Yassif Fryberg, and that they wanted him for their stupid generation of enlightenment, but that's all I write because other than knowing they wanted him alive I don't feel like I learned much other than that the kid must be a bit of a suck-up because he got an 'A' from Ms. Leech who is one of the most disagreeable teachers I've ever met.

Maka suggests that we group the files together by what Avian Flu intended to do with the student. We create a pile for the rejects, like me and Patti who they didn't see fit to include in their enlightenment and another pile for those like Kid, Maka, and Patti who they wanted as part of the Generation of Enlightenment and then we create a third pile for 'other' which quickly becomes a hodgepodge of ones we can't decipher or students who they seem to desire for other purposes.

After a couple files we get into a groove realizing that we don't really have to look at everything in detail, just flip through the contents to see any notes Avian Flu had made on the documents.

"Oh, shit, don't let Ox see this or he'll switch sides," I say chuckling as I toss a piece of paper from Ox's file across for Kid to take a look at. The reaper glances at it and then despite all the tension in the room he busts up.

"What's so funny, guys?" Tsubaki asks.

"They have Ox romantically paired with Kim," Kid says chuckling. "I agree with Soul. We best keep that info to ourselves."

"I think Kim would have something to say about that," Tsubaki says giggling. "I think she's into Oliver."

"That katana?" I ask.

"Yeah, they're always sitting in the library together."

As we begin speculating on our classmate's love interests I notice Liz pick up one of the bulletin board cards and stuff it somewhere in her cleavage. She thinks she's been successful in not being seen until she senses me staring at her. For a brief moment she looks upset that I caught her, but quickly that expression transforms into an icy stare. Whatever is on that card is clearly something she does not want the rest of us to see. My stomach flops a little. I don't like secrets, not within a team of people that's this close and with so much at stake, but I'm sure Liz must have her reasons. So I keep my mouth shut and figure I'll bring it up to her later sometime when I can talk to her alone about it. For all I know it's her own card and she's embarrassed by what's on it. We are learning a lot of private information about our fellow students which violates about a million school rules, I'm sure.

We flip through file folder after file folder. It's a depressing task to determine who a bunch of zealots think deserve to live and who should die. One student will be chosen to join the Generation of Enlightenment because of her strength while another student with almost identical stats is rejected for some reason such as severe allergies or not complying with basic rules and structures established by authority figures. It all seems arbitrary and that makes it feel all the more wrong to me.

To lighten the mood we share stories of better times inspired by the things we find in the files.

"Oh, here's Erika's file," I say. "I wonder what kind of secrets are hiding in here."

"Only that she's a wanna-be team-wrecker and a slut, but that's no secret," Liz grumbles.

Kid stops thumbing through the file he is currently reviewing and scolds her. "Really, Liz? I would think you of all people would know that it can be quite hurtful to throw around the 'slut' word."

"Fine, I'll concede to you that 'slut' is a word used for women that do things society considers only permissible by men."

"Indeed," Kid says returning to examining something in the folder in his hand.

"Therefore, I think the proper term would be skank," Liz says and I can't tell if she's entirely serious or just trying to incite an argument with her meister.

"Oh, so you don't argue with that, huh, Kid?" Patti asks her meister. "That's a huge relief! I wasn't sure you knew what bad news she is."

"I agree with you that she is not _only_ trying to get me to go on a date with her but also attempting to encroach on our partnership, but you needn't worry yourselves. I have _absolutely_ _no_ interest in her…either as a partner or anything else." At this Patti grins from ear to ear. "I knew you wouldn't go for someone so…"

"Tasteless, tacky, pushy?" the reaper offers the words as if they naturally come to mind when thinking of her. "I think those are far better words than 'skank', to really express why whenever I see her I run the other direction."

"Well, I'm glad she hasn't corrupted you with her offers of easy sex," Liz says while pulling out a long continuous stack of printed documents that are still attached to one another with their ticker-tape edges intact.

Kid chuckles. "Oh, it's done quite the opposite I assure you. There is nothing more of a turn off than her tactless approach."

"So, I take it this has been going on for a while?" I say.

"Yeah, because she's a gun and thinks she's hot stuff she's always trying to get Kid to 'try her on for size' or some shit," Liz grumbles.

Kid sighs, "Yes, she seems to think that I will admire her tenacity if she refuses to take 'no' for an answer."

"What'd she do that has you so sure she's trying to replace Liz and Patti?" Maka asks as she takes a break to write a couple notes down. "All I ever hear her talk about is her bragging about how great she and Lydia are together."

"That is true, but both of them have made it very clear that they would be happy to part ways were they to feel that the change in partners was an upward movement."

"And," interrupts Patti. "She sent him a Valentine."

"So? I think I sent him one, too," Maka laughs.

"Yeah, me too," admits Tsubaki. "Are we on your shit list, too?"

Liz rolls her eyes. "It wasn't that she _gave _him a Valentine. He gets a ton of them every year. His whole locker reeks of perfume for a week afterwards. It's disgusting."

"It was the card itself," Patti continues right where her sister left off. "Go on, Kid. Tell them what Miss Erika's message was to you."

"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," he says. "It made me feel rather ill, honestly."

"Tell them."

"No. It's embarrassing."

"Then I'll tell them."

He sighs and sets down the file folder. "Fine. The valentine had a big heart on the front and a drawing of her in weapon form."

"And…" Patti goads.

"And," he takes another deep breath and then begins speaking very quickly. "And the note inside said that I was free to stick my finger in her trigger anytime." The reaper turns bright red and immediately lifts a folder up to shield his face from view as we all bust out laughing.

"I suppose it was intended to be sexy… but I assure you that it did not have the desired effect. Especially since I can't even be flattered by her advances since she's been with something like have the guys in her class."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Patti says. "Whatever you do don't sleep with anyone in the Laughing Sun class."

"Why?" Tsubaki queries.

"Ugh," Kid lowers the file folder. "Princess, that was supposed to be confidential information."

"I'm just doing a public service."

"I would hope that our friends aren't dumb enough to sleep with anyone with crabs," he says once again turning to concentrate on files.

I raise my hand. "Wait, what?"

Maka stops flipping through papers and looks at me. "Why should you care? You better not be planning on having sex with anyone else!"

The words can hardly flow fast enough from my mouth to assure her that I was merely curious, not that I was actually worried about an alleged STD outbreak on campus.

"But I don't understand. How do you know that?" I look at them. "We've like shared bedding with you guys and stuff, should we be worried?"

Kid grunts and mumbles something about maybe if people keep sleeping with total strangers they meet on trains and then he stops sharply having apparently been kicked under the table by Patti.

The younger Thompson sister says, "Remember when Kid was in the hospital with that horrible cough-"

"Because he smokes," Liz interjects.

"Right-"

"For the last time, ladies, it was not because I smoke! It was because I got carried away with trying to perfect my nose stall and ended up skateboarding in the rain for too long."

"I don't believe that for one minute," Patti says calmly. "But, anyways, I kept coming to the hospital to keep him company-"

"To pester me so that I couldn't get any rest more like," the reaper mumbles.

"Whatever, you loved having me nurse you back to health, but anyways, Kid and I overheard Mira talking to Sid about how something like half of the Laughing Sun class had crabs and that it was so bad they were having to bleach everything in the locker rooms and stuff."

"Are you happy now?" Kid asks Patti and she smiles so wide and sweetly that he gives her a half smile back while shaking his head.

"Gross!" Maka says curling her lips in disgust at the thought of gross germs all over our school.

"At least I only got knocked up!" giggles Tsubaki. "It's embarrassing to have everybody know what happened, but that would be a lot worse I think."

"Have you decided if you're keeping the baby?" Maka asks.

"No, not yet. I'll probably put it up for adoption. It's probably the responsible thing to do… beings as I'm so young and being a single mom is so hard…but every time I think I've made up my mind I reconsider. I know it's silly, because there is no good reason anyone our age should want a baby, but I think it's gonna be hard to give the little guy…or girl up." She sighs wistfully. "And, honestly, I've been really busy so I haven't gotten to research everything I should about all the options. You can have open or closed adoptions or I could see if someone from my village would want the baby, but then again I got myself into this mess by trusting someone from my village."

"Well, know that we're here if you need anything, ok?" Maka says and we all nod. It's kind of hard having a friend in this situation because I for one have no idea how to be helpful other than maybe hunt down that assbag that knocked her up and teach him some damn manners.

"Oh, look!" Exclaims Kid happily. "It's my file, so nice and thick. I wonder which of my talents they thought they would utilize to their advantage. Want to place bets? They clearly don't understand what a handicap OCD is otherwise I'd be in the to-be-exterminated pile." His self-deprecating laughter fills the room as Liz reaches over and tries to slide the file out of his hand.

"I think placing bets is a great idea, Kid. Let's have Patti take a look and you and I can guess. Maybe there will be a copy of your hour long dissertation on the prehistoric demon hunter in there."

"It was not an hour long. I'll have you know that I am not as bad as Excalibur," he says as his partners try to get him to loosen his grip on the file. "We can bet even with me having the folder…" He says while giving his partners a suspicious look. "Is there something you think I shouldn't see in my _own _file?" he laughs. "What? You worried there's something in here that says it's not OCD and that I'm instead certifiably insane? Well, if I'm being institutionalized you two are going with me, believe me." He flips open the file and laughs.

"See, I have copies of all of this…" he assures them as he thumbs through the records while Liz and Patti look nervously at one another. "See, they are impressed with my martial arts, unimpressed by my skateboarding because they are imbeciles and don't understand the talent involved there, very impressed with my ability to resonate so effectively with both of you concurrently and…" His voice trails off as his eyes fall upon something that must be more interesting. Whatever it is he is reading it intently.

"That bastard!" he shouts suddenly.

"Kid?" Patti says as she gently places a hand on his arm.

"My father lied to me," he flings the file folder back onto the table in disgust.

"What is it?" Liz asks her voice shaking as the reaper stalks over to the door and then whips back around to shout, "No wonder I feel like a piece of garbage all the time. My own father can't tell me the fucking truth."

Liz and Patti run over to him standing on either side of him.

"Kid, it's ok, buddy," Liz says trying to comfort her meister.

The reaper's yellow eyes search Liz's and then Patti's. "Did you know?"

"We had our suspicions," Liz admits.

"But we figured it was like the rumors about Soul's dad, just something some asshole says to try and stir up trouble," Patti explains. "Kid, it's not a big deal where you came from. What matters is where you are today."

"Look at us. Our whore of a mother dumps us on the street, but you saw beyond that and helped us to become who we are today," Liz tells him.

"That's right. All that matters is the person that you are, and you're a very sweet, pure soul Kid. Everybody knows it." Patti says smiling at him. "Please, don't cry, Kid."

Kid jerks his head away from his partners to hide the tears that are beginning to run down his cheeks. "I don't _like_ the person that I am. I should be better. I _could _be better if he would quit lying to me."

"Kid, we love you," Liz says standing next to him. "And your father loves you, too. I'm sure he had his reasons for keeping you in the dark."

"_Power. It's all about keeping the power._ He _disgusts_ me."

"Look, your dad wanted a child so bad he _made_ you. At least you were wanted. Our mom just threw us away."

"I'm sorry," Kid says suddenly looking ashamed. "How thoughtless of me. Of course, what you've been through is far worse. I just get _so_ angry at him and his secrets and his lack of communication! He spends hours talking to Spirit, but won't tell me a damn thing. I hate it."

His partners nod in sympathy.

"Uh, should we go?" Maka asks quietly.

"No," Kid says wiping away the tears with the back of his hand. "I apologize for letting my personal feelings get the better of me. I'm fine now."

"Kid, you don't need to apologize," Patti says.

Kid walks back to the table addressing Tsubaki, Maka, and I who don't know what the fuck is going on. "I've just learned something about myself from _Avian Flu's_ records rather than from my own father. Lucky me! Apparently, my lack of a mother is not akin to Soul's absent father, but is instead because I don't have one. My father created me through some kind of alchemical spell. I never met my mother because she doesn't exist and never did."

"Couldn't it just be another one of Avian Flu's lies?" Tsubaki asks hopefully.

Kid shakes his head. "No, I know my father's handwriting. You can take a look. There's the spell right there." He pauses. "I feel dirty."

Maka cautiously leans over to look at the file which is lying open on the table.

"Go, ahead. I don't mind," Kid says. "It appears that all these years when I've wondered what my mother was like I may as well have saved myself the trouble. Father made me in his image and it probably has more to do with maintaining the family business than with wanting a child." Kid begins to wring his hands. "He told me my mother died in childbirth. Now I have to wonder what other lies he's told me."

"Kid, don't do this," Patti says taking his hand. "You have family and people that love you. That's all that's important."

Kid rolls his eyes. "And the best part is that the bastard expects me to come save him! I've half a mind to let him rot with Avian Flu. Yes, maybe I should forget about him the same way that he conveniently forgot to tell me one or two little things like he made me form his rib or some such ridiculous thing. Good grief! That man drives me insane!"

"Kid, I'm taking this file away from you," Liz says grabbing the file and pulling from her bra the card she had snagged earlier and stuffing it inside. "You don't need all this crap staring you in the face right now."

"That's probably a wise thing," Kid says bitterly and then returns to the table and grabs another file.


	54. Chapter 54: Pride of the Pack

**Risenfromash:** Howdy! Soon I will be updating my author page to include a list of OCs in this story as there are a lot of them that have been introduced recently and they will be coming in and out of the story as things progress. I think Brian is probably my favorite to write.

I also wanted to make a comment because I got a review for Chapter 18 saying that the reader thought Maka was OOC and there are definitely times when I fear she is because for some reason I find her a challenging character to write, but at the same time one of the reasons I enjoy writing fanfiction based on anime/manga/video games is that so often we only get to see a small portion of characters' personas in the canon source material. I've never felt moved to write Harry Potter fanfiction because I feel like those are dynamic characters and J.K. Rowling has them grow and develop over time so amazingly, but in something like Soul Eater there is so much we don't see and don't know about the characters that is fun to speculate what goes on off camera or in the years ahead. So if my imagined version doesn't mesh with your vision of a character please write your vision! That's the fun of a fandom. Some of my favorite stories about Gray from Fairy Tail have him at polar opposites with one another. In one he will be very "experienced" with women and sex and in another he will be totally clueless about the opposite sex and I will find stories that I find believable that have him both ways and enjoy them both. So, enough about the joys of fanfiction writing…on to the story.

_**Chapter 54: Pride of the Pack; Lost Opportunities for Betterment?**_

The work of digging through the files is depressing and after three hours I'm not sure we are anywhere closer to learning Avian Flu's secrets, instead all we seem to have uncovered is a lot of embarrassing personal shit about our schoolmates and each other, though little makes me bat an eye anymore. If you're a student or staff member at the DWMA the chances are your life story is a lot more colorful than your average Joe who can merrily go about his or her daily business pretending that magic doesn't exist and that demons are only things cooked up by superstitious religious zealots or people telling ghost stories around a campfire.

After a while the individual stories of abandonment, heroism, and scandal all kind of flow together to create one profile of the DWMA as a place unlike any other for a very, special unique breed of adventurer, but for some reason that seems to piss off Avian Flu, whoever the hell 'Avian Flu' actually is, and it leads them to step in and play god, deciding who should die and who should marry and settle down with whom and what they are best suited to do to serve the planet.

"Disgusting," I say tossing down a file on the exterminate pile. "Dinh Quach is out of luck because they think he's too antisocial."

"He's not antisocial, he's just shy," Tsubaki says with anger. "He's not used to our culture, but if you get him to play soccer with you or sing Karaoke, he's a hoot."

"When'd you go to Karaoke with him?" Maka asks making small talk as she jots notes on her now cluttered notepad.

"Oh, it's been a while ago and I wasn't actually with _him_. Me and some of the girls from the Shooting Stars went out and he happened to be there with that cousin of his, Phuong, I think it is? I can't remember. Something like that."

I reach over to take a drink from a glass of water. After about an hour we realized that we couldn't do this without refreshments and beverages so Kid had the kitchen bring us a bunch so we wouldn't have an excuse to wander off and not come back and as if everyone knows that I might be the most tempted to find an excuse to find another job besides the tedium of file mining I'm pinned in the corner with Maka to my left and Tsubaki on her left. There's no way I'm getting out of here. With this massive table Liz, who is seated opposite me, and I are trapped. Though, Liz surprising doesn't look much more pissed than usual. Next to her is Patti appearing as perky as usual, but Kid who is sitting next to her is looking rather haggard and like he could use a drink of the alcoholic kind, a smoke, or a week's worth of sleep, probably all three. It probably didn't help that at one point Patti wanted to study the files by doing her special stare-at-the-outside-of-the-book-or-folder study technique which Kid and Liz reminded her had earned her a big ole fat 'F' on one of Stein's big exams last year. She had pouted some about not getting to experiment with her extra sensory powers until Kid yelled at her and then she opened the file and got to work.

I make Maka and Tsubaki scooch over a little so I can stand up to stretch, as much as one can on a train, and then plop back down to examine the next file on my pile. Unlike all the others I've looked at it is an ugly salmon colored folder. I guess Avian Flu ran out of green ones either that or they are like Lord Death and like to buy what's on sale. I glance down at the name and get excited.

"Hey, guys, this file says 'Sandra Bitzengard'. Is that obnoxious Sandra?" I look to my friends and they all shake their heads. None of us know her surname.

"Look inside, maybe it has a photo," suggests Patti and I eagerly flip it open. No one returns to the files they were studying. This is too important and it looks like there's quite a bit here.

"Let's see…an application to the DWMA. I thought she wasn't a student…maybe this isn't her after all," I mutter to myself as I begin to check things out. I hand the form to Maka who examines it more closely as I continue to flip through the rest of the folder's contents. "Some kind of doctor's notes…maybe from a shrink…no, this has got to be her check this out." I hold up a child's drawing of a battleax. She must have drawn it shortly before or after she started transforming.

"It looks like she was rejected from admission to the academy," Maka says. "Kid, isn't that really unusual? I had always been told that almost all Demon Weapons are admitted and that it was only those applying for meister slots that had a real chance of rejection."

"In general, that's true, because being a Demon Weapon is very rare and my father knows that many find their way to the DWMA because they have nowhere else to go, kind of like what happened with Brian, but, occasionally even those with the ability to transform into weapons are rejected based on their interview and pre-admission test. Soul, there may be stuff in there about why she was rejected. I think that will prove to be valuable info."

I grunt my agreement and dig more feverishly. "Oh, I think this is it. Isn't this Stein's writing?" I hold a carbon copy of something for Maka to look at.

"Yeah, it looks like it. 'Youth displays adequate control over maintaining and transforming in and out of weapon form, but shows little discipline in any other pursuit. She frequently interrupted during the tour of the school and when instructions were being given to the group. She was overheard belittling other students and used her weapon form to intimidate a smaller child. This behavior did not resolve with redirection and she refused to apologize. I witnessed what I consider to be a lack not of self-control, but a lack of understanding of consequences that come about as a result of said behavior. At one point I had to admonish her for impolite treatment of one of the school's janitors. After having a discussion with her about the code of conduct expected of a DWMA student I feel that she lacks the motivation to modify her behavior to meet that standard and be successful in the existing structure of the academy. Regretfully, I recommend declining her admission at this time. Perhaps, in a few years she will have matured to the point to be able to handle the things necessary. Professor Stein."

"Shit," Liz said. "Maybe I should be glad I didn't have to go through the admissions process."

"Yeah," Patti says nodding. "Being partnered with the headmaster's son lets you kinda bypass all that, since Kid wasn't even required to enroll."

"You would have passed no problem," Kid assures them. "Honestly, this is the only time I've ever heard of someone being _rejected_ admission simply based on attitude. People have certainly been _kicked out_ because of it, but usually it isn't a barrier to admission. I wonder why she wasn't given a chance…"

"Oh, Kid, please don't give me a reason to feel sorry for her," Tsubaki says sadly. "This whole thing is a lot easier for me to deal with if I can believe she's a horrible person or simply doesn't have any more control over what's going on than Black*Star does."

"Well, she sounded plenty awful to _me_. Yelling at a janitor and trying to intimidate some other kid?" I remind them. "It sounds to me like a lot of that lovely attitude of hers was there long before Avian Flu butted their nose in."

Kid grins slyly at me and says with amusement, "Though, I do seem to recall that you weren't the most welcoming of _me_ on _my_ first day."

"That was all Black*Star's fault," I reply flatly. He's not here, he can take the fall.

"Soul, in Star's defense I think you were both egging each other on equally. You were both pretty worked up about what new student could be so powerful," Tsubaki says. I see that she's still fulfilling her self-assigned role of defending her meister's actions even though he doesn't even remember _being _her meister. Tsubaki is nothing if not loyal, especially to him.

"Whatever…" I mumble, not seeing any reason to delve any further into the dumbass things I've done with my best bro. "Oh, look here's Sid's assessment. 'I served as proctor for the testing group containing applicant, Sandra Bitzengard. I regret to inform the committee that I observed a number of highly antisocial behaviors from her including but not limited to: arguing with other students in the hall prior to the interview, challenging a number of testing methods, and swearing repeatedly at me while I acted as test proctor. I attempted to redirect this behavior to more constructive forms of self-expression, but was unsuccessful and, instead, feel that my interventions made her more hostile toward me and other staff members. Therefore, even though she successfully met the testing standard for admission, I do not recommend granting her admission to the academy."

"Wow, that was Sid?" Kid asks, his eyebrows raised. "Coming from him that's _really_ bad. He usually sides with students on things. I don't think he's ever even voted to expel a student, even that guy who was constantly getting stoned in the bathroom."

"Whatever did happen to Pothead Paul?" Maka asks.

"Eventually he let his partner down one too many times and so she requested a new weapon partner and he was unable to find anyone else willing to work with him so he left town."

"Yeah, thank Shinigami we can actually use the third floor left wing men's room again without having all the teachers suspecting us of toking. It's such a pain to hike all the way down to the second floor." Kid nods his agreement with me. Sid may have thought the DWMA should have worked harder to try to get Paul in control of his habit, but the rest of us were so frustrated with his takeover of the restroom that we practically cheered when he dropped out. It was sad I guess for us to lose him, but having a convenient location to take a dump is important, especially in a place as ginormous as the DWMA's campus.

"Maybe we should look him up, he sounds like he'd be an easy person for Avian Flu to manipulate," comments my meister as she scrawls on her notepad, "Contact Pothead Paul" on her paper. "Anyone know his last name?"

Everyone shakes their head and my meister sighs. "When we get back to DC, Soul and I will look him up."

"Ok, back to Sandra," orders Kid, acting as taskmaster for the assembled group.

I nod. "Right. There's one more assessment in here. It's from Ms. Leech."

"Oh, I bet she has a lot to say about her," Tsubaki says, because we all know that Ms. Leech _always _has an earful to say about everyone and everything. Her long and preachy lectures have made her notorious for agitating students till they stomp out of class and we all hate her guts because she doesn't get along well with many of the younger faculty members like Professor Stein, who we all love.

I look at her written assessment. "Actually, it's surprisingly short, 'During the practicum and interview for admission to the DWMA I had a number of interactions with applicant, Sandra Bitzengard and found her to be highly disagreeable-'"

"Funny, that's what _we_ say about her," Liz says. "Fuckin' witch."

Kid sighs, "My father once alluded to plans to force her into early retirement, but that was three years ago and the hag is still hard at work making everyone's lives miserable. Once again proving my father is spineless."

"No, that's you Bendy Boy," Liz says grinning playfully at her meister from the other end of the table.

"Oooohhh, I like that!" Patti exclaims happily also turning to grin at her meister. "I think I'll call you that from now on Kid. Just think of it, _The Thompsons and Bendy Boy_!'"

"No, thank you. It sounds like a bad garage band or some kind of bizarre kink show."

"Oh, like _Puppetry of the Cock_. I've really wondered about that show…"

"You would." Kid says shaking his head. "Someday that curiosity of yours is going to get you into real trouble."

"Oh, you know I just believe in living each day to the fullest," Patti says crawling into his lap and smiling at him sweetly. "That's why the reaper in you is naturally drawn to me."

"I suppose," he replies sounding unconvinced, but wrapping an arm around her back and helping her to settle more comfortably into his lap.

Maka clears her throat to remind the threesome across the table from us that we are supposed to be working. Embarrassed, Kid and Liz immediately say 'sorry' while Patti just grins shamelessly at the three of us on the other side of the table, apparently glowing with pride that she has managed to weasel her way into Kid's lap without him objecting.

"Ok, here's the rest of what Ms. Leech says. 'Ms. Bitzengard expressed that she had little interest in attending the academy and was being forced to do so by her father who had failed to complete his training as a meister at the academy. I heard her belittle many time-honored traditions and customs of the meister/weapon system and she failed to successfully partner with any other student during the ice breaker sessions. I believe that as she does not want to be a part of the academy and, therefore, should not be granted admission.'"

"So, she was rejected and never trained…but then somehow she got snatched up by Avian Flu. So, how's that happen?" Tsubaki asks.

"Good question," remarks Kid closing his eyes as he contemplates. "They could have stumbled upon her much the same way we did Brian…"

"Or Maka's right and they are intentionally recruiting people with a grudge against the academy like expelled or rejected students," suggests Liz as she pops a potato chip into her mouth. "If I was looking for a bunch of people to fight Lord Death those would be the people I'd start with."

"Or it's a weird coincidence," Patti says shrugging.

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Kid says slowly more to himself than the rest of us.

"There's something here we're missing," Maka says holding out her hand for me to give her the file.

"Ok, Sherlock, here's the clues," I say winking at the woman who first made the connection about the midget demons who apparently are kids not sex addicts like I thought. Though, now knowing they are some kind of victimized kids makes it super hard to kill them and take their soul, now we all have guilt for the one's we've already claimed… I sigh. Good and evil no longer seem as black and white as they once did. I wonder if it's always going to be like this. Is this what being an adult is like? If so maturity is really gonna suck.

Tsubaki leans over the file. "Please tell me there is something in there that will make Black*Star not like her. Like she thinks professional wrestling should be illegal or that she's vegan or-"

"You think he'd dump you if you were a vegan?" I ask surprised.

"Soul! For the hundredth time, we were never _dating_…or doing anything remotely intimate… unlike the rest of you, I guess," and she blushes at the thought.

I notice that Kid and his team don't bother to deny her assessment that we've all been messing around with our partners… interesting. Sometimes he's so quick to deny everything, other times, nothin'. No wonder that whole team's seems so confused all the time. I think their captain is having them row the boat in circles.

Maka starts reading something. "How bout this? To be paired with Black*Star. Black*Star needs a strong, directive woman, physically adept at combat. Goal- conception within one year. Generation of Enlightenment- recruitment. Settle in California base with Ox and Kim; begin local indoctrination with weekly seminar."

"They sound like a really crappy religion," I grunt before chugging down more water.

"Black*Star will receive MAPH three times daily after capture to help focus on Sandra as partner. Lessen influence of DWMA morality, distance from Albarn/Eater team and Kid/Thompson team as much as possible. Convert memories of Tsubaki to Sandra whenever possible or block out. Sandra to provide MAPH reinforcement. Black*Star/Sandra transfer from Mexican facility after confirmation of memory solidification. Sandra to report on progess and provide support."

"Provide support…?" Tsubaki asks as an intense pounding sounds on the door of the compartment we're occupying.

"Just when we are finally getting somewhere," I grumble.

Tsubaki rises to answer the door.

"If it's Erika tell her she'll just have masturbate, because we're occupying Kid's fingers right now," Patti says staring right into her meister's eyes with a very determined gaze.

"Very funny," he says frowning at her and shaking his head.

But before Tsubaki can ask who it is we hear, "Guys, it's me, Brian. I needa talk to you right now! It's important."

Kid nods and slides Patti off his lap as Tsubaki opens the door and the young man bursts in.

"Kid, that Sandra chick is trying to poison Black*Star! I was helping the cooks in the kitchen making everybody fancy drinks and I made one for him and I saw her slip something into it when she pulled out the little umbrella. It was in a little packet, but it wasn't sugar- it was bright purple and when I asked her what it was she got all up in my face."

The rest of us jump up.

"Is he ok? Where is he?" Tsubaki practically shouts it.

"Yeah, he didn't drink it."

"Where is Sandra?" Maka asks angrily.

"I locked her in a restroom," Brian says.

I grin, "You know? You're alright, runt."

"Thanks. So, do we get to take that bitch down?" He asks eagerly.

"I thought you had the hots for her," I comment.

"She's got nice jugs, but that's about it, and Tsubaki isn't hurting in that department-"

"I'm right here, Brian," Tsubaki says embarrassed.

Brian grins back at her shamelessly, "Believe me, I know and I'm in your corner, babe. You're super sweet and I know how much he missed ya before this chick started messing with his head or whatever. Come on, I'll take you to him. He's teaching the little ones a bunch of moves."

"Maka, you and Soul and Tsubaki go make sure Black*Star's ok," Kid instructs. "I'm going to go with Brian and see where Sandra's being held. I have an idea."

Tsubaki and my meister and I run to the observation car where most of our travel companions are hanging out. Black*Star has a cluster of kids, both the little ones and the younger DWMA students surrounding him as he reguiles them with some story.

"What do you wanna bet it's about him?" I whisper to Maka and she nods. Black*Star's almost as bad about that as Ox and Excalibur.

Black*Star's acting out the story his body swirling as he pretends to swing a weapon. "Then I charged up to that demon swinging my battle ax and cut into him with such force that I cleaved him clean in two. It was totally god-like. And Sandra appeared to claim the soul, because, of course, we need ninety-nine and one witch soul to make her a Death Scythe. But then out of nowhere this crazy furred beast jumped out and gobbled up the soul. It was another demon! And as it ate the soul it seized Sandra in its long nails! It grabbed her and pulled her up next to him and started drooling all over her and licking her neck." The kids all squeal their disgust before he continues. "She turned into her weapon form but couldn't manage to get free, so I just ran right up and kicked the demon in the face and then I punched him-"

"And you accidentally hit your weapon partner in the face, instead," Tsubaki says matter-of-factly walking up to the front of the group. "She got a black eye."

"Hey," Black*Star straightens his back startled by the interruption. "That's not how I remember it."

"I'm sure. But that's how it happened and it was me with you, not Sandra. It was two years ago. We had just had a picnic and _thought_ we were gonna have a day off. You were planning on meeting Soul later to play basketball."

"No, it was Sandra…" he says but not with the same conviction he did only moments ago. "But she was taller and sweeter…and her voice sounded softer…"

Maka and I smile. "Do you remember what she did then?" Tsubaki asks.

"She managed to get free…and she jumped in front of me when the demon came after me," he says sadly. "Then Stein and Spirit showed up and fought the thing. They defeated it and the next day at school she told everyone that the demon had punched her in the face, because she didn't want me to be embarrassed that I gave her a black eye and didn't even manage to get a single soul… Was that you?"

Tsubaki nods and Black*Star blinks. "I don't understand why I don't remember it more clearly." He scratches the back of his head in frustration.

"It's complicated," Tsubaki says walking up to him.

His eyes narrow as he studies the face of this woman who seems to know so much more about him than he knows about himself and it's obvious that some part of him is questioning the reality he has accepted.

"You were my partner."

Tsbubaki nods.

"You kissed me."

Tsubaki looks down at her feet. "I was really happy to know that you were ok."

"Don't be embarrassed. I'm not a bad looking dude."

I laugh, "And that humble attitude is definitely your best quality."

"I think we should leave these two alone and deal with Sandra," Kid whispers to us. I didn't even realize he and Brian were back already. I turn and see that he is already armed with a Demon Twin Pistol in each hand.

"You think they'll be ok? What if Black*Star goes all psycho?" I ask.

"Hey, Brian," Kid whispers. "You think you can make sure Black*Star and Tsubaki don't kill each other while they get reacquainted?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I managed to stuff Sandra into the bathroom."

"Yeah, how did you do that?"

"I told her that Black*Star was in there wanting to get it on with her."

I give him a high five. "Good one."

The runt shrugs, "Rodrigo had to help. She's really strong."

"You should not be encouraging that boy," Maka tells me as we follow Kid to Sandra's makeshift prison cell.

"But, he's fucking hilarious."

"He's like a tiny version of what you'd be like if you weren't a DWMA student. It's terrifying."

"Aw," I tease her back. "You aren't like Kid? Two too much to handle?" She grunts in response.

"Besides, I thought you were eager to make a bunch of little Soul babies."

"In your dreams," she says picking up the pace as Kid moves from one car to the next.

I just laugh at her. I don't want kids, I'm just teasing her, and she knows it. "You want me in weapon form or what?"

She extends her hand and I transform, but a train hallway is a lousy place to fight with a sickle.

"So, what do we do about the pink nightmare?" I whisper to Kid.

Kid smiles and spins his guns on his pinkies. "We get rid of her the easiest way we can. We're gonna throw her off the train."


	55. Chapter 55: Reaping Retribution

_**Chapter 55: Reaping Retribution; Is Invoking Fear Wrong?**_

We stand in front of a restroom door that proclaims 'Vacancy' despite having been barricaded by some kind of metal rack from the kitchen so the occupant can't get out. I'm impressed that despite the fact Brian and Rodrigo had to act quickly they came up with a very effective barricade for the door, which is all the more surprising since I thought Brian told us he didn't speak Spanish and supposedly Rodrigo doesn't understand English. To keep other people from asking too many questions Brian taped a sign to the door that says "Out of Order."

Maka raps on the door.

"Black*Star is that you, honey?" the voice sounds innocent enough as it drifts from behind the barricaded door. "Is that you sweetheart? Are you there?"

"He's not here," Maka answers flatly.

"Where is he?" Sandra asks. I pop partially out of my weapon form and the meisters nod to me to indicate it's time to remove the bars and allow the door to swing outward.

"He's with his weapon partner. His _real _partner," I say with disgust. "The one who doesn't lie to him and drug him and work with his enemy." As I speak, Sandra gets her first view of who is waiting for her outside of her confinement. Her eyes take in Maka first, holding me in a confident stance clearly ready to cut her down should she try anything funny, but it isn't until she looks past us that her nervousness increases to terror, because behind Maka, Kid stands dressed in his full reaper garb with his mask down. As if that isn't terrifying enough to those not accustomed to the sight of a reaper, Kid is holding a Twin Demon Pistol in each hand with their sights aimed right at Sandra's head.

Her eyes grow huge and she begins blubbering her defense. "You don't understand! Brian misunderstood. It's medicine. It_ helps_ him. He'll die without it! You gotta believe me!"

"If that's true than _we'll_ be the ones to give it to him," I say as Maka holds her hand out. "Cough it up, Sandra."

The accused teenager reaches into her pocket and starts to pull something out.

"If you know what's good for you, you won't try using that knife. Just drop it to the ground," Kid says somehow sensing the presence of a very small switchblade in her pocket. "Unless you want the Thompsons and me to blow your head clean off."

Kid isn't messing around and I realize how lucky we are he's on our side. It's easy to forget when he's zipping around on his board or bantering back and forth with his saucy partners that he has the ability to yank the life right out of you not only because he's a reaper but because he is one of the world's greatest meisters and his amazing resonance with both partners allow him to do attacks that were previously unheard of, or so Maka has told me. All I know is that this is the absolute scariest I've ever seen him and if I were in Sandra's shoes it would be a really, really good thing that I was being held in a toilet because I would be shitting myself.

"Don't take it too personally," I tell her. "We're just sick to death of Avian Flu's shit. Now hand the powder over to my meister or we _will_ hurt you."

She drops the knife to the floor and then hands three little paper packets to Maka who puts them in her pocket for safe keeping, never once letting her eyes drift from Sandra.

"I'm telling you the truth. He'll die if you don't give it to him," Sandra insists.

"I suppose you think he'll die without you, too," Kid says dryly. "But I highly doubt that."

"I know you guys don't like me, but I'm who he's meant to be with."

"Bull shit," Maka and I grunt in unison which startles us since that isn't a phrase I think I've ever heard her utter before. I guess after all this time I've had an influence on her, too.

"Sandra, you need to get one thing straight. We aren't interested in what Avian Flu's design is for our lives. We control our own destiny and so do you. So if you want to live you're gonna come with us and not argue," Maka's voice is ruthless and cold. It should freak me out, I suppose, but I actually find it kinda hot. I guess I'm a bit of a masochist. "Follow me," she orders as she leads us down the hallway toward the back of the train careful to not have anyone see us. Kid follows behind us with his guns locked onto the back of our captive's head.

As we walk, Maka's eyes face forward, but I use my scythe eye to stare down our infiltrator just in case Kid gets distracted.

It isn't until the door to the empty passenger car opens that the panic really hits her. This had been the car where Robin and Geoffrey and Black*Star and she had been hanging out in, but we've moved everybody to the other cars and I think she knows that's because we don't want witnesses to what we are about to do.

Maka and I step into the car, but Sandra hesitates until Kid nudges her in the back with one of the Thompsons.

"What's that?" she says pointing to the other end of the car where we've made an opening to the roof. It took some work on my part, but with Maka and I working together we were able to cut a nice sunroof into the car and put a step ladder up to it for easy rooftop access. It was a brash step, but once Kid gets a vision in his head it's hard to change it and he was sure that we needed to get Sandra on the roof of the train for his plan to have the desired effect.

Maka takes two steps up the ladder and then pushes me through the jagged hole. In a newer car we probably could have punched out the AC fans or something, but this car is almost as old as the damn steam engine pulling us so our only choice was to cut her open like a tin can.

I transform into human form and offer my hand to my meister to assist her in getting through our makeshift hatch without getting scraped or cut and then Kid orders Sandra to climb the ladder. It isn't until the three of us are up that Kid and his weapons emerge.

We're all standing on the roof of the train car now. Sandra's hair flies in a million directions as she looks around to access her predicament. Seeing that the train is in the desert with no approaching tunnels she seems reassured that she isn't about to be decapitated by 'accident' but her eyes drift to Kid's guns and my blade often. I'm flattered that Maka and I make her almost as nervous as Kid's pistols.

"What are you gonna do to me?" she asks.

"Meister Maka, why would she have cause to worry about what we might do to her?" Kid asks feigning confusion.

Maka answers him while staring right into Sandra's eyes. "Because she chose to side with an organization that brainwashed our friend and there's no evidence _her _head's been messed with. It appears it was a _voluntary_ action. Kid, I know I don't take kindly to that. What about you?"

"I find it revolting," he answers.

Sandra shakes her head. "Don't hurt me! You_ can't_ hurt me! I was just doing what I was told to do."

"_That_ I believe," Maka says. "You would do _anything_ you were told, in order to make _your_ life easier and not worry about the repercussions for anyone else, wouldn't you? Did you even once think about Black*Star or those kids you were going to watch get turned into demons and what that meant for them?"

Sandra hangs her head, but says nothing.

"You knew what they were planning to do to them, didn't you?"

"Well…"

"Those who stand by and do nothing in the face of such atrocities are as evil as the arbitrators," Kid tells her.

"But, there was nothing I could do-"

"So you just stood by and kept on playing house with Black*Star," adds Maka.

"And helping them to distort Black*Star's memories and ethics." Kid is yelling now and I swear that the reaper mask's teeth lines become more like pointed like fangs as he screams, but it's probably just my imagination.

"It wasn't me, I swear."

Spinning me like she does before charging Maka says, "You led him to believe you loved him," and I'm surprised by the degree bitterness in her voice. I guess she is better friends with Black*Star than I realized or maybe it's having seen Tsubaki's pain that has led her to be so angry.

"I _do_ love him! He's a great guy."

Maka growls and lowers me in front of her to point at the teenager with the hot pink and black bow in her hair. "As his partner, Tsubaki has risked her life over and over again. She has stood by his side as people have ridiculed him, as he's won and lost battles, and she has been there for him when no one else was, but you manipulated him to make him think _you_ did all those things. That's cruel to both of them."

"But-" Knowing that in the face of the things we now know it will take something tremendous to convince us we need to go easy on her, she throws out a doozy. "You can't hurt me. I'm having his baby!"

I belly laugh so hard that my torso pops out of weapon form, "No, yours not! You're pathetic!"

She falls to her knees. "Please don't kill me! Patti, Liz! Please show mercy!"

"There's no point appealing to the Thompsons," Kid laughs cruelly. "They've even less morals than you. That's what makes them perfect weapons for me. You know, they're wanted criminals in at least four states."

"It's true," Patti giggles, the only one of us who sounds like her normal self.

"But I'm not a bad person!"

"Of course you aren't, because there's no such thing as a _bad_ person," Kid tells her as he painstakingly assures his guns are both targeted at her head at all times. "But _you_, Sandra Bitzengard, have done some _**very**__ bad things_ and as a reaper I get to judge you. Therefore, I will encourage you to quit your lying. You have only one chance to get it right on judgment day."

Kid, who is usually acting like some kind of whacked out goofball or a smugly confident eccentric genius, plays the role of the punisher a little too well. He once told me that he didn't have many friends when he was younger because other children were scared of him and now I can believe it. Normally, I find it hard to be intimidated by a guy who can go to pieces over writing the 'k' in the his name a little lopsided, but at this moment I believe he would be more than capable of sending a bullet through her head without a second thought. A cold chill goes up and down my spine, but I do my best to reassure myself that he's only playing the part of a revenge obsessed reaper.

Sandra starts crying like crazy, but my heart is as cold as Kid's words. She's been trouble and she hasn't had the guts to do the right thing. "You're gonna push me off the train," she cries at Death the Kid as the truth dawns on her.

"No," Kid says. "Maka's going to do it. I think she's the one you called a bitch."

"Ready, Maka?" I ask her and she nods.

Maka walks up confidently and extends me towards Sandra like a staff. I wish we were on a boat so I could make that bitch walk the plank. I really do.

Sandra watches as the desert flies by us. "I could be killed."

"Yes, you could or you may not," Maka says. "We're willing to gamble. Any last words?"

Sandra, quivering like a leaf, shakes her head, 'no'.

"On the count of three. 1…2…3…" and then using the back edge of my blade Maka gives a powerful push and Sandra falls off the train.

For one brief millisecond I understand what it must feel like to be the bad guy. The rush of power is exellerating. As the bad guy, you can permanently terminate that person who has driven you nuts, hurt your feelings, or gotten the things you deserved or desired, but we're only acting like the bad guys. We want to scare her. We want her to crap herself so that she'll run far, far away or go whine to other Avian Flu converts about how dangerous and evil the DWMA students can be.

She falls for about five feet before Kid scoops her up to take her a ways away from the train track and dump her with a small bag of food and water, enough to help her survive till she manages to find some semblance of civilization.

I sigh and, in human form, carefully lower myself down to sit on the roof of the train car. I motion for my meister to come sit beside me and she does but she seems preoccupied.

"That was hard for you to do wasn't it?" I ask her.

"Yeah. Wasn't it for you?"

"Not really. Not when I think about how awful she's been to everyone."

"Do you think we did the right thing?"

"Of course. We let her live."

"But do you really think it's ok to scare the hell out of somebody like that? Doesn't it seem awfully cruel to you?"

"You didn't argue when Kid told you his plan."

"Yeah, I know and I guess that's what has me worried."

"Maka," I say tucking a loose bit of hair behind her ears. "You think too much. We're trained to fight demons, not stupid-ass chicks who think they're hot stuff. I think it's ok that we had a little fun at her expense. If we were really mean we would have handed her over to Tsubaki."

My meister smiles. "That is true."

"Don't worry; none of us are losing sight of what's truly right and wrong."

"Kid's morals are a little whacked, though, don't you think?"

I sigh. This again? "This is about him liking both of them isn't it?"

My meister chews her lip a little. "You think I'm being prudish."

"I think you're concerned about something that isn't your business. He loves and cares about both of them and it's not like he hasn't tried to resist _their_ flirtations for years. The two of us don't entirely understand it, but if they're ok with it, what does it matter? You should let go of your worries about it. I'm pretty confident Kid would be a better boyfriend to one or both of them than I am to you."

Maka looks startled at this. "Why do you say that?"

"Let's face it. Kid is way more mature. I think that whatever spell he was created through must have given him a little of his father's experience. He isn't a normal teenager."

"That doesn't mean he'd be a better boyfriend. Normal teenagers need to be in relationships with normal teenagers…one on one."

"Whatever. I don't care. Honestly, I think we shouldn't waste our time worrying about Kid's self-inflicted love triangle when we should be focusing on getting Black*Star back to normal."

"Oh, Lord."

"What?"

"It was killing you to see Sandra ordering him around wasn't it?"

"Yeah, he was totally pussy whipped." Her eyebrow arches. "There's a vocab lesson for you. 'Pussy whipped' is-"

"I know what it is, thank you." I smirk at her as I think about how foxy she was ordering Sandra around. "What's so funny?" my meister asks.

"I was just thinking I wouldn't mind a little pussy whipping."

Aghast, her mouth falls opens and she hits me in the arm. "Ugh! You're so gross!"

"Not like that! I mean, it was really hot to see you all 'take charge' like that."

"What are you talking about, Soul? I'm _always_ 'take charge'. Someone has to tell you what to do."

"Yeah, but it was more than that. You only order me to do things that are sensible, predictable, even." I lean over and whisper in her ear huskily, "I'd be willing to take orders that were more for your personal pleasure, you know. Fulfill some of your most secret whims."

She rolls her eyes and looks at me as though I can't possibly be serious. "I don't have whims. Certainly not while on a mission. I'm sorry, Soul, I'm just not kinky like that."

"No pressure. I just want you to know that should you suddenly feel the urge to-"

"Push you off the side of a train?"

I laugh. I'll wear her down. Eventually, I'll figure out what naughty little fantasies she has. I bet they're going to be really weird obscure things, too. Not like feet or food or any of those other mainstream fetishes…

"Oh, here they come!" she says pointing to a shape on the horizon we both recognize as Death the Kid on his hoverboard.

Kid comes to hover over the roof of the train car and tosses his weapons behind him and Liz and Patti materialize in their place. He tips his mask up, removes his robe, and hops off his hoverboard. "The trash has been successfully removed," he proclaims as he piles his robe and mask on his board before making it all disappear.

"I still maintain we should have offed her," Liz grumbles. "You know she's just gonna be back to cause us more problems."

Kid shrugs. "We couldn't kill her. Her soul wasn't a kishin egg and hopefully, it will never become one."

"I don't think it's realistic to believe we could scare her straight," she argues with her meister.

He arches an eyebrow and stands very close to her his yellow eyes locked onto hers. "I straightened you out."

"That was different. You didn't use scare tactics with me and Patti."

"I knew I didn't have to. You're a good egg under that tough exterior."

"Excuse me?" Liz says suddenly yanking her meister's arm behind him. "I'm what?"

"A horrible, moral less tart," he says wincing in pain at the restraint.

"That's more like it," she says with a smile, releasing him as he shakes out his arm.

Happily, Patti skips over to us with Kid following behind her nervously.

"Patti, it would make me feel better if you would _walk_ up here. I really don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Oh, come on, Kid. If I slip you'll just swoop in and catch me. We both know that."

"Still, that isn't a good reason to tempt fate," he says seriously.

"Aw, Kid we tempt fate every day, don't we?"

He says nothing but continues to follow behind her as a parent might when their baby starts taking its first toddling footsteps.

"So, did she say anything?" Maka asks them.

"Naw, not really," answers Patti. "She was in too big a shock to say much, but she gave Kid a kiss, and then Liz slapped her."

"Yes, what _was_ that all about?" Kid asks as he whirls back around to face his older partner who is standing behind him. "You aren't normally so possessive. Don't tell me _you're_ starting to get jealous. I can't have both of you being that way or we'll never get any work done."

"I just think the last thing this world needs is another fangirl obsessed with Death the Kid," Liz says unemotionally. "That's all."

"You make me sound like some kind of pop icon," the reaper laughs. "Outside of DC no one even knows who I am." Liz merely grunts in response as Kid turns to enjoy a view of the rapidly falling sun. "It's so beautiful," he says wistfully. "You see, Liz, it isn't our place to take moments such as these away from anyone save for demons."

Patti skips over to him and he wraps an arm around her waist. "I think you're right, Kid."

"Yeah, I'm sure Queen Cunt is out there watching the sunset and thinking how great it is to have a second chance." Liz grumbles

"I love you, Liz," Kid says smiling at her grouchiness. "Now just be at peace and enjoy the sunset with your sister and me." Obediently, Liz joins the two of them choosing to stand on the opposite side of Kid as her sister.

"Kid," she says.

"Yeah?"

"The hole Soul cut in the train isn't in the exact center of the car."

Kid twitches a little. "I hadn't noticed."

"Liar."

I can't see his expression but he pats her gently on the back. The five us stay on the roof until the sun's panting can no longer heard and it has disappeared from sight behind the horizon.

"Now," Kid says seeming strangely refreshed. "Let's go check on Tsubaki and Black*Star and see what embarrassing anecdote he's sharing now."

"Oh, I hope he tells them about that time he challenged Kirikou to arm wrestle while Kirikou was armed with Pot of Thunder," Patti says.

"Or that time Tsubaki caught him watching that soft-core porno and he claimed it was a couple's how-to massage video and he got her to sit down and watch it with him," I laugh.

"She knew it was a porno, right?" Liz asks apparently never having heard the story.

"I think so, but they were both too embarrassed to admit it to one another so he ended up doing all this weird tit massage on her."

"If I walked in on you watching something like that you'd be sleeping outside that night," Maka says. Note to self: hide porn very, very well.

Liz chuckles, "What about that time Black*Star was so busy bragging that he walked right off the mezzanine?"

"Which time?" Kid asks.

"That time he fell on top of Rita and pulled her top down so far she was hanging out," Liz answers.

"Oh, God, I forgot all about that. _That _was super hilarious," I say laughing.

"I know," Maka groans. "You laughed so hard you ended up falling off, too, or do you not remember that part?"

"No, I remember that part. How could I forget you clobbering me with your book?"

"You were fondling her breasts!"

"I fell on top of them. They were there. I felt them. So what?"

"You know, Soul, I almost considered never taking you out in public again after that."

"But aren't you glad you did? I haven't done anything embarrassing since that day, have I?"

"No, never," she says smiling at me. "My weapon partner is always a perfect angel."

"That's what I thought you'd say." I help her through the hole in the roof taking one last look around. I actually kind of like it up here. While it is really nerve whacking that you could plummet to your death at any moment, I find it a really refreshing way to travel. It's kind of like flying. All those bird-wannabes should save themselves a lot of trouble and just start riding on the tops of trains.


	56. Chapter 56: A Delicate Balance

_**Chapter 56: A Delicate Balance; What Did I Do Wrong?**_

We clamor back to where Black*Star was entertaining everyone with his tales of heroism only to discover that he is no longer the center of attention. Instead, Lydia is entertaining the younger kids by drawing pictures with them while Black*Star and Tsubaki sit next to one another talking. They don't look back to their usual level of familiarity, but with Sandra out of the way Black*Star seems to be maintaining a decent conversation with Tsubaki despite his dulled mind.

"Let's not disturb them," Kid whispers to us and we all nod in agreement. In fact, for one of the first times all day we are all smiles that is until Kid spoils it by saying, "Meanwhile, the rest of us shall get back to work."

The Thompsons groan even louder than Maka and I. "Fuck, Kid, _Maka's_ supposed to be the slave driver, not you," I groan. This is getting a bit ridiculous. We've put in like a year's worth of work today and while I don't in any way challenge Kid's authority to be our commander at this time, I'm not sure he's sane enough to understand that some of us need rest.

Patti nods in agreement with me and whines to her meister, "Yeah, I thought we were gonna have some fun tonight."

"You can't expect us to have fun when my father is in the hands of the enemy," Kid's tone is serious enough to make me feel a little ashamed, but only a little. I'm tired and I know if _I'm_ tired Maka is probably exhausted because some of that mental meistering stuff she does is even more draining than the more physical stuff I end up doing a lot of the time.

Kid leads us toward his compartment and the mounds of materials yet to be investigated and I decide to shut up. Kid is right. We need to buck up. Members of our team are MIA. Our leader has been taken by the enemy. We've hit the big time. We're no longer a bunch of students thrust into action because we were at the wrong place at the wrong time, we are now the most experienced students and the backbone of the DWMA when Lord Death's Deathscythes aren't enough alone. I sigh. Just because I know it's the right thing to do doesn't make it easy. Maka gives me a half smile and pats my hand. She _must_ be tired as she hasn't scolded me for complaining.

Patti, however, appears undaunted by Kid's statement. "But you said you might just leave your father with the enemy," points out his younger partner.

"I did, didn't I? I've changed my mind. I want to give him a piece of my mind in person. I think it's important. Besides what kind of fun can we have on a train? We've got no TV or video games or karaoke or basketball hoop-"

At this, Patti grins and in a sickly sweet voice says, "I can think of something fun we could do."

Kid stops walking and turns around and grins at her. "Nice try, Princess," he says flatly. "I've got work to do, work that involves having my shirt _on_, thank you very much," and then he spins around and slides open the door of our makeshift headquarters.

"Damn," Patti grumbles as we all laugh at her less than subtle attempt to entice her meister to mess around with her.

"I don't know why you even try when he's all hyped up like this," Liz whispers. "You know better. As it is we may have to slip something into his drink to get him to go to sleep."

"There has been entirely too much slipping of things into people's drinks," Kid says surprising me by having been able to hear Liz's comment. "Which brings me to what we need to accomplish before bed." My ears perk up at the word 'bed'; at least he has acknowledged that at some point we need more than the hour of recuperation time he allowed us earlier. "Maka, I need those packets of powder. I've got to analyze them to make sure Sandra wasn't actually telling us the truth about Black*Star dying without it."

"Dude, you don't actually think that's true do you?" I figured that was just more of the BS she was pulling out of her ass to try and save herself. "What are we standing around for?!"

"Calm down, Soul. I don't actually think he'll die, but he may have developed some form of chemical dependency. I'm going to run some tests on the powder. The rest of you, try to find Black*Star's file. With a little luck there will be some helpful info in there about the toxicology of this powder or the other substance they were giving him. Liz get me my…" he seems to have lost a word he intends to say so he instead makes a weird hand motion that I can't interpret.

"Your playing-doctor-kit?" Liz asks.

Kid shakes his head. "That's not what it's called!"

"I dunno. You and Patti looked pretty cozy that one day-" She says as she heads over to a heap of their belongings and pulls out his leather case of sciencey stuff.

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Liz, your sister had a rash. I was examining it to make sure it wasn't a methicillin resistant staph."

"And you could tell all that with your special x-ray glasses? You sure you weren't just wanting to check her out in her bra and panties?" she teases him causing him to blush.

"You make me sound like some kind of sex criminal just because I care about the two of you." And then regaining his composure he adds, "Besides, I don't think I'd have to play doctor to get Patti to strip for me if that's what I was wanting."

"Nope, you wouldn't," Patti giggles coming over and hugging her meister from behind. "You just say the word, Kid, and I'll…" She brushes her tongue around the edge of his ear in a very sensual way and Kid trembles a little before attempting to shimmy out of her clutches.

"That's very thoughtful of you, but there's work to be done…which requires use of my arms, so could you please let go of me and help by finding Black*Star's file? It's important, Princess."

Patti releases him, but stands in front of him sticking out her lower lip in an exaggerated pout. His face softens and he puts an arm around her and whispers something in her ear which causes her to let out a happy squeal before she dashes over to a pile of files near the door to the room. I raise an eyebrow and guiltily he avoids my gaze. I murmur to him, "No feelings whatsoever…" as I walk by him headed to a stack of files in the far corner of our workspace.

It takes a while for us to find Black*Star's folder, but eventually I spot it about half way down a pile and I yank the pink folder out from under a pile of at least 50 other student's files.

Maka and I sit down next to one another and start thumbing through everything hoping to find anything about MPH or whatever it's called, but I get distracted by other stuff in the file. "Wow, he can bench press that much? Shit!" I comment in awe.

"And how's that info going to help us?" Maka asks me.

"I dunno, but Avian Flu seemed to think it was important. See, they circled it," I say showing her and she nods in acknowledgment that the enemy thought it was significant for one reason or another.

"Ok, well, keep looking," she orders unimpressed with my work thus far.

"Slave driver," I mutter under my breath and glance over at her to see if she's gonna take the bait and argue back, but she's no longer paying attention to me. She seems to be staring off into space. I knew she was tired. It sucks when she's too tired to argue with me. It makes me lonely. It makes me want to pin her down and tickle her to get her to pay attention to me. Oh, well, hopefully we can get this taken care of fast and we can get some sleep before we're on guard duty. We might even get in snuggling if we can prove that Black*Star isn't in danger of kicking the bucket any time soon.

Finding some papers that resemble things I've seen in the dispensary I think that maybe we've found what we're looking for. I pull them out of the file and hold them out for her to take. "Well, here's some stuff." I wait for a little bit and she makes no move to look at them. She's spacing out bad. "Uh, meister?" I wave the papers in front of her. "Maka? Hello! I'm doing what you asked and you're ignoring me. That's kinda rude…"

Continuing to in no way acknowledge my comments she says, "Everyone, grab all the pink folders. I wanna see who they are."

Patti shrugs and she and Liz start gathering the pink files together. Thankfully there aren't a ton of them and they stand out from the green ones pretty easily.

"This one is Geoffrey's," says Patti tossing it on the floor near Maka's feet.

Liz pulls one from near the top of a pile. "This one is…hey, Maka, this is Crona's!"

"Crona?" Maka practically jumps for joy. "Soul, maybe we can find him!" Oh, Lord there will be no getting any sleep now. I smile to show my support, but secretly I worry about what condition Crona could be in at this point. Black*Star was more or less sane prior to his Avian Flu indoctrination, but Crona's always been a little 'special needs' so I fear the whole experience might have thrown him over the edge into complete madness unlike any we've seen from him before. Poor guy! I pray he's ok.

"I think that's all of them," Patti says tossing the last couple salmon colored folders onto the table at the end opposite Kid's laboratory.

"Yeah, I don't see any more pink ones," Liz affirms after scanning the room one last time.

"Well, let's see who we've got," I read the names. "Black*Star, Sandra, Crona, Geoffrey, Erika, Lydia…Maka? Magumi, Nikolas, Freddy, and Jacob."

"Do you see the pattern?" Maka says. "Pink files are for the people who've been captured or indoctrinated."

"Then why are you included?" I ask. "Please don't tell me you're gonna start stabbing me. I've had enough excitement for one day."

My meister smiles at me and takes my hand in hers. "Course not. But were it not for you I would have been 'converted' to their side, right? So, they must have jumped the gun and moved me into a pink folder." Her eyes linger on mine and I find myself desperately wishing we were alone so we could curl up together and go to sleep.

Liz grunts. "Let me get this straight. Avian Flu is planning to achieve world domination without the use of sophisticated equipment like computers and instead are relying on color coding to tell who is on their side and who isn't. I can't believe they've made it this far."

Without stopping his work Kid says, "Unfortunately, when you act without the confines of basic morals such as human rights you can find it easy to get people to bend to your will, because fear can be a great motivator. Scare people enough and they'll do just about anything you tell them to. At least to a point, but eventually people will see that a life controlled by someone else is not a live worth living. Then people begin fighting back and a balance between good and evil is once again created. Meisters and demon weapons are here to accelerate the return to that equilibrium so instead of it taking generations or millennia it may only take a few days, months, or years because no one should be forced to live their life without free will." The reaper makes this statement off-the-cuff as though he's discussing something that is common knowledge and in no way controversial, but it gets me thinking. Were it not for people like us how long would evil be allowed to prosper? Is our role simply to keep evil in check and not to eradicate it? Does the reaper have it right? It's a deep philosophical theory to debate, but I'll let it go for right now because Kid appears busy poking, sniffing, and observing the purple powder from various angles. I wonder if he's actually learning anything valuable about the toxin or just doing all this to make himself feel like he's doing all he can for our friend.

I suggest that Maka check out Crona's information and I start reading Kid things from Black*Star's file that I think might pertain to the chemicals that Avian Flu has been giving him. Liz volunteers to delve into Geoffrey's file and Patti starts flipping through the ones belonging to the students we got out of the compound prior to their indoctrination…or at least we _hope_ we got them out in time.

Suddenly, there's a banging on the door.

"No rest for the wicked," Liz mumbles as her meister grumbles something about no one leaving him the hell alone.

Before Liz makes it to the door we hear Tsubaki's voice. "Kid, open up! Something's wrong with Star!"

Liz rushes over to open the door, revealing Tsubaki supporting the assassin whose clothes are soaked with sweat and whose skin is now an unhealthy pasty white.

"I think I'm gonna throw up, Nice Girl," he says to her.

"The name's Tsubaki," she grunts as she helps him into the room.

Kid stares at Black*Star through his weird tunnel glasses.

"Kid, those bifocals make you look crazy, dude," he teases as he stumbles into the room.

"They're not bifocals, you moron! For your information, it's a mediscope, or medspectacles, and I'm using them to figure out what Avian Flu did to you. Do you know what they've been giving you?"

My friend merely shrugs. "Bad fish? I dunno… I feel like shit," he says looking around for somewhere to collapse. Maka and I rush to convert one of the benches back into a bed. Kid grabs from the table the packets of purple powder and the other items he was using before Maka and I flip the table up sending a bunch of files flying. Then we yank down one of the benches to convert it to a bed. We manage to get it locked in position a millisecond before Black*Star stumbles onto it, gagging all the while. Tsubaki picks up a nearly empty bag of potato chips and hands it to Black*Star to use as a barf bag.

"Thanks," he says smiling at her and in response she grins back at him as sweetly as if he'd just paid her an amazing compliment.

"You know when you smile you remind me of somebody…" and with that he bends over and ralphs into the potato chip bag. The combination of the smell and the sound makes me gag in sympathy.

"Oh, Shinigameee, what did Avian Flu feed you?" Liz says running to open the window to get us all some fresh air.

Tsubaki scans the room for something else she can repurpose as a barf bag and runs into the restroom to see what's there. She rings a bell that signals we need assistance from the train's crew and then reappears with a plastic bag she must have removed from the tiny trash can in the bathroom. She exchanges this for the potato chip bag full of foul smelling vomit and heads to the toilet to dispose of it, but Kid intercepts her, "No, I need that. Let me take a look at it."

Kid takes the potato chip bag from Tsubaki and, since the table is folded up, sets to work turning the other bench into his laboratory by arranging his experiments on it and kneeling in front of it.

"Can I have a blanket?" Black*Star asks as his entire body starts to shiver. Tsubaki hops up to get him one, but Maka motions for her to stay put as she grabs a blanket from the overhead storage compartment. She and I set to work to create a cozy little bed for him and he grins at me.

"Thanks, dude," he says as his teeth start to chatter.

"Would you like to put on some gloves?" Tsubaki asks.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," he says and she gets up and runs off to get a pair from somewhere.

I sit on the bed by his feet to keep him company till Tsubaki is back. "Sucks. It hit ya suddenly, huh?"

"Yeah, me and Suebayee were talking and I started feeling really hot…She's gone, right?" I nod and he grins. "At first, I thought I was gettin' all hot cause she's _mega cute_, but then I started feeling dizzy and super sick."

"It's ok, dude. Worst case scenario you'll have to stay in bed for a day or two," I say patting him.

He reaches for my hand. His touch feels as cold as ice. He pulls me close and whispers in my ear. "Dude, she was my partner, right?"

"Yup, for a long time."

"So, did me and her ever…?"

I grin. The girls would flip out if they knew this is what we're talking about. We'd never hear the end of the names: 'pervert', 'hornball', 'sicko', but I feel sorry for my bro. It's gotta be weird to have to ask someone else if you had sex with someone.

"Naw. You guys never did it." I tell him.

"Damn," he grumbles. "I hate to think I'll never get to spend time with her cause of Sandra. She's super nice, but you know what are you gonna do? One day I feel all this pain and shit and then I wake up with a girl in bed with me. A naked girl!"

I go a little pale. I was so sure that if he'd done it with someone he would have been bragging to me all about how good he was…could he really have been with Sandra? Yuck! Triple yuck!

I grimace. "Dude, you didn't actually sleep with Sandra did you?"

Black*Star looks embarrassed. "We slept together, but…ah…" he looks around. "I couldn't. I don't know why. So, I told her that I don't believe in sex before marriage."

I crack up. Only someone like Black*Star could turn impotence into an excuse to get hitched.

"So, you didn't?"

"Dude, what do you want me to do? Tell the world? It's embarrassing! I don't know what the hell my damn problem was and let me tell you Sandra was pissed. She's not a woman you want to disappoint."

Despite the fact my best friend just told me about the most emasculating moment of his life, I can't hide my delight. "That's great, Black*Star!"

He narrows his eyes and studies me. "Are you into me? I thought you were done with your homo phase. Didn't you get all that out of your system with Kid?"

I groan. I will _never_ kiss a guy again under _any_ circumstances! Truth or dare be damned, because you kiss a dude once and it haunts you for the rest of your life.

"I'm not gay, you idiot! I'm happy because it would crush Tsubaki if you and Sandra-"

"Why?"

"Look, Tsubaki's totally into you and you liked her, too, but things got super complicated between the two of you before you left DC and now that you can't remember anything…"

My friend manages a smile despite his poor state of health. "But where is Sandra?" he whispers to me. "She's gonna be _pissed_ that I'm in here with all you guys and I don't want her to hurt Suebayee. Sandra's kinda scary."

"No shit, Sherlock. In case you forgot she attacked my meister. Which reminds me, what the fuck was up with you insinuating that Maka isn't tough? You fucking asshole! You don't have any idea what me and Maka have been through to try and get here to you-"

"Boys! What are you two fighting about?" I look up to see that Tsubaki has returned with a pair of men's gloves. "Soul, you shouldn't be encouraging Star to talk, much less picking a fight with him! He needs his strength."

Black*Star smiles at her. "Aw, don't worry, Sue-bake-e. I'm plenty strong and virile. It'll take way more than _talking_ to wear me out," he says suggestively yanking her by the hips toward him.

I leave those two to talk which gives me an opportunity to discuss with the others how best to handle this whole Sandra business, because I've realized that we haven't created a plan for talking to Black*Star about Sandra's sudden departure and finding out that she's gone could easily be some kind of trigger for him to flip out…either in a good or a bad way, I really don't know at this point.

I call Maka to come talk to me and Kid and we huddle together to talk in low voices while Kid continues conducting his experiments.

"How is he?" she asks.

"Well enough to be hitting on Tsubaki from his death bed," I say watching my friend elicit a blush from the raven-haired woman. "Only problem is he wants to know where Sandra is and I don't know what to tell him. Do I lie?"

Kid continues to mess around with stuff on the bench. "Well, is he _missing_ her? Does he seem disturbed that she's gone and the 'wedding' is off?"

"Honestly, I think he wants to know so he can flirt with Tsubaki without getting in trouble."

Kid grins. "Perhaps, he's coming to his senses. Getting married…good grief!"

The three of us take a moment to watch the two former partners. Tsubaki coos Black*Star's name as she brushes the hair from his face and he thanks her. "You're really good at this. You'll be a great mom someday. I bet you cook good."

Tsubaki smiles. "Most people think I do."

"Yeah," I interject from across the room. "She's famous for her pork stew." The group all chime in to sing the praises of Tsubaki's signature dish and she bows her head shyly.

"I hope I get to have some someday," Black*Star says ignorant of the fact he's been lucky enough to have it hundreds of times.

"I'd be happy… to make it… for you sometime," she cries as she runs into the bathroom leaving her former meister very confused as to why she suddenly ran off. Liz follows her into the bathroom and Patti goes over to assure our invalid that he hasn't done anything wrong.

Kid, Maka, and I are still discussing possible ways of broaching the we-kicked-your-fiancée-off-the-train discussion when a train employee comes in and briefly converses with Patti in Spanish before exiting. A few minutes later, he returns with a handful of plastic bags and a plastic bucket which he hands to Tsubaki who is once again by Black*Star's side.

"Thanks," Black*Star says and then reading the man's nametag says, "Rod-ree-go," before making a series of _horrible_ retching noises. At the name, Kid stiffens and turns to take a look at Rodrigo and there's no doubt in my mind that it's because he wants to size up the man who is supposedly screwing Liz. Apparently having satisfied his curiosity, Kid returns to his work and I can't read from him what his thoughts are. Maka is just starting to make a suggestion when Kid suddenly makes a discovery and hops up calling for Patti and almost collides with Rodrigo who is in the process of making a v-line to the corner of the room where Liz is standing. Just narrowly managing to not douse the steward in Black*Star's vomit Kid straightens his medspecs and steps aside with as much dignity as he can muster. Kid opens his mouth as though to say something, but then shuts it again and goes back to kneeling at the feet of Maka and me.

Maka restarts our conversation, "I think you're right about it being best to have Soul tell him-"

"Kid, you gotta do something," Patti interrupts.

"I know, but I won't know what medication to administer until we figure out what toxin it was they gave him. I'm working as fast as I can, I assure you," the reaper explains.

"I don't mean about _Black*Star_!" Patti says as though her meister is incredibly clueless. "He's had a hangover before. I'm sure he'll pull through. I mean about Liz's Latin lover over there," Patti whispers emphatically to her meister tipping her head in her sister's direction.

"Patti, you know it's none of my business."

"Yes, it _is_."

"No, it _really_ isn't."

"Would you let someone just swoop in there and mess around with _me_ like that?" she asks him.

"No, but you're different. Liz is older and chooses to be…the way she is. Forceps, please." Patti hands him a set of tweezers while watching her sister intently. "Thankfully, I find it highly improbable you would make the same choices."

"What if I did, what if I went over there right now and jumped him and started ripping off his clothes?"

Kid sighs and looks to my meister and I for support. "Do we really have to have this discussion right now, Princess? I'm trying to figure out if Black*Star is in danger of dying or having organ damage."

"Yeah, Patti, this really isn't the time," my meister says gently.

"Kid, he's grabbing her _butt_!" Patti hisses in his ear as he scoops some of the vomit into a test tube and pours some concoction on top of it.

"_Not now_, Patti." Patti grabs her meister's chin and turns his face toward Liz and the very manly steward who is blatantly hitting on her. "_Look _at them_._"

"Ok, ok, I see them! What do you want me to do? Go throw Black*Star's vomit on them?" Kid asks out of exasperation.

"Shoot him," Patti orders.

"And have Liz never speak to me again? Patti, I know you _fantasize_ that your sister has real feelings for me, but that just isn't the case. She was interested in being friends with benefits and when I declined that offer because I thought it would have complicated things she started getting her needs met-"

"With random people!" Patti says.

"Sometimes," Kid admits.

I look at Maka. Holy crap. We had no idea that Liz had ever made such an offer to her meister. I always figured she was so far out of his league that she wouldn't even consider being with him, but this…this is interesting.

"Doesn't that trouble you?" Patti probes.

"It's not my business," he maintains.

Liz leans in toward Rodrigo as though to kiss him or whisper something to him before he departs and it's apparently too much for Patti as she proceeds to knock over her meister to give him a passionate kiss. Patti straddles him on the floor, kissing him with such intensity that his arms flail every which way, and his med spectacles are no longer on his face, but hanging off of one ear.

Rodrigo seeing this makes a comment in Spanish that I, unfortunately, don't understand, then swats Liz on the behind, and heads out of the car with a wave.

After finally managing to detach Patti from his face, Kid pants, "What in the hell was that, Patti?"

Still suggestively draped upon her meister, Patti stares up at her sister. Liz glares back for a moment before abruptly announcing, "I'm going to go check on everyone," and storming out the door looking very angry.

"Patti!" Kid barks.

"I was trying to make her jealous! So that she could see that she belongs with you-"

Kid's agitation is making a vein in his forehead bulge that I'd never even noticed being there before. "Well, _good job_, Patti because now she's going to go screw him again and we have work to do. Wonderful, just wonderful," he grumbles as he looks down at his rumpled clothes.

Patti's eyes fill with tears. "You're so mean, Kid! So, mean," and then she runs from the room crying.

"What did I do?" Kid asks looking to Maka and me in an apparent state of shock. "I'm just trying to study a bag of vomit and-"

"You hurt Patti's feelings," Maka says gently. "You _know_ she likes you."

"It's just a crush," Kid says with a shrug. "She'll get over it."

"Kid, I know there are a lot of girls who have crushes on you, but I'm pretty sure Patti has deeper feelings than that," my meister attempts to explain the complexities of women's hearts as she and Tsubaki exchange knowing looks.

"Yeah, dude, that looked like the kiss of someone who has the real hots for you," Black*Star chokes out.

"Patti isn't mature enough to-" Kid says as he replaces his mediscope and once again grabs the bag of vomit glancing down at it as though wishing to give up on the whole business of examining it. Then his face lights up.

"Ah! It's got a large amount of crystalterrium. _This_ we can fix. Liz, get me the- oh…" His speech drops off and his shoulder's sag when he remembers that his partners aren't here to play the part of his laboratory assistants. Reluctantly, he stands up still holding the bag of vomit in his hand and goes over to his backpack and rummages around with his right hand and pulls out a jar of what look like purple leaves with green spots on them.

"We need to make a tincture out of this and then administer it with something for the base… I… ah… Soul, will you hold this for me?"

"Sure," I say unenthusiastically taking the bag of puke from his hand.

"I'm just going to get a sample and then you can flush the rest of this down the toilet."

"Thank, Shinigami," I say trying not to inhale as he opens up the bag. He collects a pill vial's worth of upchuck and I eagerly take the rest to the bathroom to flush down the toilet.

"Uh…" Kid looks a little lost. "Maka, would you mind going to the kitchen and seeing if they have some molasses or pancake syrup or anything thick and sugary to mix the antitoxin with? I… I think I ought to… ah…"

"You wanna go check on the girls?" I shout from the toilet. "Yeah, that's fine. Maka and I can hold down the fort. Just don't fuck up and make things worse."

Uncertainly he asks, "And _how_ exactly would I do that... do you think?" I've never seen him this nervous before. It appears that he has met his match with those two.

"Just go tell them that you're sorry that you were being an asshole," Maka says quickly.

"But I wasn't!" he says emphatically.

"Yeah, give the dude a break, he didn't do anything wrong," Black*Star says.

Kid stares at Black*Star for a moment as he comprehends that the only one of his friends that is siding with him is the loveable, dumbass of the group which means he is in definite trouble. Realizing this, Kid mumbles, "Oh, dear," and rushes out the door into the hall after his partners.


	57. Chapter 57: Partners for Life

**Risenfromash: **I had an epiphany the other day about writing and I will share it with you as it may resonate with some of you as well or you may find it amusing that I'm so dense it's taken me this long to figure it out. I've realized that the reason I fail to write original fiction is often because I feel some kind of pressure to plot an outline and think ahead and such, but with fanfiction I always feel like it's character based and the characters dictate the story and I can just kind of sit back and let them do their thing.

I've been laughing that Kid seems to have gotten himself a pair of girlfriends because when I started writing this story I contemplated if I would give him a love interest and I couldn't see it or feel it yet so he explained that Liz was dating a bartender and Patti probably wanted to marry a giraffe. Since this is a SoMa story and I intended to have some very monumental Black*Star/Tsubaki included in it I thought Kid couldn't be shipped one of his partners. They can't all be romantically involved with their partners, but as soon as the Thompsons came on the scene they would _not_ stop flirting with him. No matter how much I tried to get them to behave themselves they kept taking his shirt off and acting like he was for sure their man and I couldn't find it. A weakling like me who has never fired a gun has no ability to fight with girls as tough as nails as those two.

At any rate, I was reading the manga _Bakuman_ and in it a fictional manga creator talks about how he doesn't think when creating manga. Instead, he creates characters that 'move' and then he draws and writes what they do. This fictional character's explanation spoke to me so much about my creative process that I felt for the first time like someone could describe it without sounding like a total nutcase. So, that's my epiphany it may not be how the pros do it, but it's how the heart does it. So, thank you for joining me in watching Soul Eater's characters 'move'.

_**Chapter 57: Partners for Life; What Would You Sacrifice?**_

Eventually, Kid returns with his arm around Patti. Her face looks red and blotchy from crying, but she and Kid seem to have made peace with one another and Kid makes sure to use his most gentle and patient tone with her for the rest of the night. Liz is noticeably absent, but I don't ask about it and nobody else does either. There are much more important things to attend to than the soap opera of the reaper and his weapon partners. Maka and I rush around to prepare the tincture Kid thinks will help Black*Star. In confidence away from Tsubaki, he tells us it isn't an antitoxin and that Black*Star will require more 'interventions' when we reach DC, but he thinks he can get the vomiting and the alternating chills and fever by giving it to him so we dedicate ourselves to grinding up those funky leaves and immersing them in pancake syrup.

Much to our relief after finishing making the sticky concoction and handing it off to Tsubaki to deal with Kid dismisses us telling us to go get some rest. I pat Black*Star on the leg and Maka hugs Tsubaki whispering words of encouragement in her ear before we head to our private sleeping quarters next door.

As I slide the door shut and pull the shade down on it I whistle, "Shinigami, what a day…" I say as I use my feet to pry my shoes off sending them flying halfway across the room. Maka nods and sits down on the bed. She leans over and begins fighting with the straps on her shoes. I can tell she is spent. It appears she may not even have the energy to get undressed.

"Here let me," I say kneeling down in front of her. Normally, she'd fight me by saying that she is perfectly capable of taking off her own shoes, but today she flops back onto the bed leaving her legs dangling off the bed and simply mumbles her thanks to me. I undo the straps of her shoes and carefully set her funky-ass shoes next to the bed. I've learned the hard way that her shoes are to be treated with the same level of respect I treat her with; were I to kick them across the floor I would be in big trouble or at least _normally_ I would be, but right now she looks too tired to fight about anything.

She rolls over and facing the wall grumbles, "I never thought this day was gonna end!"

I pull off my jeans and t-shirt and slide into the bed next to her. I spoon up next to her, but she doesn't snuggle up to me like she normally does.

"You mad at me?"

She rolls partly over so she can look at me over her shoulder. Her eyes are narrowed in suspicion. "Why… what did you do?"

"Nothin'!" I say immediately on the defensive. "You just seem…"

She smiles a little when it dawns on her why I'm asking. "Oh, it isn't you. There's quite a recoil on Brian and I think I tensed up in battle today.

"Where do you hurt?"

"Everywhere," Maka says tipping her head this way and that trying to stretch the tight muscles across her upper back and shoulders.

In my best imitation of Lord Death's voice I ask her, "Meister Maka, why so tense? Surely you can't be disturbed by the fact I've gotten myself captured by insane bird people! I've left Kid in charge and I've mentored him so well that…oh, come to think of it…I've trained him in…oh, well I'm sure you'll do just fine. Toodle-loo!"

Maka grins and shakes her head. "You shouldn't make fun of poor Lord Death. Who knows what they're doing to him!"

"Oh, come on, Maka. Kid is right; his dad is a total loony tune. I love him but he's almost as crazy as these Avian Flu people…birds…whatever. Whatda ya wanna bet he thought he'd go undercover and they caught him right away?"

She laughs. "That sounds like him."

"Here. Let me give you a backrub, maybe I can loosen something up," I offer waggling my long piano man fingers.

Maka raises an eyebrow. "_Just_ a backrub."

"Of course," I feign complete ignorance to her insinuation and order her to get on her stomach.

"And none of that pretend Shiatsu either where you just punch me in the back for half an hour. That had _never_ helped."

"Funny, it helps _me_ tremendously when I'm mad at ya."

She grunts and then says ominously, "Trust me when I say that you don't want to get me mad tonight."

"Point taken," I snicker as I straddle the back of her legs and help her to pull her shirt off and unclip her bra and start to massage her back. She really is tense. Her back feels more like rock than muscle.

"Soul, why do you think Avian Flu would partner me with Justin Law?"

"Dunno. I haven't thought about it. Like I said they're absolutely bonkers if you ask me. Maybe they have a dartboard to make those decisions or a spinney wheel like they have at the fair."

She starts to loosen up some in response to my rubbing and it makes me smile to get to touch her like this. It wasn't that long ago she would have protested letting me do this no matter how much pain she was in and I see no reason to suffer due to propriety.

"I just don't get it. I don't even like Justin," she says puzzled.

"Yes, you do. You like everybody."

"No, not really. I just tolerate people."

"Ok, well you don't _dislike_ him the way Liz and Patti dislike Erika."

"That's cause they wish Erika would drop dead, but that's what she gets for trying to insert herself between him and his weapons. But I've always thought Justin was a little creepy…oh, right there, that feels really gooood." I smirk. She better not start moaning… or I might end up begging to massage her with something else…

"Yeah, well Justin is a Lord Death Freak. His devotion is…"

"Excessive."

I laugh. "So, why's it bug you that on a piece of paper a bunch of assholes say you should make babies with him?" Saying it aloud kinda answers the question. I hadn't thought about how violating that must feel like to a girl. I figured that I had the worst of it because they want me dead, but maybe her situation is worse. Being forced into a relationship with someone you don't even like… that's gotta be awful. I try to imagine what it would be like to wake up in bed one day and have some naked chick next to me like Black*Star did… it has the potential to be a horrific nightmare or the best X-rated fantasy ever but only if I got to pick the girl.

She groans, "He's just a weirdo, Soul, and he has an attack called 'Headbutt of Love' who in their right mind would think that is a good idea?"

I stop rubbing and crack up. "You're bullshiting me, right? Headbutt of Love? Really?!"

My meister sighs, "Soul, when Deathscythes come to mentor Demon Weapons at the annual symposium do you pay _any_ attention?"

I push a little harder into her back out of irritation. "Just because I don't know the names of the attacks of Deathscythes doesn't mean I don't pay attention. It just means I'm not a fanboy, and I do remember the name of one of his attacks, 'Law Abiding Silver Gun'. I remember because Liz and Patti were laughing so hard about it they almost got kicked out of the auditorium."

My meister seems satisfied that I've not been entirely wasting the educational resources at my disposal.

"Don't worry about Justin," I whisper in her ear. "He'd have to use way more than a gun to steal you away from me."

She blushes a little and mumbles into the pillow, "You're such a weirdo."

A knocking on our door disrupts us and Maka groans her displeasure as I climb off her and curse. This better not be another fucking job assignment. We are off duty, dammit!

I lift the shade and see that it's Brian and since he's holding a tray of food I decide it's worth opening the door. "Kid asked me to hurry over here with some food for you guys before you conked out or got busy doin' anything." He wiggles his eyebrows and proceeds to crane his neck to try to see around me.

"Thanks," I retort as I jerk the tray out of his hands.

He gives me a once over and sees that I'm only in my boxers. "You two gettin' it on?" he whispers to me, his mouth stretched into a pervy smirk.

"None of your business," I say frowning at him and considering if it's wrong to strangle a ten year old kid.

The little guy winks at me. "Well, give her a smack on the ass from me." He scurries off grinning and I shake my head in disgust. That kid has got _no_ manners. My grandmother would be appalled.

"Did he just ask if we're having sex?" Maka asks.

"Yup," I say setting the tray down on the corner of the bed. "Because he's a little _pervert_. And _you _think I should spend more time with him."

As she pulls on a loose tank top thing…I forget what they're called. "So you can rub off on him. I think you could be a very good influence on him." I grunt. I'm not interested in being a role model to anyone.

"No, really," she continues earnestly, pulling off her jeans. "You could teach him a lot about respecting others and not objectifying women from you."

I take a big bite of sandwich and while chewing say, "What are wou tawkin awout? I objectwify wemeen wall the twime." Like right now, for example. Damn, she is hot. I'm really supposed to curl up next to that body and not do anything? The things she puts me through… I take in her beauty hoping I won't get a nosebleed as I hand her a sandwich from the tray.

"You do not." She pauses and then like a lawyer presenting a piece of evidence says, "For example, you never stare at Tsubaki's breasts."

I swallow and grin. I have to say it; she's left it wide open for me. "Or maybe I'm just _really_ good at it and you don't catch me."

"You _better not_ stare at Tsubaki's breasts," she tells me with a sharp tone. Damn, she really needs to learn to take a joke, but since I can't get her to laugh at that maybe I should say something even more ridiculous so she understands that I'm kidding. "Didn't you know that Black*Star and I have a plan to partner swap when we're older just to keep things interesting?" She punches me in the side _hard_. "There is no way in hell I am _ever_ sleeping with Black*Star."

"What you _do_ with him is your choice, but me and Tsubaki…" I arch an eyebrow as I polish off the last of my sandwich.

"You are sick! Now I can't eat my sandwich," she says making a disgusted look as she chews and hands the sandwich back to me. "Don't joke about stuff like that. It turns my stomach."

"Sorry," I say in surprise sitting down beside her on the bed. I thought we were just messing with each other. I didn't mean anything by it. "I was just foolin' around. So, just _thinking_ about it makes you that upset?"

She nods, but her eyes are downcast and refuse to meet mine. I think she's embarrassed that she can be this sensitive. "It doesn't upset you to think of me with Black*Star?"

I crack up. "No, because I know that would _never_ happen."

I take a big bite out of her sandwich.

"Oh," she says and she looks sad.

"And that's how you should feel about me and Tsubaki," I say nudging her and cautiously offering her a smile.

"Guys are different," she mumbles. Oh, this must be about her father. I should know better than to ever joke about other women. His philandering has made her sure that no man could ever keep it in his pants. I really hate Spirit sometimes.

"Let's not talk about this. It's stupid," I tell her.

"I guess," she says.

"Here, finish this," I say handing her back her sandwich which now has a big Soul Eater size bite taken out of the middle of it.

She smiles and nods. Her jealousy having been sated at least for the time being, I breathe a sigh of relief. It's easy for me to forget that she's this insecure. I'm so devoted to her that it's hard for me to remember that in her mind there could actually be some doubt… some fear that I might wander off to 'greener pastures' at some point when I can't even imagine being with anyone but her. Maybe I'm not doing enough to show her that's how I feel. I sigh. I wish she weren't so jaded. It's a lot of work to be constantly trying to convince someone the depth of the affection you have for them.

She finishes her sandwich and gives me a kiss on the cheek before stretching out next to me and falling asleep. I lay beside her wondering what I can do to show that she can trust me with her heart, but I decide I may just have to wait it out. As partners we trust each other completely and that didn't happen overnight, so I may just need to be patient, but a part of me is disappointed that she still thinks I could ever behave like her father. I give her a kiss on the arm and close my eyes and go to sleep.

I wake up at some point in the middle of the night needing to pee. I manage to slide myself out of bed without disturbing Maka and hustle to the bathroom.

Standing in that small little bathroom I feel as though the walls are tightening around me like a noose and panic overwhelms me. I throw open the door and rush out, my heart racing and my mouth hanging open panting as though I just ran a mile. What the fuck? I turn around and look at the bathroom. It doesn't _look_ scary and its walls are definitely not moving at least not like a trash compactor or anything like that. I glance over at Maka and see that she is still asleep safe and sound in our bed. So, why the hell do I feel so freaked out?

I decide I need some air so I grab my shoes and my clothes that I'd thrown into a heap on the floor and take another long look at my meister to reassure myself that she really is ok. Deciding that she is perfectly fine, I head out of our compartment headed to the hole we made in the roof. I had to make it; I may as well reap the benefits. I climb up the ladder carelessly cutting my left arm on the jagged metal of the hole's edges, but it doesn't matter to me, because I feel a ton better up here. Sure, being on the roof of a train _should_ raise a person's anxiety, but the cool wind in your face and the beautiful stars make up for it.

I sit down and try to get ahold of myself to figure out what is bothering me. I run through all the shit going on and there is a lot. We've got MIA comrades, a missing leader, friends who have been indoctrinated, but I've been holding myself together, but not tonight. Tonight, I'm going to pieces, I can feel it.

I close my eyes and try to be mindful. I try to identify the emotions tugging at my insides. If I can manage to figure out what they are I may be able to determine what triggered this and why this fear feels so familiar. I reach deep down inside to the stuff I've tried to bury and there I find it. It feels like a life time ago, but I _have_ felt this kind of terror once before. It was before Mom died. The days leading up to her death were filled with exhaustion and self-doubt. I was constantly questioning what I should be doing. Should I stay by her side as much as I could? Should I pretend everything was normal? Was there anything more that any of us could do for her? And always there was the question 'Why?' Why? Why? And eventually that question gave way to another, 'when'. No matter what I did or said or thought I was helpless. We were going to lose her.

That feeling of powerlessness had been one of the things that drove me to the DWMA. It didn't seem to me like it would be easy to be helpless and be a demon hunter at the same time. So, I embraced my 'gift' and signed up, but here I am feeling helpless again, only this time there is even more uncertainty. There is so much we don't know and the rules we have lived by are changing. Our enemy is changing.

I take a deep breath. It's the helplessness that I can't stand. We're fighting back and we've rescued friends…but I am scared that at any moment our luck might run out. We're at war which means that any day could be my last or Maka's last or anyone else's. This wasn't what I expected when I signed up. I figured fighting monsters sounded cool and I really didn't want to pursue piano playing as a living…I enjoyed it too much to have my livelihood tied to it. I never wanted to lose the joy of playing and composing my own nonconformist tunes. So, here I am, a fucking _musician_ for Shinigami's sake, fighting all kinds of hideous evildoers and trying to stay alive. What if I screw up? The margin of error seems much smaller than it used to and I wonder if maybe I'm not cut out for this, but it's too late to turn back. I've got a new family now, one more than worth defending and there's also all those innocent, naive people out there who have no idea that we're protecting them.

"I thought I'd find you up here," I'm startled to hear Maka's voice shouting over the rumbling of the train.

"Oh, sorry to disappear on you like that. I didn't think you'd wake up. I just needed some air." I hope I didn't worry her too badly. I know that these days _I _would freak out if I woke up and she wasn't there beside me.

"It's ok." She pauses. "Mind if I join you?"

I smile though I know she can't see it. "Sure. But I'll warn you it isn't super comfortable."

She comes and sits next to me her shoulder pressed against mine.

"You ok?" she asks me.

"Yeah," I answer automatically.

"I don't believe you. I know something's on your mind." I grumble. Having someone in your life that knows you so well has its definite pluses, the minus is that they always know when something is bothering you and sometimes they won't let it alone. She continues, "And I figure it must be a pretty _big _something to prevent you from sleeping because I know you're as exhausted as I am"

"Yeah, actually getting some 'z's would probably make me feel a lot better."

"Lay down. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall off." I turn and stretch out so that my head is in her lap and I'm looking up at the stars. We're in the country so it's nice and dark and the stars feel like they are reaching out to grab you.

"Maka, are you scared?"

"Of course," she replies without hesitation. "Aren't you?"

"Yeah, but maybe not of the things I should be."

Maka's hands run through my hair. "I didn't realize there were things we 'should' fear and things we 'shouldn't'. Did Avian Flu make those lists?"

I make a scoffing sound. "I wouldn't be surprised. Telling people what to do seems to be there MO."

I feel the need to talk to her. I need to get something off my chest, but since it involves her it's not as simple as I'd like. I don't know if I have the strength to admit the truth. "I think I should be more worried about Lord Death and where Tran and Giovanni and Crona-"

"I _know_ you're concerned about those things. So, what has you more scared than that?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly. What do you think you shouldn't be worried about?"

I take a deep breath. "You. I'm scared of losing you." I rush to explain further hoping that I can somehow end up not sounding like an entirely self-centered asshole. "It's not that I don't care about Black*Star or Geoffrey or the kids, but deep down inside all I want to do is run away with you to somewhere safe where they can never find us."

She's silent and the quiet troubles me. I hate being this clingy, but I have to admit that for as long as we've been partners I've tended to be needy. I pretend not to be, but when she'd go on special meister retreats or go to study at the library without me I'd always mope about the apartment feeling sorry for myself and then completely deny missing her once she returned. I was always way too cool to admit to being lonely; though I'm sure she knew the truth all along.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one. Everyone acts so brave all the time that I worried maybe I was the only person who questions if they could make the sacrifices that are required to win this war. I'm determined to make you a Death Scythe and I want to rip apart every member of Avian Flu, but I understand what Kid said earlier about people willingly going along with awful things out of fear. I know I should be willing to do anything, but could I really choose between you and…"

A droplet falls on my face and I realize she's crying. I sit up.

"Hey, meister, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it feels good to let it out. I've been so ashamed and too scared to tell you. You're always so quick to brag about how brave I am. I didn't want to let you down."

"Maka, you have never let me down," I guide her lips to mine with the touch of my hand. "Never worry about disappointing me, ok?"

She's quiet. "Maka…?"

"OK."

I hold her in my arms and she seems all right for a moment, but then her body begins to quake as she begins to cry again. "Soul, I'm so scared!" The dam now broken, words flood from my meister. "You want to know why the whole Justin thing freaks me out? It's not just because of Avian Flu and their insanity. To think of being without you for any reason whether they did it or not... it terrifies me. I can't imagine having a different partner or a different boyfriend. I can't fathom what going on a date would be like. I'm so spoiled. I've gotten to have the object of my affection right there on my couch every day. We've grown up together. You've seen me at my worst and you didn't run away. So, what do I do if something happens to you? I'm like half a person. You make me feel whole. Without you there's such a-"

"Maka." She's still crying and now she's sniffling, too. "Meister, it's ok. I promise the only thing that would ever take me from you is death. It's as simple as that and you and I make an awesome team so that's not gonna happen."

She pulls away from me slightly and tries to distinguish my features from the shadows. "That's what I want to talk to you about." She sounds especially serious, which is troublesome since she tends to be more serious than most people anyways. This must be something big. "Ever since I became 'reborn' in the library I've been thinking about something." My heart aches. I fear what she will say next. "Soul, I don't want death to break this team. If it comes to that in battle, I want us to go out together. I know I shouldn't. I know it's selfish of me, but-"

"That's fine," I say without even contemplating it. A part of me thinks I should fight her on it. I _should _remind her that she really is a whole person and that she doesn't need me to live. A better person would probably remind her that if something were to happen to me that she could lead a full life and have all kinds of wonderful adventures after I'm gone, but I guess I'm just as selfish because this is what I want, too. I never want to feel the way I did that day I came home to find Grammie waiting for me on the couch with a tear-soaked hanky in her hand. I don't think I can handle a loss like that again.

"You sure?"

"We're partners aren't we?"

"You don't think that it's-"

"I think it's the perfect plan for _us_. This way we have nothing to fear anymore. No matter what happens we'll be together." It appears that our fear of losing one another has been eating us up on the inside for quite a while.

"I'm so glad you're my partner," she says pulling me closer to her. "You have impeccable taste," I tease her.

"Oh, Lord, you're back with Black*Star for one day and now I have this to deal with this," she giggles.

"Promise me you won't worry about this anymore, ok?"

"K," she says unsteadily.

"I mean it, meister. We don't need to second guess this decision. We made it together; therefore, it's the best choice for us. So, no blabbing to the girls about it or anything. This is our choice and we'll keep it between the two of us. We don't need anyone else's opinion on it, because we're the only two it effects."

"What if it lets down the team?"

"It won't. I know it won't. Were it ever to come to that bleak a point…"

"Promise you won't tell Kid. I know he would disapprove."

"I have no idea what he would think, but it's not his choice. It's ours."

She pauses and then asks me, "You feel better?"

"Yes, actually I do." I take her hand in mine. "Don't be embarrassed. You know it's what I want too. That day in the library I knew it and I haven't changed my mind."

"That reminds me…I want us to practice-" I groan. How did we just go from a really sentimental, deep moment to my meister listing extracurricular homework for us to do? Did I just get swindled?

"You can't be serious! What now?"

"You know, Soul, it would be nice if _just once_ you responded to my suggestions without groaning."

"It would be nice if one of your suggestions did not involve a shit-ton more work for me."

"Well, _sorry_," she says with complete insincerity. "But we have to be the best unless you're so lazy you just want us to throw the towel in right now."

"No, of course not, but Maka, how much more practice do we need?"

"If you would let me finish… I want you to practice entering my mind while we resonate. I want to see if by working together you can learn to do it without Kid acting as an intermediary."

"Why? You can just come to me, can't you? Or is it too much work for you to tromp over to my brain?" The image of her hiking through some kind of ethereal space to my mind amuses me and I snicker, but she completely ignores this. She's in meister mode now which means there will be no stopping her. It will be all business until she gets what she wants from me.

"Versatility can be a great strength and we mustn't get complacent about our skills. We're still learning . Besides you have that Little Ogre in your brain and he…"

"Can cause problems. I see your point." I sigh, admitting defeat. "Ok, we'll try it in our _nonexistent_ free time."

"I thought maybe when we get back to DC."

"We won't be staying in DC long, though. Don't you want to go find Crona?" I ask.

"I _do_… but…" I wait expectantly for her explanation. "If I had _my_ way I'd be going after Crona right now, not only because I care about him, but I think he'd be a valuable combatant to have on our side-"

"So, what's the 'but'? You think I'm not willing to go with you or somethin'?"

"No. I know you're game. It's just… well… Kid needs us and it's one thing to cut class to go find Crona, but…I don't think we should leave right now. Not with so much up in the air."

Poor, Maka. We rescue _my_ best friend, but her friend's rescue isn't on the agenda at least not at the moment. "Just because we can't go right away doesn't mean we can't head out for him soon. Whenever you think we can do it we will. I promise."

"Thanks."

She climbs into my lap and wraps her legs and arms around me loosely as we talk.

"There is one thing I'm not looking forward to having to deal with when we get home," I admit.

"What's that?"

"Dealing with your dad," I mumble.

"You've just told me you'd face death to stay with me and you're scared of Spirit?"

"Yes." I say flatly and then I reconsider. "'Scared' isn't the right word, though. I'm embarrassed."

"About what?" she asks as though she couldn't guess.

"What do you think?"

"That it's your name I cry out in the night?" she whispers in a breathy voice in my ear and the heat of her breath sends shivers up and down me. I'm sure I'm blushing now.

"_Something_ like that," I tell her.

"It's no big deal."

"Oh, well," I say in mock anger. "Maybe what we do together isn't a big deal to _you_, but I think it's a pretty big deal! I rather enjoy it."

"No, I didn't mean it like that! It's just that it's normal and natural. It's what people in love do."

"Yeah, well. I've been telling your father for years that I was _not_ in love with you and _not_ doing that with you and _never_ would and now he's gonna figure I've been lying to him the entire time and he will not care whether it's normal and natural or not. All your dad is going to care about is that someone is doing something to his baby girl."

"It doesn't matter what he thinks. Besides, soon you'll be a Deathscythe and you'll be able to kick his ass."

"You think I could take on Spirit?" I ask in surprise.

"Absolutely. He and Professor Stein don't train together nearly enough and you're way better with your scythe arm than he is with his blade back. Besides, Spirit should just be happy for us. Everyone can see that you're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

She says it as though it's as obvious as the emerald in her eyes, but it's never felt that way to me. My chest gets all warm and my heart beats faster. Little prickly sensations go up and down my spine. A part of me wants to ask her if she really means it, but I know she wouldn't have said it if she didn't. She's not that kind of person.

"Maka, I love you. Thank you for loving me." I hold her tight against me and I can feel her heart beat and I can sense her soul wavelength lengthening into long lazy loops the way it does before she drifts off to sleep. "Come on, we should get back to bed."

"Not yet," she tells me. "I like being here with you under the stars."

"Ok, but just for a little bit longer. I know you're sleepy and you need to rest. Who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow."

She nods and I see her features in the moonlight and I can't recall a time when she's ever looked more beautiful than at this moment. I lean forward to give her a kiss but when I do I block the moonlight so I can't see her expression as our lips meet. Some part of me registered that as odd, but I'm focused on her at this moment. My meister, the woman I will be with till the day I die.

My eyes remain closed as I kiss her neck and it bends in submission to my lust. She murmurs my name slowly causing the syllables to stretch out in length till it sounds like a moan instead of a word. Soon we will be going back to bed, but I fear that we won't be getting the sleep we so badly need, not if she continues to make _those _sounds. I swear that my craving for her has never been greater than at this moment. I allow my lips to part with her skin for a moment and my eyes flutter open. I want to see her, but when I open my eyes, again something seems wrong. Why does it seem like the moonlight is shining _up_ into her face? I swear it wasn't this bright up here earlier… is someone else here? I ease myself toward her slowly as I lay her down onto her back ready to kiss every visible inch of her skin and it's then I see the source of the light.

"Maka!" Even though she's barely an inch from me I shout her name.

Her eyes fly open. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Your necklace! It's glowing!"

We jump to our feet scanning the darkness of the night sky for demons and see nothing. I take her hand and we run to the ladder and before we reach the floor of the train I am in her hands in scythe form ready to meet whatever our next challenger throws our way made more confident by the fact I know that if we get taken out we will be going out as a team.


	58. Chapter 58: Strategic Planning

**Risenfromash: ** Hey, guys! This is a shorter chapter because I'm an anime convention this weekend and I'm too busy stalking Ace Attorney and Soul Eater cosplayers to make the next chapter a mega chapter so I split it into two parts. For those of you in the states, hope you all have a safe and fun Labor Day! If there is anything oddly written in this chapter I blame Mystogan as I was 'polishing' this when he suddenly made an appearance and since I failed to go to sleep like I should of I had to go take a photo of him.

_**Chapter 58: Strategic Planning; Weaponized Free Minds?**_

We rush through the traincars shouting to wake people up. "Demons!" we yell and the news spreads like wild fire. Robin must be the one currently on guard duty as he pops into the hall asking us where the birds are and we have to tell him that we don't know.

"We don't know yet, but they're close," I tell him. He quirks an eyebrow but says nothing. I guess he figures Maka has developed some kind of telepathy. When we get to Kid's room Kid comes flying out barefoot and wearing only some plaid pajama pants. Liz and Patti are close behind him in the skimpiest clothes I've ever seen them in which makes me uncomfortable so I avert my eyes. I'd rather not get bashed on the head by Maka right before battle.

"Sorry, Kid. I don't know where they're coming from, but they're close. See?" she holds up the necklace and his eyes get wide. He's seen it glow before and like Maka and me he does not doubt its magical abilities.

"Dammit! They weren't supposed to find this train. It's unlisted. They must have staked out all the tracks. Crap! Dammit!" He flies back into their room to pull on his shoes.

"What's going on?" Tsubaki asks. "Are we under attack?"

"It would appear so," Kid grumbles. "Patti, Liz get some clothes on. It's after dark so it's bound to be cold, plus we need to keep Brian from getting distracted."

"Because _you_ never get distracted," Liz says sarcastically as she drags a finger across his shoulders on her way to grab a T-shirt.

"Of course he doesn't get distracted. Kid's gay," Black*Star announces matter-of-factly from his sick bed.

Kid stops tying his shoes for a moment and raises his head to look at his friend, "When did I _ever_ tell you I was gay?"

"Aren't you?" Black*Star asks befuddled.

"I'm going to assume this confusion is the result of your compromised state post-Avian Flu brainwashing, but _think_ about it. If I were gay why wouldn't I have gone out with Robin when he asked me? The guy is _gorgeously_ symmetrical."

"I just figured you were into Soul, instead." Black*Star says grinning and I glare at him. He has good to be messing with us. There can be no way after all we've been through together that he could honestly believe Kid has a crush on me, but the truth doesn't matter to Patti who giggles so hard that she falls over onto the floor in with one leg in and one leg out of the leggings she is attempting to pull on under her nightgown.

Kid just grumbles as he pulls on a t-shirt.

"No, seriously," Black*Star continues. "If you aren't gay how can you sleep with two hotties and not-"

Kid opens his mouth presumably to tell Black*Star that now is not the time, but it's Tsubaki who gets him to shut up. She glares at him and whispers something in his ear to which Black*Star responds loudly, "SueBayee, they're your friends I was paying them a compliment. They look all sexy in their nighties and every girl wants to know they look hot, right?"

Tsubaki's nostrils flare. "Ugh! I have been here taking care of you all night and this is what I get for it! Black*Star if things are ever going to work between us you need to understand that I sacrifice a lot to-"

Her words are smothered by Black*Star's hand. "Shhhh. Save your energy for fighting." He groans, throwing his legs off the bed and stands up.

"What are you doing?!" Tsubaki goes pale. "You're too ill! Lay back down. Right now, Star! Don't you dare fight me on this!"

He smiles at her. "Don't worry so much. I think the sticky goo helped. I'm feeling better."

"I don't think it could help _that_ much. Get back in bed."

"Nope. You're a good nurse and we gotta fight. Black*Star doesn't let his friends go into battle alone. I'm not that kind of a guy."

"No one expects either of you to fight," Kid says firmly. "Black*Star, you aren't ready yet. There's no shame in it, so, _sit down_." The reaper then pauses, and adds kindly, "Please, don't make me shoot you."

"Weapon," Black*Star shouts as he leans down, assuming his usual dueling position. Despite, the concern obvious on her face she follows the orders of her meister and reluctantly transforms starting with her hair.

"Oh, for Pete's Sake. Liz!" Kid extends his arm for his weapon and blasts Black*Star with the older of the Twin Demon Pistols before I even notice Liz's transformation, but despite the direct hit Black*Star manages to stay standing.

Kid's eyebrows go up in surprise as he mutters to himself, "Amazing." Black*Star leaps forward and whacks the reaper gently on the side with Tsubaki obviously pulling his punch to spare the reaper injury.

"Ok, _fine_," Kid says shrugging. "Whatever. Just don't collapse. Okay, buddy? You are _not_ one hundred percent back to normal. You need to understand that. Got that, Black*Star?"

"Black*Star knows that," the assassin explains as Tsubaki reappears by his side. "But it's my duty to fight all enemies of Suebayee."

Tsubaki smiles and her eyelids flutter a little as she gazes at him pointing to himself with his thumb. "But, how bought you just go back to calling me 'Nice Girl'?"

"Naw, one of these times I'm gonna say it right. I know I will and then you'll _kiss_ me, _again_. Black*Star's got a feelin' about it." Tsubaki blushes and turns away so he can't see the smile on her face.

The door slides open to reveal Lydia holding Erika in weapon form, Magumi and Nikolas, and Freddy with Jacob.

"Where are they?" Lydia asks impatiently bouncing upon the balls of her feet ready to duel. She is even shorter than Patti and sports short, spiky black hair with a dozen earrings in each ear and a pierced nose. I have to admit that she looks very cool, but I'm glad Maka and I don't wear jewelry like that, because all I can think seeing it at a time like this is just how much it would hurt were some bird person to get the bright idea of yanking it out.

Kid scans the assembled group of battle-ready students. I don't know what he thinks of them, but I think they under estimate their enemy. They look far too eager.

"We don't know yet. But we know they're near because Maka's enchanted necklace is glowing."

The other students give the reaper and the rest of us, his inner circle, the same expression we give Professor Stein when he carries an endangered species into class to dissect as though they're waiting for Kid to tighten a screw to his brain.

Jacob raises his hand and Kid nods giving him permission to speak. "Uh, I know we're all under a bit of a strain, but you do realize that what you're saying sounds-"

"Like you've been playing too many RPGs," Lydia says with distaste. I guess she's not a fantasy fan.

"I know it sounds a little farfetched," Kid says with a grin. "But we have discovered that Maka's necklace has some remarkable abilities which only makes sense since it shows her membership in an elite group of witches known as the Reborn."

Nikolas whispers something to Magumi and then Magumi asks, "Maka is a witch?"

"No, I'm not," Maka assures them. "Far from it actually. It was a gift from a witch-"

"You accept _gifts_ from _witches_?" Freddy says angrily rushing forward as though to attack.

Kid raises his hands to calm the students. "Trust me when I say that Maka is not an enemy nor is the reformed witch who bestowed the gift. She's a friend of my father's and without her assistance we could not have saved Maka's life. And I would _very_ much like you to understand one thing. Right now, my father is in the hands of Avian Flu. Therefore, _I_ am in charge and I will need you to give my decisions the same faith that you do my father's."

"No offense, Kiddo, but your father's a bit of a weirdo," Lydia says.

Kid doesn't hide his amusement, "Believe me when I say, that _I_ know that better than anyone." From behind the group we hear a commotion and the students part to allow Rodrigo through. He is no longer wearing his train uniform. It's been replaced by a pair of skintight jeans and no shirt, and maybe if I were a chick my eyes would linger on that perfectly sculpted tan body of his, but instead I'm focused on the sawed off shotgun he has resting on his shoulder.

"Rodrigo's a meister?!" Black*Star asks as surprised as the rest of us. The steward says something in Spanish as he pulls up a panel of the hallway's floor and produces more guns from it. He hands multiple handguns and boxes of bullets to two other train employees behind him who smile and nod at all of us as though this is all part of the normal duties of train employees.

"No," Kid says amused. "Those definitely aren't demon weapons." Kid says something back to Rodrigo in Spanish and the shirtless man stands up and replies back amiably.

"It seems that a few of our cooks and stewards are not really train employees. They bribed someone to be able to ride with us. They are part of something called 'The Free Minds Alliance' and are fighting to protect the world from the influence of Avian Flu."

The group erupts into talking as everyone forgets all about Maka's necklace and bursts into a slew of questions about The Free Minds Alliance.

"How do we know we can trust them?" Magumi asks.

"Well," Kid says with a hint of embarrassment. "It seems to me that if they had wanted to hurt us they have had ample opportunity through a _number_ of means, so I feel pretty confident they are our allies. Gracias, Rodrigo."

"My pleasure, Death the Kid… Patti… Liz," he says with a thick accent. "We fight for freedom."

At this, Jacob shrugs, "Whatever. Come on, Freddy. We better practice, 'cause the last person besides Tran who wielded me cut part of their own finger off. Have you ever done any lawn and garden work?" I think that's a strange comment until I remember that someone told me Jacob's a chainsaw. What's with all the fucking chainsaws these days? Are lumberjacks hip or something?

"Yes, everyone go to the observatory car. We'll be there in a moment," Kid says before ushering us back into his room and sliding the door shut. He strokes his chin, deep in thought, so Maka and I don't ask him anything, but that fails to deter Patti, of course.

"Ugh, why now? Just when we getting to have some fun. I swear Avian Flu has it out for me in more than one way," she pouts.

Kid smiles as he watches his weapons pulling on their shoes and socks.

"I assure you there will be plenty of time for fun later. Now, we need to get ready."

"What the hell you think we're doing, Meister Clueless?" Liz grumbles.

"No, not ready to fight. _Ready to leave_."

"What?!" Liz says jumping up. "What the hell, Kid! We're not running!"

"I need to get back to DC faster than we can get there by train. It is imparitive that we reestablish lines of communication between the academy and our comrades around the world, as well as try to track down my father. He has to be somewhere in DC since he is Soulbound to the city and I haven't sensed his death."

"Yeah, but you knew all that a few minutes ago. Why didn't you say anything about us leaving earlier?"

"Because until now I thought our location was still a secret, but now that I know we have been discovered there is no point in me staying here."

"We can't leave when we know demons are on the way! What kind of a leader would that make you?" Patti asks.

"A wise one," he explains. "One wise enough to know that I am not needed here. Our comrades are skilled enough to handle this fight without us and Avian Flu will not expect us to leave. They will be distracted by their engagement with the students on the train making it easier for us to slip back into DC without a problem. At this point they must know who is on this train, but if we zip over to DC on my board they won't be looking for us yet. They will be looking for a trainload of people coming into town, not just one person."

"One of us?!" Patti and Liz's eyes flash with anger. Being a reaper, Kid has gone on more solo missions than any other meister I know, but it's clear that lately his weapon partners have been putting their foot down and insisting on accompanying him as much as possible. Either they genuinely worry about him or just want to keep him in their clutches I'm not really sure.

"Cool down!" He says, his hands up to indicate a need for silence. "I didn't mean just me. Patti will be in weapon form… that's what I meant. They won't be looking for one person on a flying skateboard. I can even skateboard normally instead of hovering like I usually do and if we throw a hoodie on me they'll mistake me for any other skater boy not the son of Lord Death."

"And while you two are sneaking into DC, what exactly am _I _going to be doing?" Liz says her eyes locked onto Kid's with the intensity of a cat stalking prey.

"Well," Kid says staring back at her just as intensely. "That's up to you. I have to admit Rodrigo doesn't seem like a bad guy, so for once I can approve…so if you'd rather…"

"Kid, this isn't a popularity contest. I'm your _weapon partner_."

"I know that, but Liz most meisters are content with only one weapon." I have never seen Kid look as sad as he does at this moment. Maka opens her mouth to say something, but no sound comes out. Everyone's eyes are on Liz as she stands there gazing at her forlorn meister.

Liz plops back down to finish putting her shoes on and mutters, "You're such a fucking idiot."

Kid turns to Patti looking confused. "What kind of an answer is that?"

"Probably the only kind you're gonna get when you bring up as _personal_ a subject as this in front of everyone," Patti tells him and the reaper throws up his hands in exasperation.

"Kid," Liz yells. "I'm putting on my shoes so I can come with you, all right? And you are _not_ going to say anything more about me not being a part of this team. That is _insulting_ to me. You got that?"

"Yes, but…" Kid's eyes sparkle as though he's about to cry. The turmoil inside him is evident to all of us. "Liz, I don't want to stand in the way of your happiness. You need to understand that. I didn't mean to insinuate that you don't bring a ton to the team, and you know I want you with me. You _must _know _that_."

Liz pauses in pulling on her shoes and looks at him. Both of them are breathing so hard that their chests are rising and falling like crazy.

"Oooo Kkkkkk!" Patti says loudly as she holds up her arms to herd the rest of us out of the room. "Everybody to battle stations-"

"But, Patti we don't _have_ assigned battle stations here on the train, how are we going to do this?" Tsubaki asks as she helps Black*Star up.

"We'll figure it out in the _hallway,_" says the younger Thompson as she glances back over her shoulder and smiles. "Yes, we _definitely_ need to get out of here!" With us all standing in the hall Patti hops up and down clapping her hands a little.

"So, uh, what's the plan?" I ask her and she blinks. I think her scheming was not currently geared toward defeating Avian Flu.

"Oh, _that_, right," she says mentally switching gears as though strategy is such a bore. "Well, Kid told me and Liz that should anything happen to him that Maka was in charge. So, ask her. We're leaving. All _three _of us!" She says squealing like a child opening a birthday present and doing a little happy dance in the hall.

"Patti, aren't you worried about what's going on in there?" Tsubaki asks. "Don't you think they might try to kill each other?"

"No, Liz would never hurt Kid," she says happily. "They're just _so_ _stupid_ it makes me want to handcuff them to each other and order them to hurry up and screw."

I want to ask her what that would do to her status as Kid's princess, but Maka shakes her head at me and says, "OK, apparently, I am now in charge. So, let's get to the observatory car and talk strategy."

"Why the hell is it taking so long for the demons to get here?" I whisper to her.

"I don't know. They've gotta be close. It makes me nervous."

"Me, too," I say looking out the windows of the train, but all I see is the black of night.


	59. Chapter 59: Loyalty Among Killers

_**Chapter 59: Loyalty Among Killers; Will Appropriate Souls be Taken?**_

The rest of the group runs off toward the observatory car while Maka and I bring up the rear, but as Maka steps from one car to the next I feel a hand on my shoulder. It startles the shit out of me…well, almost, anyway, until I turn around to see that it's just Kid.

"Dude, I thought you were leaving," I tell him impatiently. Don't tell me he's going to do that annoying thing adults do where they tell you they trust you to do something and then hover over you getting in the way while you try to do it.

"I am, but I…" His words trail off into silence as he extends his arms to give me a quick hug.

"You're so fuckin' weird, Kid. We'll only be a few hours behind you."

"I know. I just…"

"Worry. I know. I guess we should be glad you're not pounding your fists on the floor." The reaper can seem so self assured, but I know inside he's swimming in a sea of self-doubt and concerns, some genuine and some only troubling to the mind of a person diseased with OCD.

"I know I don't need to tell you to take care of Maka, but, please try to make sure she's not too hard on herself. It's not easy being the leader and I know she's a perfectionist like me and try to keep Black*Star out of trouble."

"Will do. See ya back in DC." As I turn to walk away Patti and Liz run up to Kid to let him know that they are ready to go and to begin lobbying for turns riding piggyback rather than in weapon form. I step through the door and with a loud whoosh I can no longer hear them.

"What was that about?" Maka says eyeing me suspiciously as though she believes that the men in her life are conspiring against her.

"Nothing. He was just saying goodbye."

"That sounds morbid. I hope he didn't say it like that."

"No, not exactly. He's just worried for you."

"Ugh! He puts me in charge and then worries about it. That's a real vote of confidence right there," she says sarcastically.

I shrug. "It's less that he doesn't trust you and more that he cares too damn much. He's a romantic. He wants to treat all of you ladies as equals, but once you're in danger he freaks out a little and wants to bubble wrap you and hide you in an ivory tower somewhere where no one can get ya."

She grunts her disapproval. "That would drive me nuts. I don't know how Liz and Patti put up with it."

"Guess it's good then that you got me as your partner. You'll get no special treatment from me for being a chick."

Maka raises an eyebrow as she slides the next door open.

"Hey, I didn't claim that I _ignore_ the fact that you're a chick. I'm just not about to throw my coat in mud puddles for you to walk on and shit."

"Of course not. That would be a waste of a perfectly good jacket."

I smile. I'm so glad she's not a girly girl who would want teddy bears and heart shaped boxes of chocolate and stuff like that. I couldn't last long in a relationship with that kind of girl. It's far better for me to be with a chick that I can openly make fun of whenever the mood strikes me.

As soon as we enter the observatory car our mood shifts. It's time for some hardcore work and it's clear that the group of assembled students needs guidance. They're all standing near their partners with Brian near Robin, Rodrigo, and the other two members of the Free Alliance Thingee. They are the only ones that don't look weary. The rest of the group shows the signs of days on assignment and/or captivity, but they are clearly battle ready. Once Maka gives the word they will do their best to rip into whoever Avian Flu sics on us this time only problem is that my meister and I know that fighting Avian Flu is a lot more complicated than a simple duel…

Thinking about all the different techniques they've used against us and the vast array of different attacks and abilities that the members of Avian Flu seem to have, I must admit that I'm nervous. It's hard to know what to expect and running in to the battle without a plan could lead to disaster, but we don't have much of a choice. It's not like they are going to write us an invitation with the time and precise location of their attack.

"Ok, everybody," Maka says addressing the group. It's a relief to me when my meister starts talking. I need my marching orders or I tend to get distracted. I stand next to Black*Star and Tsubaki, just another student in the crowd, till Maka grabs my hand and pulls me next to her in front of everyone else. Apparently, I'm expected to be second in command. Wonderful. "Here's the deal," she begins. "Kid is going to use this battle as a diversion to leave the train with the Thompsons and beat us back to DC. He has left me in charge so I'll be telling you where you will be stationed on the train and your primary and secondary objectives for the immediate future."

A few murmurs break out from the group and they seem to be coming from Erika and Lydia. I should have guessed that they'd be a pain in our ass. Either they're second guessing Kid's decision to leave or Erika is cursing that she missed her imagined chance with Kid. I give them the stink eye. Kid put Maka in charge so their job is to shut the fuck up and do what my meister tells them. It's not like Kid threw a dart at the wall to randomly pick a person to make commander-in-chief during his absence he picked Maka cause she was the best person for the job; regardless of what Black*Star might think, Maka was the natural choice because she is a versatile attacker and possesses extensive knowledge of battle strategy. Black*Star is powerful, but his signature barge-in-and-bellow-at-the-enemy-about-how-great-you-are technique leaves a great deal to be desired when it comes to the strategy department.

Maka remains silent until the whispers die down and then she continues, "We do not know how Avian Flu intends to attack us. Therefore, we need to be ready for attacks from the air which could include melee, range, and those egg bomb things. In addition, to anything new they may try. They also have attacked Kid and me with a purple mist that inhibits Demon Weapons from assuming weapon form and/or pulls them back into human form. We've only encountered it once, but you all need to be ready for it. You and your partner must have a backup plan should you have to resort to old-fashioned brawling. Soul, did it inhibit all your abilities or only those that require you to be in weapon form?"

I'm startled to suddenly be thrown into the spotlight, but I recover quickly. "Uh, I'm not sure. I was so shocked and trying to fight the feeling so much that I didn't get to try many abilities."

"At the time we were in real danger of Patti being killed," Maka says this matter-of-factly, but I think she's doing it to gauge how much the newbs comprehend the severity of the situation. They've all tangled with Avian Flu previously, but they were captured which means either their skills are not advanced enough to combat this powerful an enemy or they made poor choices of attacks or the timing of their attacks was off. Unless they learn from the mistakes they made last time this may prove to be a very short battle.

"Robin, you're our best ranged combatant, but can you shoot with your shoulder like that?" Maka asks cutting right to the point. Robin isn't even in the running as being the best meister but not because he isn't valuable. He's an amazing asset to the team; he's just too much of a specialist to be the leader. He can hit any target upside down, backwards, blindfolded, you name it he can do it and with Geoffrey as his partner his projectiles can explode, produce fog, confuse you, or hit you with such force they knock you off your feet. Their skills are impressive, but with Geoffrey's head messed up and the recent trauma to Robin's shoulder I'm not sure what they can pull off right now.

Without hesitation Robin responds, "I can do it. I won't be as accurate as usual, but I won't be terrible either."

"Good. We'll station you on the roof so that you can shoot them from afar. Do you have enough arrows?"

"Supply will not be a problem as Geoffrey will be working with me."

Maka and I hold our breath for a moment. I wonder what she's going to say to that. I don't dare let my eyes meet hers as that could be misread by the others as a sign of mistrust in Robin, but what do you tell someone who wants to be partnered with the person who literally _stabbed them in the back_ not even twenty-four hours ago?

Geoffrey stands up, his arms still clamped behind him. "Maka, I would be skeptical if I was you and I realize that is your job as our commander at this point, but you _must_ believe me when I say that I can do this. Robin will help me. I'm already feeling that horrible confusion I had while held by Avian Flu lifting. _Please_, let me help."

Maka stands silent for a moment and I can feel that her soul wavelength is stressed, but she appears perfectly cool as she states, "I need both of you to search deep within your souls and tell me that you believe that the benefits outweigh the risks."

They take a moment before answering.

"I do," says Geoffrey.

"Yes, I do, too," says Robin.

"All right then," Maka says. "It's settled. You will be stationed on the roof." I hear grumbling all around as the underclassman agitated by this decision voice their displeasure to their partners, but Maka's jaw is firm. "Most of you are at the infancy of your partnerships, but eventually you will come to understand that Robin and Geoffrey are more qualified to make a judgment call of this nature than anyone else. The key to your success in ridding the world of demons will lie in how well you understand the state of mind and soul of your partner. It will enable you to balance your strengths and weaknesses and create a synergistic energy that will allow you to do things you didn't think possible."

To my surprise no one mocks her wisdom and I smile. I wonder if she's ever thought of teaching at the academy after graduation. I'd never thought about it but she'd be incredible. But what the hell would I do if she becomes a teacher? That's not my gig at all. I can hardly stand the time we have to spend in class _now_.

Rodrigo raises his hand and begins speaking to us in Spanish. Crap! Kid and Patti have always been the ones translating for us and now they're gone. I have a moment of panic thinking that we won't be able to communicate with our Mexican allies, but Magumi timidly takes a step forward.

"I'm fluent in Spanish," the tiny brunette tells us. "Rodrigo says that he and his friends are all equipped with guns and would be willing to help cover the roof as well."

Maka thanks Rodrigo and proceeds to make quick work of assigning everyone various positions based on the minimal information she has about their skills. She reminds everyone to watch for the enemy to try to uncouple the cars as that's a common technique used by train robbers and would be an easy thing for Avian Flu to employ as well.

Then Maka inhales deeply and I feel her matching her soul wavelength to mine. That means she's trying to calm down, she only does that when she's worried. "Before we head to our battle stations there is one more thing we need to discuss. Brian, would you mind taking the little ones into the other car for a few minutes?"

"Why me? I'm not a little kid," he complains.

"I know that, but I thought that maybe you could get them a midnight snack…"

The kids clamor around Brian hopping up and down and wiggling with joy as they try to guess whether their treat will be cookies or chocolate or ice cream bars.

"Ok, but I'm having some, too," Brian mumbles as he leads the entourage toward the dining car.

Maka waits till the children are out of earshot and says, "We don't have time to go into details, but I think everyone here needs to know that we have found evidence that the reason those children were abducted by Avian Flu was so that they could be converted into demons. Avian Flu has been trying to increase the size of their army by turning children into weapons, but the conversion doesn't turn them into a totally typical demon. They're short and look stunted like a midget and often have deformities and their attacks all have names that reference playing games or toys. We were lucky because there weren't any of them in Mexico, but Soul and I encountered some in Oregon and California and Kid's team ran into some, too. We treated them like any other demon and claimed their souls, but in hindsight I wish we hadn't. If we encounter any others I will be combatting them with nonlethal attacks and I encourage you to do the same in case there is any chance of reversing the damage that Avian Flu has done to them."

Damn, Maka and I should have been talking about this instead of reminiscing about my dead mother and complaining about her asshole of a father. Normally, she'd have talked to me about something like this before speaking for the both of us, but I guess she knows that it's been eating at me, too. Knowing in hindsight that we took the souls of kidnapped kids does not settle well with me, but I've tried not to think about it and tell myself that at least we managed to get those 'hatchlings' out of the hands of Avian Flu before they got transferred to the facility where they would be converted.

"You want us to pull our punches when you don't even _know_ if you can save them?" Lydia asks incredulously. The rest of the group seems too stunned to say anything. I like the silent response better.

Maka nods and looks right at Lydia. "That's right. That's exactly what I'm asking you to do."

Lydia scoffs, "Erika and I'll be happy to make sure Avian Flu doesn't get ahold a any more kids, but once your soul's a keshin egg you're a demon, and we're here for _one reason_ and one reason _only_, to wipe out fucking demons and that's what we're gonna do."

"Yeah," Erika joins in. "I'm real sorry that happened to those kids, but you guys need to toughen up. A demon's a demon. I don't care what it looks like or how its soul was converted to evil."

"That is your decision," Maka concedes. "But I will not be attacking them to kill. I don't want to have it on my conscience that I took the souls of children who had no choice but to fight me."

"Soul, you can't seriously think this is a good idea?" Freddy asks.

"Look," I say with obvious agitation in my voice. "These demons are different. Maka and I knew it immediately, but it took awhile for us to figure out what was going on and in the meantime we took a couple of them out and that doesn't feel, good to either of us. We didn't know at the time what they were, so I guess you can't blame us, but we won't be doing it again not unless we absolutely _have_ to. I won't sacrifice myself or my meister for a demon, but if we don't _have_ to kill those demons we won't do it." I half expect Freddy to accuse me of being meister whipped, but he just stares at me so I continue talking. "What Avian Flu is doing is so damn uncool and the souls of these munchkin demons make me gag, so my hope is that maybe their souls aren't truly kishin eggs yet. You guys can do whatever the fuck you want, but Maka and I have made our decision. You're gonna have to live with your conscience. If Lord Death or someone else finds a way to reverse what Avian Flu has done to these kids…well, my meister and I don't need that guilt." It's only by listening to myself that I realize just how much this has been bothering me. I hate death and there is no reason a kid should have to die. I hate Avian Flu!

Black*Star uncrosses his arms and says, "I'm with Maka and Soul on this one. I'm as tough as they come, but there's no glory in killing someone whose been _forced_ into a fight by somebody else. I bet that if we take out the ones at the top, these little demons will back off and not be a problem. Besides, Black*Star's a _compassionate _assassin. I got a soft spot for kids so if there's any chance to save 'em I say what the hell? It's not like some damn munchkin is gonna take me and Suebayee down. I mean, get real. We're awesome."

Tsubaki, happy with her meister's decision, beams with pride even though Black*Star is still pronouncing her name wrong.

"You're gonna let a demon get away intentionally? You're crazy," Erika says and I growl at her and let my pointy teeth show. I've decided I don't like that chick and by the time I get back to DC I may hate her even more than the Thompson sisters do. I want so badly to somehow make it undesirable for them to be killing those demons unless it's kill or be killed, but we really have no control over what they do and then an idea strikes me. "Like I said, do whatever the fuck you want to do, but know that my meister and I won't support those souls going toward your soul count."

"What?!" Erika and Lydia shout and I finally feel a sense of power over them.

Maka nods. "That's right. We will be asked to verify all souls collected and we will list those as not appropriate to be counting toward your soul tally."

The students have expressions ranging from irritated to downright angry.

"All right. That's it. To your battle stations," Maka orders.

Thank, Shinigami that's over! Kid was right, being the leader sucks. Every single DWMA student in this room got rescued by us, but they stand there questioning every one of Maka's instructions. What assholes. I can see tears forming in Maka's eyes. She and I both know that there are teams that will not be making the same decision as us.

"You did all you can do meister," I tell her as I take her hand happy to be heading to our post.

"Maka! Soul!" Brian bursts into the observatory car followed by the children who have something like vanilla frosting or whipped cream smeared all over their faces. "There's another train on the track behind us and it's got no lights on. I think it's matched our pace so it can tail us like that."

Maka and I exchange looks. It's them. That's why the necklace glowed. They've been near us this whole time lying in wait, but what are they waiting for?

"That's them!" She says as much to herself as to the group. "Brian, you need to stay with the kids and do whatever it takes to protect them. We'll try to make sure they don't get near you guys."

"Ok, I'll take them back to the kitchen and hide 'em in the cupboards. Come-" His final words are drowned out by an explosion. He's thrown back as something blasts a chunk off the corner of the train car. The battle has begun and we're all crammed in the one compartment.

I slide into weapon form feeling my meister's hot hands wrap around me. Our experience with Avian Flu leads me to believe that the thing that blasted the hole in the train was an egg bomb, though I never saw the damn thing.

"Oh, shit!" I hear Lydia shout as she hits the deck and what looks like a wrecking ball flies through the side of the train car. Maka leaps out of the way and I pop my torso out and twist, narrowly being missed by the sphere as it busts its way through the other side of the train car. If that was an egg bomb it's the biggest one I've seen. The good news is it's out in the desert now cause it went right thru the car, but if there are going to be more of those things we are screwed.

Flooding in the sides of the now eviscerated train car come winged creatures that are more grotesque than the ones we've previously encountered in great juxtaposition (Maka would be so proud of my vocabulary) to their ugliness, they are followed by a gorgeous vision, an Asian woman with white feathered wings. She looks like an angel, but the cackle she lets out as more explosives tear open the observatory car sounds anything but angelic.

Glass rains down over us as the windows of the observatory car shatter. Rodrigo and his pals shoot at the winged demons as they try to snatch up the children. Brian is doing his best to protect them, but it's hard because as soon as they dodge one hazard they end up running closer to a demon. The car becomes filled with noise. The explosions of egg bombs intermingle with the bang-bang-banging of The Free Minds Alliance's guns. Their shooting lacks the musical rhythm of the Twin Demon Pistols but knowing that we have allies is comforting since usually DWMA students have to go it alone and this is one fight we can definitely use a hand with.

Over the cacophony (I learned that word years ago from my music teacher- Maka had nothin' to do with it) the woman shouts, "We have come to exact revenge on those who killed my brother."

The woman is not looking our direction right now so Maka ducks behind a couple seats that have been overturned and twisted by the wrecking ball. This puts us between the woman and where Brian is trying to keep the kids huddled which makes me feel a lot better.

"Who was it who took my twin's soul? Was it you?" She glares at the far corner of the car where Robin is standing holding his bow. He takes a shot but the arrow goes whizzing past her missing her entirely. Damn that bad shoulder of Robin's! Normally, he would have finished her with that single shot. "No, it wasn't you…" She then sizes up Freddy and his chainsaw. "No, my brother would have made quick work of you." Next, she sees Black*Star and Tsubaki and sneers. "Black*Star, I see you have chosen to mock Avian Flu's wisdom. Perhaps, you need to be taught a lesson about disobeying orders." She extends her hand and with a flick of her wrist something like a lightning bolt shouts out hitting Black*Star in the chest. He groans and trembles, but seems to suck up the pain.

Tsubaki materializes from one end of the chain scythe and jumps in front of Black*Star. "Haven't you done enough?" Tsubaki cries as she blocks the attack from him. "Don't… you see… no one… wants… your… world?" The words are hard for her to get out as she absorbs the power of the enemy's attack but she continues to stand tall giving Black*Star time to recovery.

"No. _You_ don't want it. Everyone else is happy to have decisions made for them. It makes life so much more blissful when someone else can tell you what is best for you," explains the enemy.

"What's _best_ is for you to leave Black*Star alone. He never wanted to be your puppet."

"_Never_? Are you so confident? We provided him with food, shelter, a companion, a job…what more could a man want? And was he unhappy? I can assure you that he was not. He was blissfully content, as opposed to how he'll be with you…someone who says she loves him, but carries another man's baby in her belly."

Black*Star's head pops out from behind Tsubaki and he looks at her with confusion. "What?!"

"You didn't think she'd hide anything from you, did you? Tsubaki, your sweet, _innocent _partner… how could such a _nice_ girl hide something from you? What else is the DWMA hiding from you, I wonder? Can they be trusted? How do you know _they_ haven't fed you lies, Black*Star? How do you know that you can trust _anything_ _**they**_ say? Your fiancée has vanished, your former partner is pregnant and didn't tell you, and-"

Black*Star grabs Tsubaki's hand and she transforms but into her full weapon form. "I know you did something to my head," he shouts at the winged demon woman. "But Black*Star doesn't need brains! I have all I need: a _loyal_ partner, guts, and a desire for glory!" He jumps toward the woman swinging Tsubaki at her, but she evades the attack easily by fluttering out of his range. I imagine Tsubaki is probably scolding Black*Star for not waiting for a better moment to attack.

The winged woman laughs as she remains just out of Tsubaki's reach. "You are all so much fun with your silly sentimental notions. They don't teach you anything _practical_ in that school, do they?"

"Oh, who is that over there?" The woman asks hearing some movement in a corner not yet crowded by her minions. "Who is hiding in that corner? Could that be dear little Magumi and Nikolas? Oh, Magumi you take such good care of your dear, deaf brother don't you? You must _love_ him very much." She pauses for a moment before screwing her upper lip up in a horrific display of fangs. "Well, let me tell you something. I loved _my_ brother very much, _too._ _He was my world!_"

With a flick of her wrists she throws Magumi backward into what's left of the wall of the train car and Nikolas in weapon form as a wooden staff, flies from his sister's hands. The woman laughs and wiggling her fingers in a circular motion begins to pull Nikolas toward her like he's caught in some kind of tractor beam.

"Noaw! You fput me down an leafve my sifster awone." I realize it's the first time I've heard him speak, usually he just whispers in his sister's ear and she serves as the mouthpiece for their team, but he's showing no hesitancy now to yell and fight with every ounce of energy he has. Still in staff form he tries spinning himself. It must take an incredible amount of force to fight the power of her magic.

"Magumi? Any last words to say to your brother?" The evil woman asks.

"No! Please don't do this," Magumi yells as she runs toward her brother.

"Stway bwack, Magoomoo!" Nikolas says as he pulls himself to a vertical position and attempts to get a hit on the woman, but she keeps taunting him by evading his blows at the last moment and cackling like some kind of witch at Halloween.

"You about ready, meister? Cause I'm tired of hiding," I whisper to Maka.

"So am I, and I think Nikolas could use a little help." Maka strafes out from behind the seat staying as low as possible and running toward the winged woman who is torturing Magumi and Nikolas. The good news is she's so busy focusing on attacking our youngest members that she has left her back to us. I think that we might be able to do a sneak attack as long as no other demon starts attacking us in the meantime. We might just make it and if we stay quiet and don't resonate maybe… no, she's starting to turn.

"Oh, it was _you!" _She says whirling around to face us while releasing Nikolas. He falls to the ground with an unceremonious thud. "You're the only one besides Kid who has both the brains and the skills to take out my brother."

"Yes, I took the soul of your brother," Maka says standing tall.

"And I ate it," I proclaim as I pop my head out of scythe form to make the announcement. I'm hoping that if we provoke her enough she will forget all about Magumi and Nikolas.

"And we're going to take your soul, too," says Maka as she charges forward swinging me.

The woman's nostrils flare. "The amount of trouble you two have created bothers me a great deal. I look forward to tearing you to pieces and feeding you to the birds."

"Now, that's just gross," I complain.

"You did just tell her you ate her brother's soul," Maka reminds me.

"I guess," I grumble still imagining a bunch of sea gulls yanking on my entrails. Yeah, I definitely don't want that to happen.

The winged attacker tries to hit us with that lightning attack of hers. It grazes Maka's left leg but that's it. "Do you brats know what you have done?" she screams. "You have taken my _twin_ from me. My other half is gone. You have stolen from me my best friend, my brother, my lover!"

"Gross," Maka mutters under her breath, before ordering me to resonate. I feel Maka's soul determined and vibrant as it reached out to fuse to mine and then I feel that weird heat, but I've learned to ignore it. Maka charges forward as I change from my normal scythe form to my fancy shmanzy Witch Hunter form. I'm gonna slice through this bitch like butter!

But something feels different somehow. "What is that, Soul?" Maka asks. Her eyes facing forward as she charges toward our opponent.

I stretch my scythe eye around. "Meister, I'm on fire!"

"It's too soon to be congratulating yourself, you idiot!"

"No, Maka, I'm literally _on fire_!"

She glances down and sees that she is clutching a redhot handle. Our opponent uses this brief moment's distraction as an opening to rise up and kick forward nailing Maka right in the face with her boot clad foot. My meister flies backward still holding onto me tightly despite the flames.

"Soul, you ok?" Maka asks. She just got kicked in the face and she's worried about me. That's classic. Then again, I am on fire.

"I'm fine. Just don't stop. We gotta take this chick out. If we get her the others will be easy."

Maka charges forward weaving in and out of various obstacles and dodging the million other demons that want to attack us. We continue to resonate and the flames grow. I see them begin to engulf Maka as well as me. She shrouded in flames, but she isn't in pain. They're no charring, no burning. Holy crap, we've created a new attack or something!

"Maka, do you know what's happening?" I ask her.

"No clue."

"Awesome. Let's use it," I laugh and with that I spring into my ginormous special form but it's not quite Witch Hunter or Genie Hunter.

"Hidden Technique: Flaming Rage," she says.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," I laugh as she charges at the woman in front of us. She swings me and the woman's eyes grow wide. She's underestimated us. We're just a couple teenagers after all. She probably figured we caught her brother off guard with a sneak attack like we tried with her initially, but she's so wrong about our skill level and she knows it now. I cleave into her chest as she tries to fly away and I get stuck. Instead of slicing through her like I should, I'm wedged into her chest held in place by muscles and tissue. She's started screaming now and it doesn't look like it's only because she's got a scythe stuck several inches deep into her. She's also catching fire. The flames that don't affect Maka and me are rapidly consuming her flesh. She tries to shake us off and she raises herself up in the air and Maka ends up hanging onto me with just one hand. Aw, crap. How the hell am I gonna do this?

My meister's hands are sweaty and before I can do anything she loses her grip and begins to fall. Damn it. I should have made sure she was wearing her gloves! As soon as our physical contact is broken I lose concentration on our resonance and the flames die, but I'm still stuck in this woman…

I have to think fast. Maka's falling, I'm stuck in the air and having to go with this woman wherever she flies and now she's trying to pry me off of her… maybe if I… I try to switch into human form while my blade is stuck in her and it works. My human form begins to materialize inside her chest causing crushing of her lungs and muscle and I hear bone crack as I reemerge. I'm literally breaking her apart from the inside out and from the screaming I'm going to guess that its hella painful. Her chest is literally cracking in two which means we've got her! Only problem is that she can no longer fly which means I'm starting to plunge toward the ground. Dammit!

Maka is below me falling and I'm reaching for her and she's reaching out toward me, but then a flyer ascends by me and he's got one of the kids. I reach over and punch the flyer in the face and yank the kid out of his clutches. I look back down and see Maka smiling at me and then I get hit by something. Some kind of explosion throws me backward, away from Maka, away from the train even, but I've still got the kid held firmly in my grasp. My ears are ringing from the deafening sound of the blast and I feel disoriented and then my head hits something hard and the world goes black.


	60. Chapter 60: Soul's New Partner

_Chapter 60: Soul's New Partner; Who Knows Where?_

A bright light beams down on me. It flows through my eyelids and eventually signals my brain that I ought to wake up. My eyes open revealing a cloudless sky and a sun that is well on its way to high noon. Huh? Where the fuck am I? How'd I get here? A sense of disorientation grips me. Do I have amnesia, what the hell… No, I don't think I have amnesia. I know who I am. I'm Soul and I've hit my head. There's a _throbbing _pain at the back of my head that is numbing my ability to reason. That and the stabbing sensation from having that damned bright sunlight shooting directly into my red eyes. Damn, that hurts! I raise my hand to cast a shadow over my face and as soon as I do I hear a squeal from nearby.

"Oh, yah! You're awake!" I don't recognize the voice. Who could it be? I start to turn my head in the direction of the voice, but the speaker pops into my view about an inch in front of my face before I'm even able to rotate my head. It's a small child, dark skinned with fuzzy dark hair and incredibly white teeth which he is displaying to me in a huge wide smile.

Seeing the little boy causes all the memories to start falling into place in a way that makes sense. There was a big fight on the train, right… and I got thrown backward… but that was before dawn. Aw, fuck. I must have been out for hours! Dammit!

The little boy continues to smile at me despite the fact I am cursing to myself and looking anything but happy at the moment. I glance at him and he grins at me as though I'm highly amusing.

Well, at least _he_ seems ok. Kudos to me for saving a kid from the clutches of Avian flu, quite literally.

"You ok?" The boy asks me. "I gots _blood_ on my leg," he says nervously as though blood is some kind of boogeyman. "See it? There." He seems distressed, but I can't see the wound. He'd need to back up in order for me to be able to see his leg, because right now he's practically on top of me. "It hurts," he whispers to me so the imagined boogeyman on his leg won't overhear us.

I pull myself up to a sitting position and gently scoot him back a little. "Let me see."

He holds up his right leg. There is a big bruise on his lower leg that has a nasty gash in the center of it. A trail of dried blood runs from it to his sock.

I nod. "Sorry, I don't have a band-aid, but it won't bleed anymore if you don't mess with it. So leave it alone. Ok?" The little boy nods but continues to eye the wound as though he expects it to begin spurting at any moment. "Have you been awake the whole time?"

"Yeah, I chased the train, but I couldn't catch it."

Crap. That's what I was afraid of. We got thrown from the train and the train kept right on moving and so did the Avian Flu one behind it. Shit! They're probably almost to DC by now and I've no idea where we are. "Fuck!" I shout and the little boy looks up at me nervously. "Uh, sorry… you, uh, didn't hear that."

"That's ok. My daddy says that whenever the Ravens lose the ball or the stove breaks. Mom says he needs to wash his mouth out with soap, but I don't think he ever has cause he still says it."

Well, at least I can't be blamed for being the person to introduce him to four letter words.

"What's your name?" I ask him.

"Jerome," he says. "Jerome Titan Washington."

"I'm Soul."

"Are you a teacher?" he asks me and I laugh.

"Naw, I'm just a teenager. I go to school with Black*Star and Geoffrey."

He processes this information and then laughs, "Oh, I thought you was a teacher, cause your friend, that girl, she tells everybody what to do."

"Nope. She's just good at bossing people around," I say with a sly grin wishing that I'd feel the all-too-familiar whack of a book clocking me on the head, but sadly my meister is not here, so all I get as a response to my comment is a snort and a giggle from the little boy.

"I'm hungry," he announces suddenly and I realize that I am, too.

"Uhhh…" I check my pockets. I have the pocket knife Rax gave me and a whole lotta nothin' else. I really should follow Patti's lead and start carrying candy or gum in my pockets everywhere I go.

Looking around it's safe to say that we are in the middle of nowhere. On all sides of us is desert and I seem to have managed to get my head bashed into the only boulder around. That figures. Sagebrush, cacti, and a whole lotta nothing else except for the one rock I get throw into. Oh, well. Better me than the kid, I guess. In the distance there are some painted hills, but it's impossible for me to judge how far away they are…they aren't close that's for sure. I check out the sky and I can tell it's gonna be clear today which means I'm gonna burn like a mother fucker. Ugh. This is not a great scenario to be in.

"Have you seen any more of those big birds like the one that was trying to fly off with you?" I'm surprised they didn't come over and try to take advantage of the fact I got knocked out. Wasn't that horrible flying woman yakking about having them eat my guts before I was incapacitated? I would have made an easy entrail buffet laying here completely passed out, so why didn't they attack me or the kid? The only conclusion I can draw is that there was too much going on for anybody to really notice where me and the boy ended up after being thrown from the train. I'm gonna hope that's why Maka hasn't come back for me yet… but she has soul perception…it's not like she couldn't locate me…best, not to obsess about that right now.

"I dunno," Jerome answers. "After chasing the train I came back here and hid. Wanna see my hiding spot?"

He seems so eager that I tell him sure and pull myself up. He takes me a few paces away to where a small crater has been formed in the ground; it must have been created by an egg bomb blast during the fighting.

"I got in here and I curled up. Real tight like this." He demonstrates his hiding skills by rolling himself into an incredibly small ball. "Then I pulled these branches and rocks around me. Like this." I can see how it would be easy to miss him even after the sun came up. _He_ did a remarkable job of hiding from Avian Flu, unlike me who was splayed out in plain view.

"I'm impressed. You must always win at Hide and Seek, huh?"

He beams. "Yeah, I win lots."

"Good job," I say offering my fist to bump his. He tips his head and looks at my hand with curiosity. I move it a little so that he'll get the idea and then as though a light bulb has lit up in his mind he makes a fist and gently hits mine with it.

"So, what we gonna do?" he asks me. He is amazingly calm for a kid stranded in the desert without his parents, but I suspect that's because he trusts I'm going to be able to make everything better. He repeats the question, "Whats we gonna do?"

"Ummm…." The kid's question is totally valid. Problem is I don't have an answer. Right now what I really want to do is stop my head from hurting and have a pair of sunglasses spontaneously materialize on my face, but I suspect neither of those things is likely to happen. This sucks! _I _don't know what in the hell to do. I need Maka for this sort of thing…

"Do you think any of those birds saw me?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Maybe, but you looked kinda dead. I didn't think you were, but I wasn't sure. My Grandme's dead, but they wouldn't let me see her after she died so I don't know what dead looks like. That's why I wanted wings." I blink. I often find it hard to follow the rapid thought process of little kids, but right now it's especially hard because I'm tired, hungry, and hurting. "Is the train gonna come back for us or are we gonna have to walk to the cadeemy?"

Again, I don't have an answer for my young companion. In a situation like this protocol would dictate that I create a sign visible from the air, stay put, and await rescue by the DWMA's helicopter, but I'm not sure that is a good idea. If there is Avian Flu in the area it'd be like hanging up a neon sign that says, "Please come, capture us! We're helpless," and I've worked way too hard to just flush our chances of survival down the toilet like that.

"I'm glad you're awake. I'm not scared anymore," Jerome says running in place.

By his hiding spot I notice images drawn in the dirt. "Did you draw this?"

"Yup. It's me and my dog, Grumpsalot. We call him Grumpy for short. He steps on my feet and barks like _craaaazzzzy_ at the postman. I miss him…" His face suddenly becomes down cast and his eyes start to water. Damn, he's starting to cry. What do I do?! I really don't want to deal with a balling little kid. I don't know _crap_ about dealing with kids. Awkwardly, I kneel down and put my hands on his shoulders. "It's ok. I'm sure he misses you, too." Shinigami, I sound stupid… surely, I can come up with something cooler to say. But the little boy doesn't seem to think I need to. He wraps his arms around me in a hug. He's still crying, but he isn't balling, so, I guess somehow I did manage to make him feel better.

"I miss my Mom and Dad and my little sister, too," he says softly into my chest that is now wet from his tears.

I hug him back. I'm really glad he's ok. Fucking Avian Flu what are they thinking pulling little kids into a mess like this? Every one of 'em are fucking ass holes. Anyone who is willing to destroy the lives of children… I grit my teeth. A part of me wishes there were some of their forces here so I could slice them in two!

I pat my new friend on the back and try to reassure him that we'll get him back home to his family soon.

I look around again. Still no sign of DWMA folks. Dammit.

The little boy notices me scanning the area. "You lookin' for that girl?"

"What girl?"

"The one you're always with."

"You mean Maka?"

"Is that the girl you're always with?"

"Yeah, her name's Maka."

"You miss her don't you?"

I nod. Oh, Shinigami, now I'm gonna start crying. Holy crap. I can't cry in front of this little kid. I'm supposed to be the mature one, not the pathetic weapon pining for his lost meister.

"Is Maka your wife?"

I almost leap out of the little boy's hug I'm so startled by the question. _Wife?!_ "_No_, we're partners at school."

"What's 'partners'?" he asks, his curiosity overtaking his mind full of fear.

"Well, uh… the two of us do everything at school together and we're friends and stuff."

"Oh, I thought she was your wife, 'cause Freddy said you two live together and you're in love and my mom says people get married after they fall in love and it means they're gonna live together and have babies. Do you have a baby?"

"_No."_ I start to say that we're too young for that sort of thing, but he may have overheard that Tsubaki is pregnant and that would lead to all kinds of questions that I don't want to touch with a ten foot pole.

"Is not having babies the difference between partners and married?"

"Something like that," I concede realizing that I may not be emotionally prepared to handle this topic at the moment and not only because of my whooping headache. In addition to _his _probing questions, I'm being hounded by plenty of my own. Why isn't my meister here? Why hasn't she come to find me and the kid? She saw what happened, right? I _swear_ she smiled when she saw me get Jerome away from the bird that was carrying him off. Did the blast that sent him and me flying….?

The truth is that there could be a very reasonable explanation for why she is not out here looking for us, but it's too horrible to contemplate, especially after we just promised each other that if we were going out, we were doing so as a team. If something serious has happened to her I've let her down in more ways than one. I try to convince myself that Maka and I are so... bonded… that I'd feel if she were gone, but it's hard not to imagine she's been hurt when the last moment I saw of her she was freefalling down toward a totaled train car full of enemy forces. Ugh, I can't stand to contemplate it. There has to be some other reason. They're busy or all sick or something.

I know! That heartless bitch, she's probably so wrapped up in trying to better Black *Star and the other meisters that she's grabbed Brian and is blasting the hell out of Avian Flu minions and hasn't had the time to consider coming back for her loser partner who got thrown from the train. _That's_ it. She's still fighting or reporting to Kid all she knows…maybe she's even trying to teach me a lesson about how I need to be more self-sufficient and less clingy. Obviously, she's all wrapped up in herself and her goals right now. She is a damn _meister_, after all. Why would she stop to make sure her weapon is ok?

A part of me knows that none of that rings true to Maka's character, but when compared to the alternative of assuming she is seriously injured or dead, I'm more than happy to stick with this illogical conclusion.

Yup. My meister's a horrible bitch. That's it. I feel so much better. I can deal with a horrible bitch. I can argue and fight with a bitch. I can't raise the dead or fix a mortal injury so until further notice Maka and I are on the outs. I smile. I feel far more sane, now.

"Well, guess what, little dude?" I say turning my attention back to the little guy.

"What?"

"It looks like I'm in need of a new partner at the moment. Whatda ya think about being my partner till we get ya back home?"

He narrows his eyes and contemplates the offer seriously. "What do I gots to do?"

"Uhhh…" Crap. I don't know. Let's see… "You'd need to stay close to me and not wander off…and…uh… help me with stuff."

"Do I have to kiss you?"

"Hell, no…er..no." I say shaking my head. This boy's poor mother is going to have a great deal to straighten out in his mind after he gets back home. That's what happens when you get messed up in the life of DWMA students.

"Ok, cause I only kiss Morgan. Morgan G. not Morgan F. Morgan F. is mean. She kicked me one day at school and then she told Ms. McIntyre she didn't, but she lied. Morgan G. is really nice. We're gonna get married and have three cats and one dog."

"Wow," I say gently rubbing the back of my head to assess the dent in it. This kid has way more of a plan for his future than I do. That's kinda sad, but all I say is, "It's good to have a plan."

"Are you and Maka ever going to get married?"

"I dunno. Maka's parents had a nasty divorce…"

Ignoring this bit of information he says, "You should ask her. It's easy. I gave Morgan G., not Morgan F., my chocolate chip cookie one day and asked her if she'd marry me and she said yes and now we always share our cookies."

"Awesome," I say not really sure what kind of response you're supposed to give when a kindergartener tells you he's getting married. Though, it sounds like he is more discerning in picking a mate than Black*Star was. That's one thing I'm glad of; I'm not stuck out here with Sandra. That would be _awful._

"Maybe we could catch another train. I saw a movie where this kid hopped on a train and rode all the way from one state to another." He's cute, but I'm beginning to wonder if he ever shuts up. My head really hurts.

"Yeah, where do you live?"

"In the United States of America," he says proudly. Great, that isn't super helpful, but at least he's patriotic…I guess.

"What school do you go to?"

"Lincoln Elementary."

Again, not super helpful, as I can only imagine how many Lincoln Elementaries there must be in the southwest alone.

There are probably some other questions I should ask him eventually, but for now the most important thing is to find our way to somewhere with food, water, and shelter, so I elect not to ask any more questions right now. Instead, I debate the ramifications of the possible solutions to our situation. The problems are clear. We are stuck in the desert with no supplies and don't know where the nearest town is or when the next train is due.

I narrow our options to three. We could walk along the tracks in the direction the train was headed knowing that eventually they will lead us to civilization, we could stay here and wait for someone to come back for us, or we could head back the way we came, but I don't know how far the nearest town is in that direction either.

I can't believe I have to take another huge trek! I miss Brunnie. I hate Avian Flu! I feel like sitting down and crying, but I must stuff that impulse into the same compartment in my brain where I put all the other things I feel ashamed of… my obsession with pterodactyl porn, that time I stole ten bucks from my mom's purse so I could buy candy and comics, and the time I tried to sneak a peek at Maka in the shower…among other things.

My new partner enjoys talking and since it seems to make him happy and since I can't manage to get a word in edgewise I let him ramble on with tales about the transgressions of Morgan F. and the loveliness of Morgan G. and their classroom's pet hamster and 'pokey trees', which I come to understand is what he calls cacti as we start walking in the direction the train went and he follows. I choose not to walk right next to the track but I always keep it in sight and to our right, as I'm sure the DWMA would follow the tracks from the air if…I mean, _when_ they come looking for us.

After about a half hour my companion is still talking a blue streak about everything from dinosaurs to apples, but I've stopped listening. I nod at times and murmur an occasional 'un, huh' or 'oh, really' here and there so as not to seem rude, but I'm no longer paying any attention. How can he still have so much energy?

Then abruptly his monologuing stops and he proclaims, "Soul, I'm hungry!" And not waiting for a response he whines, "I'm thirsty, too!"

I nod. I am, too. I'm lucky that I have a scythe arm as I can use it to slice through cacti to get water. Otherwise, we'd be drinking the foul 'apple juice' produced by my bladder and I hate to think of the interrogation I would get from Jerome if I offered him 'juice' that clearly smelt like piss.

I look around. Right now I don't see any of the types of cactus that are supposed to be good for getting water from, but there is a tree and usually where there is a plant there's water. I veer over to the tree and look around it and start digging in the earth at the base of the tree.

"Whatcha doin' that for?" my partner asks.

"I was hoping to find some mud."

"Why?"

"Well, mud is wet ground and wet means water."

"Oh," he looks hopeful, but I come up dry.

"Sorry, buddy. It looks like we're just gonna have to be patient."

He sighs and cries a little. I can tell he's wearing out.

"You want a piggy back ride?"

He nods and I hoist him onto my shoulders. Compared to hauling Maka around he's easy to carry. I'm even able to pick up the pace a little with him riding instead of walking, but our lack of water is going to become a big problem soon. My mouth is completely dry and I'm starting to feel my headache intensify. Even Jerome is starting to feel the effects of dehydration as he's stopped talking and his grip on me is getting weaker and he's starting complaining that he doesn't feel good. Well, if I can't find us water at least maybe I can find us some shade to hang out in for a while.

I find a few large rocks that offer a tiny spot of shade. I set Jerome in the shade and tell him to stay put while I try to get us some water. It's now early afternoon and it is hot. I can feel my pale skin burning, but there's nothing to be done about it.

I see some of those cactuses that have large, flat pads bigger than the palm of your hand. I can't remember what they're called, but I do remember you can eat them so I use my scythe arm to hack several of them down. Then, I take off my shirt and cut it into two sections to wrap my hands in hoping that will offer some protection from the spines of the 'pokey trees'. Then taking a rock from off the ground I file off all the spines.

Jerome is fascinated by this process and asks me all about what the 'pokey tree' will taste like and I have to admit to him I've never eaten it before, but since it's food and we're both starving I'm sure we'll enjoy it. So, after stripping the thing of its 'pokies' I bravely take a bite.

"Ok, 'enjoy' might be an overstatement," I admit as I chew through the meat of the cactus.

Jerome picks up a piece I offer him and tried to take a small bite out of it. The plant remains intact.

"You're gonna have to gnaw at it."

He makes a face to indicate that my culinary skills leave much to be desired. "I gotta do what?"

"Chew it like Grumpy chews bones. You know…work at it."

He tries again and mumbles something about how he needs shark teeth like me, but after a while we figure out that he can suck on it and that at least gets him some fluid. It isn't much, but it's something and if we find one of those bigger cacti later we should be able to get a bunch of water from it.

"Well, partner, what do you think about taking a nap and then walking more later, after it's cooled off?" I ask him.

"Ok," he answers as he surveys the landscape as though expecting to see a bed with nice sheets and pillows waiting for him. When he doesn't see this he appears confused, "Where we gonna sleep?"

"We'll find a place over there by that ridge," I say pointing over to a wall of painted rocks.

"Outside?!"

"Yeah. Like we're camping. You ever been camping?"

"No, but don't you need a tent for camping?"

"Baw! You don't need a tent to camp. All you need is the ground to sleep on and the stars above your head. Maka and I camp all the time without a tent."

"Camping is what partners do?" he asks.

"When we're on assignment."

"Assignment? Like homework?"

"Yup, my homework's a lot different than yours. I have to do stuff like camping and-"

"And learning how to get juice from pokey trees?"

"Yeah."

"I wanna got to cadeemy! They never learnded me anything cool like that at school… But my teacher did learnded me how to make a cup out of clay."

"That sounds cool to me."

I walk toward the painted hills thinking how much this kid's family must be freaking out about him being missing. I bet even Morgan F. is worried, and I doubt any of them would feel a ton better if they knew he was hiking through the desert with a total stranger.

I find a crevice in the rock face that will shield us from the wind. He looks unsure when I tell him to lie down in it, but he seems determined to do as I direct so he attempts to get comfortable on the rock. I've got nothing to offer him as a blanket, but I give him my ripped up t-shirt as a pillow.

"I'm gonna lie down here next to you to block out the sun," I strategically place him deeper in the crevice so he's more protected from the elements and hopefully hidden from view. "Tell me if I crowd you too much, ok. I'm sorry it's not more comfortable, but I think it's better than the ground."

My little buddy is unusually quiet and then he asks, "Soul, why do you turn into that knife thing?"

It's funny because that's actually _not_ a question I get very often and I feel he deserves a _really_ good answer to it, but how do I explain it to somebody so young?

"I'm different than most people," I start. "It's kinda like I have a super power."

"Does Maka change, too?"

"Nope. She's what's called a meister. She can't change into something else, but she uses people like me to fight with."

"I thought fighting was bad." This is a very valid point.

"It is… sometimes. Fighting for no good reason is stupid, but when Maka and I fight we have really important reasons to fight, like keeping you safe."

"Oh, like how police fight bad guys?"

"Yeah. Like that." I feel triumphant. I think he gets it and hopefully he's not scared I'm going to stab him while he sleeps.

"And those birds are the bad guys, huh, and that flying woman? She scared me."

"Yeah, she wasn't very nice."

"None of them are nice. They told me I'd get wings, but they lied. They just threw me in a bag," he says and starts to cry. "Mom told me not to talk to strangers, but I did. I was bad, Soul. Really, really bad!"

"Hey, it's ok. You're not bad! Everybody makes mistakes."

The little boy raises his head and shakes it violently back and forth. "I can't go home! I can't! Mommy and Daddy are gonna be so mad at me!"

"Hey, hey! They aren't gonna be mad. They're missing you like crazy. I know they are."

"But, I talked to a stranger and I knew I wasn't supposed to. I was supposed to tell them to talk to an adult, but they said I could have wings and I wanted to see Grandme again."

"Why'd you want wings?" I ask confused.

"I wanted to see my grandma. Mom says that she's on the Other Side and that someday I'll get to see her again, but she says it's up there," he points skyward. "So I wanted to fly there for a visit… What's wrong, Soul?" He has seen the look on my face. I'm tearing up. Avian Flu used this kid's grief to their advantage. I feel a level of rage I'm not sure I've ever felt before. There aren't many innocent people in this world, but this is one and they didn't spare him. They stole him away for the betterment of their own stupid, evil agenda.

I try to compose myself by taking a deep breath and wiping my eyes. "I'm really sorry you didn't get to see your grandma again, but she's not lonely. You know how I know?"

"How?"

"Cause my mom's up there with her."

"Really?"

I nod. "And I bet that when you get home if you tell your parents that you're sorry about talking to a stranger that they'll forgive you. I'm sure they miss you a lot."

"I miss them," he says and he snuggles up to me burying his head in my chest.

"Don't worry. 'Cause I'm gonna get ya back home. I promise. Ok?"

His face reappears. "What if those birds come back? You don't have Maka and I don't know how to fight. I'm not a good partner!"

I rub his head. "No, buddy. You're a great partner. You know why?" He looks doubtfully at me and shakes his head. "You're a great partner because you're honest. Partners never lie to each other and they talk about stuff. That's really important. Team work is always more important than fancy fighting moves. That's why Black*Star isn't as good as he thinks he is."

Jerome laughs. "Black*Star's funny."

"Yeah, he's awesome and he's _always_ making mistakes… and _I'm_ always making mistakes and people still love us."

He lays his head back down on his makeshift pillow. "I love you, Soul," he says and I lay there stunned. "Thank you for letting me be your partner."

"Thanks for being my partner, buddy. You're doing a great job. Now let's get some sleep."


	61. Chapter 61: A Dark Day

**Risenfromash: **I keep wanting to respond to reviews, but a lot are from guests so I can't PM the reviewers back! Pterodactyl porn is a real thing, but so bizarre that I could totally imagine Soul being obsessed with it. I'm glad you like Jerome. I think it can be hard to write little kids because they are naturally adorable, but you don't want to make them cutesy. I tried to pattern him after a certain little boy in my life who is very sweet and a major chatterbox.

_**Chapter 61: A Dark Day; When is it OK to Give Up?**_

I don't sleep well. It's too bright out and my skin is on fire from the sunburn I knew was inevitable. I'm glad Jerome has nice dark skin. I'd feel awful if he had to roast like this. I haven't burnt this badly in years. My sunburn actually hurts worse than my head injury. I remember the first time I got super badly burnt was shortly after I started attending the DWMA. Before that, my mom had always religiously slathered me with sunblock whenever I ventured outside and I resented it, because it took so damn long. So, once away from my parental unit I had happily rebelled and went without, but after a couple hours in the DC sun I had learned that there were far better things to rebel against than the frequent application of sunblock. I ended in the nurse's office listening to then school nurse, Ms. Bizzbee, lecture me on my stupidity. After that, I always used the stuff, though admittedly over the last year or so I've pretended to be lazy about it, because if I was too slow about 'getting around' to applying it Maka would get impatient and pin me down and do it for me and it was really pretty hot. I still don't think she's figured out I was intentionally 'forgetting' to do it just so I could get to feel her hands on me…

Shinigami! I miss her. She should be back in DC by now, the lucky bum. Meanwhile, I am laying on a rock. This sucks. I roll over careful not to disturb the little person snoozing beside me. He's been out like a light ever since we lay down. He must not have slept at all while I was knocked out.

I hear something and my muscles tense, but the sound must have just been the wind or something. It sucks to be this god damn paranoid all the time, but what do you do? Now I've got not only my own neck to protect but the little guy's, too. At least he's easier to deal with than Brian. I'm gonna tell Maka that if she insists on me becoming some kind of mentor that I'll only work with kindergarteners, not ten year-olds who think they're forty-two.

Ugh. I'm restless. I can't continue to laze about, so I get up. I consider trying to make a hat out of cactus, but the sun's damage is already done so instead I dig around to try to find some moist dirt and when I find some I pat it on my exposure skin to try to cool it.

"Soul, whatcha doin'?" Jerome asks. I guess he's awake now. I stand up and turn around and he busts up seeing me covered in mud.

"You trying camouflage?"

"No, I'm putting it on my sunburn. It feels nice. Want some?"

He runs over and I pat some mud on the back of his neck and he smiles. "That _does_ feel nice."

The sun will be starting to go down soon and seeing as we are both awake I figure we may as well hit the road again. "Well, partner, you ready to head out?"

He nods. "Camping's not very comfortable."

I laugh and tell him that normally you don't have to sleep on a rock.

"You wanna walk or ride?" I ask him.

"I'm gonna run!" He shouts as he blasts past me at full-speed.

"Don't waste your energy and look where you're going! I'm not gonna pull any pokies out of you!" My threat prompts him to show off by spinning around and running backwards. I shake my head. "Did you have some sugar packets in your pocket or something?"

"Nope!" He says hopping up and down.

"Can I have some of your energy?"

"What energy?"

I laugh.

He runs back to me. "So, how long till we get to cadeemy, Soul?"

"I'm not sure. First, we've gotta find a town and hopefully someone can come meet us."

Funny, I haven't seen any other trains this entire day. That can't be normal…an ominous feeling settles in my chest and I remember how earlier in the week, Avian Flu sabotaged those train tracks to prevent Maka and I from getting home.

Jerome continues running forward and then returning to my side, back and forth and back and forth. By the time we reach wherever we end up he will have walked almost twice as many miles as I will have.

"Soul, you ok?"

I raise my eyebrow. "Why?"

"You look mad."

"Nope. I'm fine. I'm just tired and my skin feels like it's on fire. The mud only helps for a little while. I need some aloe lotion."

"You're gonna need a _lot_ of it… but don't worry! I'm sure Maka will kiss it and make it all better." He sounds serious when he says it, so I can't tell if he's making fun of me or not. "She's gonna be so happy to see you she'll kiss you one hundred times, I bet. No, one _thousand_." He makes a fishy face at me, which I can only assume is supposed to look like someone puckering up to kiss.

I whack him playfully in the side of the head. "I would _never_ kiss someone who looked like that! That's scarier than a demon," I tell him and he busts up.

"Yeah, I don't know much about kissing… Morgan and I are waiting till we're older."

"That's probably smart. At least wait until first grade," I say trying to keep a straight face. "Or until you have your farm."

"Farm?! We're not getting a farm! We don't want _cows_. We want _cats_, three cats and one dog."

I smile thinking about my happy little home with Maka and Blair. "I'd recommend cows, instead. Maka and I have a cat and she's more trouble than she's worth, especially for me."

This comment sends my friend into a run-on sentence about his mother's belief that cats are easier to care for then dogs because dogs need to be walked and exercised and blah, blah, blah and I again start to tune out the little guy's chatter as I tromp along.

He's still yammering on about stuff when it starts to get dark, though now the topic seems to be something about the best games to play at recess. I open my mouth to talk and struggle to get a word in and finally just cut him off.

"Sorry. I just wanted to let you know that you're gonna need to stay closer to me, now that it's getting dark. I don't wanna trip on you, so no more running, k?"

"Ok," he says bounding over to me.

"How bought you take my hand?"

He puts his hand in mine. "This is a looooonnnnnggg walk."

"Yeah, it is. I'm tired, too, believe me, but hopefully it won't be too much longer."

The last little bit of sun is a minute or two from disappearing over the horizon as I start to make out the shape of something far in the distance ahead of us. The haziness of dusk makes it hard for me to figure out what it is that I'm seeing, but my heart leaps a little. It's too boxy to be boulders…and it looks manmade, could it be a town or a homestead? Could we be getting close to food, water, aloe vera lotion?! No, maybe not… they're awfully short…

As the last bit of sunlight vanishes I'm still arguing with myself about what it is I'm looking at. I sigh. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait till we get there. I hate being patient.

We trudge on in the dark and I discover that contrary to what I was taught in school there really isn't enough light to walk in the desert after dark. I had been told that away from the city lights, the stars and the moon would offer enough light for one to see their way and that walking at night would save one from getting sunburnt and dehydrated, but as I stumble around in the dark I decide that their recommendation is bullshit. On a night such as this with only a crescent moon I can barely see a damn thing and after running into at least five cacti and five times enriching Jerome's vocabulary of expletives, I say 'screw it' and decide to walk on the train tracks. I put Jerome on my shoulders. I have to bite my lip hard when I set him down on my sunburn so as not to wail, but this way I know we won't get separated in the dark.

We travel on in this manner for a length of time that is hard for me to measure. All I know is that we are moving forward and that is a good thing. Eventually, we get close enough to that big something I saw before the sun went down and I realize that it's not homes or any other kind of building. It's a fucking derailed train.

I break into a run.

"What is it, Soul?" Jerome asks, but I can't tell him till I know and till I see what's inside. I hold onto his knees to make sure he doesn't fall off of me as I run toward the mangled train. It isn't till we're super close that he recognizes it.

"Is that a train?"

"Yeah," I say praying he doesn't figure out it's the train we were on or more correctly both that train and the one that had been following us.

"Why's it laying on its side like that?"

"I don't know. It's not supposed to be. Jerome, I gotta check this out, but I need you to be safe so I gotta leave you here while I check out the inside. Can you stay right here?"

"Alone?!" He isn't liking the idea and I can't say I blame him. It is dark and the mangled train car looks super creepy.

"You can call for me if you need me, ok?"

"Soul…." He says it unsurely and then grabs me. "I don't wanna be alone in the dark."

Fuck. There could be all kinds of dangerous stuff in there and stuff no kid should have to see. I contemplate what to do, but I keep coming up with the fact that a derailed train car is not a good place to be taking a little kid.

"Jerome, it's not that you're too little. It's that I need your help. I need my partner to be a lookout and give a holler if any of those birds show up. If you and I both go in the train together we won't see them in time."

"Oh…" he says sadly. "Ok. So what do I needa do?"

"I need you to yell as loud as you can if you think you see anybody or anything dangerous. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah." He stands there stoically and then says, "You're gonna come back, right?"

"Yup, I promise… and I can hear you if you need anything just shout. I've just gotta take a quick look around."

"K."

I peer into the first car of Avian Flu's train. It was a diesel, not like the coal-powered dinosaur we were using. I climb into one of the cars through a window. There are some demon souls floating in the air. I don't know if they died at the time of the impact or during some kind of ensuing battle. The good news is I don't see anything moving, but what if it's the same in our train?

I climb out and take Jerome's hand and walk toward the back of the train we were on. It has been crushed. It looks like the enemy's train rammed ours. I position Jerome just outside the observatory car as I know that most of our friends were in that compartment when last I saw them. I climb in and wander through the wreckage.

"Hello? Hey is anybody here?" It would be _really_ useful to have Soul Perception right about now. Why can't I have any useful skills? All I've got is a stupid blade. I could have that without any special powers; anyone with enough money can walk into a store and buy a sword or a scythe! Fuck!

"Is anyone in here?" I ask again. I hear what I think is a moan. I follow the sound. Was it my imagination? I tread as lightly as I can over mangled metal and chunks of seat cushions. Broken glass is everywhere. "Hello?" I hear something else. A cough? There's definitely somebody alive in here! "Hello?" I ask again.

"Soul… is that you?" The voice is a girl's, but it isn't Maka's and I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed by that.

"Yeah, it's me. Keep making sound so I can find you. I can't see shit in here."

"Sooo…" the person is trying to say my name, but it's pretty faint. "Sooouuull…" I close my eyes so that I'll quit straining myself trying to see in the dark and I just concentrate on the sound. I can do this. Use that musically trained ear for something useful, Soul. I walk about four feet forward and lift up a couple pieces of debris and mange to find somebody's leg poking out from under a bunch of rubble. I lean over in the dark. It looks like it's got a sneaker on it over tights. I think it's Lydia.

"Lydia, is that you?" I hear what I think is a yes. I move more stuff around and uncover her face. When she sees me she gasps as though she's been underwater for a long time. "I'm gonna get you out of here," I reassure her.

"We thought you were dead," she says softly. "Maka told them you were dead."

"Told who? What?" I say as I stand there trying to access what exactly has her pinned. I'm not paying much attention to what she's saying. Instead, I'm calculating how best to get her out from under the pile of junk that seems to be restricting her movement.

"Just leave me and go after her… I know that's what you really want." Lydia's voice is merely a murmur.

"What are you talking about?" I ask distracted by the task of moving nearby stuff gently enough that I can dig down to her without causing an avalanche of junk to come down on top of both of us.

"Maka isn't here." She speaks a little louder than before.

"So?" I ask. I had kinda figured Maka wasn't. It looks like Lydia may be the only one alive in here. Maybe she got stuck here and nobody knew where she was. Who knows? I start to heave a big metal support beam for the train car frame, but her hand reaches out suddenly.

"Soul, don't."

"What?"

"You can't move that," she sounds like she's crying, but no tears are coming. I don't understand. I figure she's like me and delirious from trauma, dehydration, and pain, but she seems pretty sure that lifting that particular beam is a bad idea so I trace the thing from one end to the other and I realize she's impaled. In the dark I couldn't see it at first, but now that she's pointed it out it's obvious. There is a huge hunk of metal going into the side of her chest and, she's right, I better not move that beam. I pull that out of her and she'll bleed to death in a matter of minutes. I gulp. She needs help.

"Lydia…"

"I know I'm gonna die. I'd come to terms with it till you showed up doing your stupid 'white knight' routine. So go save your damn bookworm and leave me alone."

"Lydia, that's not helpful," I scold her as my mind continues to process different scenarios for how best to proceed.

"My own weapon abandons me and you think you're gonna stroll in here and save me?" She scoffs. "Get out of here before you get yourself killed, ya idiot."

"Calm down. I'm not leaving you. We're gonna figure out together how to get you out of here."

"Leave me alone," she growls and I suspect that were she not in such a compromised physical state she would be screaming at me.

I don't know Lydia well. In fact, I hardly know her at all, but I don't think giving up is like her. Yet here she is feeling sorry for herself and defeated. It worries me…a lot. "Lydia, what happened to Erika and the others?"

"Don't you mean _Maka_?" she says nastily.

Ok! That's it! "Lydia, you need to get _one_ thing straight. We're on the same fucking team here and, yes, of course, I'm worried about Maka, but I'm a DWMA student so my job is to get you out of here because we're comrades and contrary to what you seem to believe my meister is not the _only _person I care about."

She turns her head away from me. "If I were you, I would leave me."

"Well, that's great. Just great! You know what? You're a shitty comrade, you know that? Do you even _know_ what being the part of a team means? It means we take care of each other. Not that it surprises me you'd be like this when you and Erika don't even seem committed to taking care of one another, let alone anyone else. But, you know what? It's not worth dying over. So, Erika took off? Doesn't that piss you off? Don't you want the chance to tell her what a lousy weapon partner that makes her? Don't you want to tell her how much it hurt you?" Lydia's eyes are huge as I chew her out. What a crappy meister she is just laying her feeling sorry for herself! "I'm gonna use my scythe arm to cut this so that you can be moved and we'll get you to someone who knows what they're doing and they'll get this thing out of you and you'll be just fine. And then you can focus on learning what it means to be a DWMA student, but for right now you can do one of two things. You can either shut the _fuck up_ or tell me where everybody else is including my meister and they had better be alive, because if you're the _only one_ still alive and you're _giving up_ I may just kill you myself. You got that?" I'm screaming at her. I've totally lost it, but one thing is clear to me. My number one priority at this moment has to be to get Lydia and Jerome to safety.

"Soul? What's going on?" I hear Jerome's voice shouting to me. "Are you ok?"

I sigh. I've gotten so loud the kid heard me. "Yeah, I'm ok."

"Good! Everything's ok out here."

"Awesome. Good work, partner."

"Who was that?!" Lydia asks. "Who's with you?"

"Jerome."

"The little black kid?"

"Yeah. He and I got thrown off the train by one of the explosives and we've been making our way this direction ever since." I get to work sawing through the metal that prevents her from getting up.

"I'm sorry, Soul. You're right."

"I know I'm right," I tell her grouchily never stopping my sawing which is almost compulsive at this point.

"I'm just so jealous. You and Maka work so perfectly together-"

"We fight. We disagree."

"_You'd do __**anything**__ to save her_."

"Yeah, I would." I say it unromantically, because it isn't some poetic thing. It's simply reality.

"And I know it isn't because she's your girlfriend. I've heard the stories. For years you two have made things work against all kind of-"

"Hey, calm down. Don't get upset. I'm sure Erika had her reasons for taking off or whatever…" She still hasn't told me what happened and as much as I know I need to know, I suspect I don't want to hear the truth about what happened here. I think it isn't just Erika's leaving that has crushed Lydia's spirit. I suspect that she witnessed one of the greatest DWMA defeats in history. I hope I'm wrong, but…

"Erika left me because she doesn't respect me. She's always wanting to get partnered with someone famous, like Kid."

"You guys could become famous… you're still really new at all this. Maka and I only got well-known because we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or the right place…depending on how you look at it. Normally, no students would be fighting full-fledged kishins, but it happened to us and we managed to live through it so…" Lydia grumbles. "It sounds to me like you guys just need to talk about some stuff. Have you ever told her that it pisses you off that she's always trying to get Kid to be her meister?"

"No, I tried to chalk it up to the fact she also wants in his pants super bad. Just like most of the girls."

"Yeah, Kid does seem to have that effect on the ladies. It's hilarious because I think he's actually terrified of chicks."

Lydia laughs. "Yeah, he seems more intimidated by girls than by demons."

"He is. Believe me," I take a break from sawing for a moment. This is a lot of work. I'd be sweating like crazy, but I'm so dehydrated I've got nothing much to sweat. "Just don't give up. You and Erika can still work things out and if you don't you can always partner with someone else. It's not like all partnerships are meant to be lifelong or something."

"But yours is."

"Well… shit happens sometimes. People change…partners die…" My voice trails off. My stomach is churning with worry. Where the hell is everyone?! What happened here? Why won't she tell me?!

Lydia lays there in silence. "Now I understand why Maka chose you."

"Yeah, well you're not the only person who's been abandoned by their usual partner right now. I've had to promote Jerome. He's not doing badly for not being a meister." I chuckle.

"Maka thinks you're dead," Lydia tells me.

"She has Soul Perception. She has to know I'm alive! Whenever we get separated she-"

"I don't know. I'm just telling you what she told them."

"Who?"

"Avian Flu."

My heart feels like it is being torn in two. Avian Flu has my meister and I'm not with her. I set back to work sawing more furiously than ever.

"Don't feel bad. There's nothing you could have done if you were here. The fight on the train was just a diversion. They derailed the train and had a whole fuckin' _battalion _waiting for us." She pauses to take a breath. "They hit us with the purple fog shit that you and Maka warned us about and then they started pulling everybody out of the wreckage. Magumi and Nikolas ran for it… They killed Jacob," I feel a pain in my chest as sharp as if I'd been hit by a knife. "Freddy went berserk after they hit Jacob. So, they knocked him in the head so hard I don't know whether he's alive or dead… I could only see some of it." I don't say anything. I don't know what to say. I can't believe Jacob is gone… and they killed him while there were so many of us there trying to stop them. "Erika ran, but I _know_ she saw me. Our eyes met and then she just took off." Lydia begins to cry and with each tear she winces in pain from the impalement.

"Hey, it's ok. You're not the first partners that got split up during a battle. She was probably just scared."

"Like I wasn't?"

"She may have thought she'd be able to come back for you. So, did they get everyone?" I ask my voice trembling with fear.

"I don't know. I couldn't see and I don't know why they weren't looking for me, but they were _grilling_ Maka about where you were and she was sobbing and telling them she saw you get killed." I wonder if she really thinks I'm dead. I think she must have been putting on an act for them, but could something have happened to her ability to perceive souls? Could she think that I died in the blast that threw Jerome and me off the train?

"Lydia, we'll get them all back."

"Soul, it's over," she says gently, apparently trying to convince me to accept defeat.

"No, it's not," I growl.

"They told us they are going to deliver Jacob's body to the academy. They mean business. He won't be the only one of us to lose our life unless we surrender and I don't want to live to see our defeat. The DWMA is all I have."

"Then you should be fighting to save it. You're as bad as Erika. She gave up on you, _**fine**_, but you're doing the same damn thing, only _you're_ giving up on _everybody_. If you love the DWMA so much you won't give up just because you lost one battle. You know how many fights Maka and I have lost?" She says nothing. "Well, I don't know either, because I don't count 'em because it sucks to lose." She shakes her head at me like I'm such a fool for continuing to fight and that only makes me more determined to win. "You're gonna live and you're gonna look Erika in the eye and ask her what the _fuck _she was thinking when she left you here like this. You hear me? Now hold still! I gotta find something to stabilize the…" I lower my intensity level some. "Thingee. I don't want it wiggling around in there."

"Soul, they got them all! The kids, Robin, Rodrigo, Maka… They're all gone. Soul, there is _nothing _you can do. We're in the middle of fuckin' nowhere and I have some hunk of medal-"

"SOUL!" I hear Jerome's voice and I leap up. "Soul, I heard weird noises."

"On my way," I shout as I attempt to navigate through the sea of train wreckage in front of me. Come on, move faster, Soul!

"OK, good job, buddy," I say joining him by his side. "Where?" He points vaguely to the southwest. I get close to him and kneel down to be on his level as I look and listen. It could have been an animal or even just his imagination, but I'm not taking any chances. Then I hear it, the sound of footsteps, _running _steps getting closer.

"Stay right next to me and do whatever I say, ok?"

"Ok," he says his voice shaking.

Sure enough within moments we are set upon by demons. There are three of them and they are all of the munchkin type. I curse my luck as I turn my arm into a scythe; there's no way that I can show these guys mercy without compromising Jerome's safety. Exactly how many promises to my meister am I going to be breaking before I see her again?

"Stay back!" I yell at them, but they come at us.

"Terrifying Tutu!" shouts the tallest of the three. It's dressed in a sparkly pink outfit and has braids on by either side of a lopsided head with one small eye and one larger one in the middle. Her face is so unbalanced that she would probably send Kid right into a fit. She yells as she spins toward us and her hands form the shape of blades. She's like a blender that's heading straight for us. I shove Jerome behind me and swing forward with my scythe arm and cut her down. In the process I get sliced, but it doesn't matter. One down, two more to go.

One of the other two demons is squat with a long bendy neck that can twist and turn like a spaghetti noodle. It starts blowing bubbles from its mouth, but they don't look like normal spit bubbles or even bubble gum bubbles... they're glowing green in that putrid shade of a stagnant, algae filled pond. I'm guessing that it's filled with gas or being hit with it will create some kind of negative affect. Sleep? Confusion? Dammit. That's the last thing I need right now. I pop one of the bubbles with the point of my scythe and jump out of the way as a cloud of greenish, yellow powder appears in its place.

"Cover your mouth!" I yell at Jerome and he immediately clamps his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide with fear. I should have made him close his eyes during all this. Dammit! What was I thinking? Things are just happening so fast and I'm fighting solo… I end up breathing in some of the powder and it burns my lungs making me cough and gag. I double over from the pain; it feels as though my lungs have been sunburned now, too. Could this day get any better?

As I wretch I watch as the third demon approaches us. It's more like a lump of play dough with eyeballs than a midget. It has only one appendage, a hand which is stuck smack dab in the middle of its torso, if you can even call it that, it holds a shiny metal gun that looks like something from a retro sci-fi film.

"Pew- Pew!" it says as it shouts me. I feel a sting like an electric shock, but it's not bad. I can easily take more of those hits if I have to in order to keep Jerome from breathing the contaminated air. I pull myself up, determined to block any attack from hitting Jerome, but the lump seems just as determined to face the little guy. I end up rotating time after time in order to cover him, but then the lump demon switches direction. I think that we are done for, because I can't take out two demons at once. I'm getting desperate. The lump demon comes up so close to Jerome that it could hurt him, but he doesn't have his weapon pointed at him. Instead, the lump rubs up against Jerome like an affectionate cat. I've never seen a demon behave like this. Maka is right. They can't be full-fledged demons.

"Hey, there…uh…This is Jerome," I say thinking this has to be one of the weirdest things I have ever done. "He's like you were… just a kid who got messed up in this whole business. He doesn't want to hurt you and I don't either. Don't let Avian Flu hurt him, please." The bubble-blowing one is creating a huge bubble that looks purple. If that is full of the purple fog that will yank me out of weapon form I'll have to resort to hitting and kicking and stabbing them with my pocket knife and these guys look pretty thick skinned. Crap. We could run into the train car, but they'd just follow us in there…

The bubble blowing demon makes a strange sound that's a cross between a cackle and a hiss and I prepare to take a leaping jump to stab it, but, meanwhile, the lumpy demon child continues to press itself into Jerome. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, because I'm watching the bubble blower, but Jerome isn't screaming so I guess whatever is going on is ok.

"Do you want me to have this?" Jerome asks and then the lumpy demon draws back from the little boy, throws himself down, and barrel rolls into the bubble blowing demon knocking him off his feet and the purple bubble pops over them instead of being shot at me and Jerome.

_That demon just fought on __**our**__ side._

"Run, hide in the train and don't come out till I say so. Ok?" I order as Jerome shouts his understanding. As he ducks behind part of the observatory car's roof which is perpendicular to the ground I see the glint of something in his hand and I realize that the demon gave Jerome the ray gun.

I watch as the two demons fight one another. The lumpy one has no weapon, but it uses its girth to bash into the other and the other madly tries to blow and pop bubbles in the face of him. It looks like the lumpy spaceman is losing, but they're so busy engaging with one another that they are no longer paying any attention to me giving me the opening I need to jump forward and stab the bubble-blowing one. As soon as I stab it I know the hit is fatal because the demon immediately disappears and its soul floats there between me and the one who has become our unlikely ally.

The eyes of the lumpy one look to me and I start to turn away. It stands up and starts to follow me.

"I'm not going to kill you. You helped us. Thank you," I say the words slowly as though I'm talking to a foreigner or someone hard of hearing. I don't know if it understands me, because all it does is stand there blinking at me with its ridiculously large eyes. "We don't have to be enemies. We can be allies. You know, _friends_."

I turn my scythe back into a normal arm and offer the demon my hand. "See? Friend." He… or she appears confused. It leans toward my hand and wobbles its one hand back and forth like a fish's dorsal fin as though it's trying to point at itself.

"Yes. You and me. Friends," I say. I feel like I'm making first contact with some kind of alien race. It tips its head toward my hand again, but it doesn't seem satisfied when I offer it my hand. "You want to see my scythe arm?"

He stops wiggling and I shrug. "Ok, I guess." I take a step backward and switch my arm into scythe form and the lumpy demon starts running at it.

What the fuck? I switch my arm back and end up punching the charging demon in the gut. I shove it backward by what would be its shoulders. This makes no sense. It didn't seem like it was attacking me.

"Oh… you can't go back can you?" It stands there blinking at me. I guess it would make sense that Avian Flu probably doesn't take kindly to demons who return empty handed from the errands they are sent to do.

"You wanna come with us?" Jerome asks and I turn back to see that he has reemerged from the train.

"I told you to stay put!" I shout as the lumpy demon runs over to Jerome. I can't believe this. It's acting like a stray dog and Jerome is happily encouraging it.

"Jerome, we don't even know how we're getting home and I've got Lydia…"

Oh, crap. I better go check on her. I figure that Jerome is safe with the lump and I run back into the train. We need to get out of here and fast, because if these demons don't report back I'm sure more will be sent to find them and Lydia needs a doctor bad.

"You still with me?" I ask her.

"Where else would I be, numbskull?" she complains.

"Ok, ok, just checking, gees…"

I have an idea, but I'm not very hopeful… but if Kid managed to get back to DC he may have his father's mirror phone working. I find a window with a decent size part of the pane intact and fog it up with my breath and scroll the magic numbers onto it.

"Hello?" I recognize the voice of the DWMA's technical genius, Joe.

"Joe, it's me Soul!"

"Soul! Where are you guys? Kid's sick with worry. You should have arrived hours ago. He's-"

"We need help right away. Lydia's been impaled. They've killed Jacob and-"

Joe puts up his hands… "Whoa, whoa…let me get ya the man in charge. I'll be right back."

Soon running into the frame is Kid followed by Patti and Liz.

"Soul! Thank Shinigami! Where is Maka?" he asks breathlessly. He must have been clear in another side of the building.

"Kid, we ran into some trouble. It's a long story, but the train's been derailed and Lydia needs medical attention and I've got one of the kids with me."

"I'm on my way," the reaper announces.

"No, Kid," Sid says entering the frame. "You need to stay here."

"But, I'm-"

"No, Kid," I say. "Sid's right. You need to stay there. Someone needs to coordinate everybody. You don't know how good it feels to be able to get in touch. Just get somebody here to pick us up and we'll go from there. I'm sure more demons are on their way."

"How many of there are you?"

"Two plus Jerome…"

"Two?" A look of terror comes over the faces of Kid and his partners.

"Yeah, sorry, I don't have better news, Kid…" I glance over in the direction of Jerome who has his arm wrapped around the lumpy demon. "But you better give us room for three plus Jerome. We've made an ally that we need to introduce to you."

Kid nods his understanding. I know he wants to ask all kinds of questions, but all he says is, "Ok, help is on the way. Stay safe and as soon as you're back here we'll figure out what to do about the others."

I thank him and give my best estimate of our location. We say quick well wishes to each other before I hang up and return to sawing at Lydia's metal prison.

"That's how being a team works," I tell her.

Lydia manages a weak smile and says, "I guess, it's good I'm still in school. Apparently, I have more to learn than I thought I did."


	62. Chapter 62: Just Fine

_**Chapter 62: Just Fine; Be Ok With Me?**_

"Jerome! Looky what I found!" I giddily shout as I toss a chocolate chip cookie wrapped in plastic wrap at him. He squeals with delight as it sails over his shoulder and he turns to run after it. "But hold on! You gotta eat something nutritious first and _go slow_ or you'll get sick." I remember being told in class that there are ideal foods to eat after being in starvation mode. The problem is I can't for the life of me remember what they were, but I'm sure a giant chocolate chunk cookie wasn't on the list, but who can resist giving a kid a cookie?

I climb out of the wreckage of the derailment and hand him a bruised banana, a baggie with some trail mix in it, and a small package of crackers. Most of the food in the train's kitchen can't be trusted since the refrigeration has been out since the accident, but I salvaged what I could that I thought the little guy might enjoy.

"Thawnks, this is way better thwan cawctus," he says as he happily munches on a bite of banana. "Want some?" he tips the banana in the direct of the lumpy demon who wobbles and with some difficulty bends over to take a bite of the banana. Then it flaps its single hand back and forth. "I know. It's really good!" Jerome says to it as he takes another bite.

"Hey, I gotta go check on Lydia again. You think you can eat and keep watch?" I ask him and the little boy nods and mumbles another thank you for the food. "Don't let Lump distract you, ok? Help is on the way, but we gotta keep our eyes open for a little while longer."

"I's understand," he says seriously. "But _his name's __**not Lump**_. His name is Julius Starfire."

I take a moment to stare at the lumpy demon. "His name is Julius Starfire?" I repeat it back as I don't see how this creature could tell anyone his… or her name.

"Well, it's not _really_ his name," admits Jerome. "It's the name he chose for himself cause he likes outer space."

"And dictators, too, apparently?"

"What are diptrators?" Jerome asks.

"Nevermind. So, Julius Starfire?" Lump sways back and forth and the corners of its mouth curve upward ever so slightly. "Really? That's better than 'Lump'?" The demon flaps his hand excitedly and wobbles back and forth faster while Jerome frowns at me with lowered eyebrows.

"Duh! Of course it is. Would you like it if someone called you 'Lump'?"

"I guess not…" I admit. Honestly, I wasn't making fun of it. I was just trying to avoid calling it 'Demon' because the thing is clearly on our side. I take a moment to ponder its odd form and scratch my head. It clearly has a mind of its own and a personality, but is this really the personality of some poor little kid? What would Maka see if she was here to view his soul, I wonder, but all I say out loud is, "You sure Julius is a he?"

"Yup." Jerome's response is completely confident.

"Ok, then… Julius Starfire," I say with a shrug. I'm going to feel ridiculous every time I say that name out loud. "But what am I supposed to call you for short? Calling you 'fire' isn't gonna work and we can't call ya 'Star' because that'll get too confusing with Black*Star around."

Jerome turns toward the lumpy demon. "Oh, you haven't met Black*Star yet. He's a sassin. That's like a hero who fights with this weird chain thingee. He's really funny. He's always like, 'Black*Star, is the best. Behold my awesomeness!' and his partner is super pretty. She's like an angel with black hair!" I leave an enraptured Jerome rambling to Julius Starfire about Tsubaki and climb back into the observatory car to see how Lydia is faring.

I had almost managed to cut clean through the metal pole that had her impaled before I had gone foraging for food in the kitchen.

"Hey, Soul," she says weakly when she hears me approach.

"Hey," I say getting back to work. "I'm sorry about earlier. I'm feeling a little saner with some food in my stomach so I'll try not to act like a total ass again."

"It's ok. I deserve it. Giving up _is_ wrong. We gotta fight. It's just…"

"Awfully easy to get discouraged. I know. You should have seen Maka when we'd been wandering around in the Redwoods for days looking for Falconer. She was so frustrated." We are both silent as we contemplate the fate of our friends.

"You'll get her back," she says.

I nod. I do believe I'll get her back. I have to believe it or I'd go nuts, but I have an even greater fear that is gnawing at me. "You wanna know the truth?"

"Sure. Surprise me," she says with a smirk.

"I'm more worried about them screwing with her head than anything else. I don't want her to come back like Black*Star."

"Yeah, that's gotta be hard. I'm pissed as hell with Erika right now, but I don't want her wiped from my memory."

"How'd you two end up as partners?" I say as I stop to take a breather.

"We both went to the ladies' room at the same time and my stall didn't have any tissue. I asked the girl in the stall next to me to hand me some and she did and we just hit it off."

I grunt. "Ah, nothin' like discovering chemistry in the can."

Lydia starts to laugh and then winces. "Oh, God, don't make me laugh…or cry… or breathe. Oh, God…" she moans. She's been incredibly stoic through this whole thing, but I'm sure she's hurting like hell and maybe now that we're getting to know one another a little better she's not so scared to show it.

"Don't worry it shouldn't be too much longer and we'll get you out of here…" I look around. "You're sure there's nobody else in here."

"I'm pretty sure I'm a lone wolf at this point… hey, Soul, can I have some water?"

I stop sawing and grab the bottle of water at my feet and hand it to her but she can't quite get the right angle to drink so I step around some debris and hold the mouth of the bottle to her lips. I cup a hand underneath her mouth so that it doesn't run down her and into any of her wounds.

I pull the bottle away from her lips and then she wipes them with her hand, but she misses a dribble and I wipe it off with my thumb.

"God, I'm glad no one's here to see this. It's so embarrassing," she says as I stand back up.

I shrug. "It happens. At least it's only temporary." I pat the beam. "I'm almost through this thing," I comment, more to myself than to her. Even though it's incredibly tough work I refuse to complain in front of her. I don't want her to feel bad, but this is definitely way more exhausting than making that hole in the train car roof.

As I wipe the sweat from my brow, I begin to realize that she's watching me, but not the sawing. No, she seems to be gazing at my body. Seriously? Is she checking me out? Could she really be doing something like that while impaled… well, I guess all chicks do it while impaled just in an entirely different way. Oh, God, I am really sick. I need help. I also need a shirt. Maka would not be happy to learn that I'm currently eye candy for another woman, especially another meister she doesn't even get along with that well. My eyes flick her way again. Maybe it's my imagination, but …

"You got a sunburn fetish or something?" I say trying to keep the mood light. I'd love to ignore this, but I don't want to feel guilty later that I didn't work to establish a more clear boundary with her. I do have a girlfriend after all and it shouldn't matter that she thinks I'm dead.

Lydia quickly flicks her eyes away from my body, suddenly pretending to be incredibly interested in an overturned seat to her right. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were checking me out."

"I was not, and you have a girlfriend. I wouldn't do that."

"Of course you wouldn't. Because you know _I have a girlfriend_… and it's serious… _very_ serious."

"God, get over yourself. You think just cause you conned your meister into being your girlfriend that every woman wants you? Please!"

"You were checking me out," I tease her.

"I was not! God, how can you be older than me and be so damned immature?"

I grin. "Oh, come on admit it. You're jealous of Maka."

"Yes, I'm jealous of Maka… because she has a great partner and is one of the most talented meisters around."

I smirk. That's not the only reason she's jealous. Oh, yeah! I'm covered in abrasions, dirty, smelly, and red as a lobster but the ladies still want me!

"Oh, God, Soul," she says with exasperation. "Don't let it go to your head. There isn't much to look at in here. It's not like you're Kid or something."

"What do all the girls see in him? I don't get it."

"Oh, so the rumors about you and the reaper aren't true then?" she says playfully.

I groan loudly. "_**No!**_ Like three years ago a bunch of us were playing Truth or Dare and Patti dared me to kiss Kid and I did. Which was incredibly awkward and embarrassing, but it was fine. He was cool about it and we got it over with and we thought it was no big deal. I even got revenge by making Patti ask Ms. Leech about sexual positions and birth control, but you know Patti and her big mouth and before you know it the whole school is debating which one of us is the 'seme' and which is the 'uke'. I didn't even know those terms before that! Girls are disgusting you know that?" She tips her head slightly and I point at her. "You're a pervert, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one," she says now intentionally staring at my body just to annoy me. I try to position myself so the beam blocks some of her view, but there really isn't much more I can do. Sorry, Maka, I tried… and I won't let her touch.

"So, what is it that the girls see in Kid?" I ask trying desperately to steer the conversation away from me and my relationships, real and imagined.

"Oh, come on! How can you not see it? He's _adorable_! And… gentlemanly and… obviously _very_ talented with his hands…"

"Oh, God, I'm sorry I asked! I did _not_ need to imagine that."

"Is he doing it with Patti?" she asks bluntly.

Robotically I say, "I'm not at liberty to answer any questions about the sex lives of any member of Team Death the Kid."

"Hhhhmmm. I thought so… I don't get them at all."

"Nobody does, but Kid's big kink is symmetry."

She laughs and then winces. "I told you not to make me laugh."

I finally saw through the last little bit and Lydia is freed for the first time since the derailment. I help her to scoot over to a more comfortable position where she can lie flat on her back, instead of in the horrible crumpled position she's been forced to be in. For a brief moment or two I am way too close to her for comfort, but I get her slid over, ignoring the torn clothing that reveals patches of flesh one wouldn't normally see and use Jerome as an excuse to get out of there in a hurry.

When I get outside, the sun is starting to come up when I hear what sounds like a chopper in the distance. I order Jerome and Julius to get out of sight.

"Why?" Jerome asks.

"I just want to make sure it's friendly."

Jerome's eyes get wide and he helps usher his amorphous friend to a hiding spot behind me.

I don't have binoculars and it's still not fully light, but I recognize a white spot on the side of the chopper that I'm sure is a Lord Death mask. Hurrah! We're saved!

I wave and hop up and down and the chopper turns clearly looking for a place to land. I am so happy that I can hardly stand it.

"Now don't be expecting this kind of star treatment next time you need your sorry ass rescued," says Professor Stein as he strolls up to me, an unlit cigarette propped between his lips. He looks me up and down. "You have second degree burns, third degree in places," he comments unemotionally.

He pats me on the shoulder and then looks past me with great interest. He's seen Jerome and Julius. The professor reaches up and tightens his screw by a click or two.

"What do we have here?" The question is presumably to _me_, though he hasn't taken his eyes off the demon.

"Oh, uh, this is Jerome. He was kidnapped by Avian Flu and we got him out before they tried any conversions on him and this is-"

"This is Julius Starfire," Jerome interrupts. "He's my friend. He helped Soul fight." Julius wobbles back and forth and hand flaps a bit at hearing his friend talk about him.

"I see. I presume this is one of the demons you and Kid are calling the 'munchkin' type," The professor says slowly, as his mind processes all the data he is collecting.

"Yeah. Guys, this is Professor Stein. He's one of the teachers at my school."

"I'm five!" says Jerome. "And I'm in kindergarten and I want Morgan to meet Julius. We're gonna have so much fun together-"

Stein smiles, but puts up his hand to stop the barrage of information the little boy is launching into. "You can tell us all about it on the chopper. Soul has to take me to where Lydia is at."

I lead Stein through the labyrinth of iron, glass, and torn up upholstery that is all the remains of the observatory car. When we reach Lydia he kneels next to her and takes her hand as though he's proposing marriage.

"Hello, my dear. Don't you worry. You're going to be just fine." He then turns to me. "Soul, you and Jerome and our demon friend should go ahead to the chopper. Send Marie back and she'll help me get Lydia out."

"I can help carry her out."

"Soul, you've done wonderfully. I've very impressed you found Lydia in the dark and managed to get so much done without your meister, but now you can go rest. Send Marie over."

"I don't need to rest. I'm fine."

"You're running on adrenaline. You're gonna collapse soon."

"No, I'm not. I've had some water and some food."

"And you've been sawing most of the night. Go."

I roll my eyes and mumble, "Fine," as I make my way back through the wreckage.

I lead Jerome and Julius to the chopper. Stein has left the bombay door open. I start to lift Jerome up but he says, "Jule's gotta go in first."

"Jule? You know that sounds like a girl's name, right?"

"I think it's in the baby book for either," says Marie from the pilot seat. "I think it's a lovely name."

My jaw drops. "_You_ flew here."

"Yeah!" she says enthusiastically. "You didn't think Lord Death would trust Frank to fly his baby did you? He's not about to let a man hell bent on destruction pilot it and Kid is just like his father." She stands up and walks back toward the Bombay door. "Hello, there!" She says to Jerome and Jule. "Aren't you adorable!" Jule flushes pink from head to toe and flaps so fast that his hand is nothing more than a blur to me.

"Well, he's in the train. He won't let me help. He seems to think having a pregnant woman heaving an injured woman out on a stretcher is a better choice."

"I agree. You've done great, Soul. Very, very well, but now you need to get some rest and we'll get you to the dispensary just as soon as we can." As she smothers me in a warm hug I try to tell her that I don't _need_ to go to the dispensary, but either she doesn't hear me or she chooses to ignore me.

It seems like a long time, but in reality it's only a few minutes before Stein and Marie hoist Lydia into the copter. Once she is secured, Stein sets to work getting her vital signs and Marie heads up to the pilot's seat, "Ok, sweetie. I gotta go fly this hunk of junk, but if you need anything you just let Frankie know. Don't let him ignore you. You have my permission to pester the hell out of him." She gives her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek and Frank smiles in a way I've never seen before. I guess he does love her, I've always kind of wondered.

He reaches into his pocket and immediately Marie who has evidently seen this in the rearview mirror barks, "You aren't thinking of lighting that up in _here_ are you?"

"No, I was just putting it in my mouth because it feels comforting."

"Are you being sarcastic? It's hard for me to tell. Our child better not have a mouth on him like you or I'll be in trouble."

"Oh, are you and Marie gonna have a baby?" Jerome asks. "I have a little sister. Soul and Maka don't have any babies."

"I should hope not," Frank says with amusement as he examines Lydia's wound and bickers with Marie about what route to take back to DC.

"Everybody got your belts on?" she asks.

I double check Jerome's and Jerome checks Jule's.

"Yup, we're good to go, honey," Frank says and I grin at him. I love to give him crap about the fact he knocked up Marie since he gives me crap about Maka all the time. I'm sure if he weren't preoccupied by Lydia's condition and Julius' unconventional appearance he would be asking me all kinds of questions about how our evening in the hotel was. He's the only teacher I know who seems to keep track of his students sex lives. He's such a pervert. I think that's why I like him so much.

We've just lifted off the ground when Julius starts wobbling more than usual.

"What's wrong, Jule?" Jerome says. "I know it's 'citing. I've never flown." But Jule's hand is flapping back and forth even more feverishly and I start wondering if he's having some kind of seizure.

"I think he's trying to tell us something," I say.

Jerome leans over to him and unbuckles his belt and Jules hops out of the seat and runs to the door and flaps his hand near the handle. Stein, who is equally curious about the lump's behavior, slides open the door and looks outside. He is just about to shut it when he lets out a shout.

"Put her down, Marie. I see more students!"

I unbuckle and hop up desperately hoping it's Maka, but it's not.

"Nikolas!" I shout. Jule hops from one foot to the other, happily hand flapping as he returns to his seat.

Marie lowers the chopper again and Stein jumps out to help Nikolas carry something that's in his arms.

"Oh, shit! Is that Magumi?" I shout as I run out to help. Nikolas is battered and bruised, but like me appears to be ok overall, but his sister is laying limp in his arms.

"Is she alive?" I ask.

"I duuunn know. She paussed out a feuw whours ago. I caaan't geta her to waake up." Stein hands the small meister to me as he helps Nikolas into the chopper. He's such a little guy he needed the help. "We wran weeen theay attaaaked. I dunno if that was wright… but they killed Jaakub and so wee taok off."

"It's ok," Stein assures him as he listens to Magumi with a stethoscope.

"She's alive."

"Nikolas, did she get any deep wounds?" I ask thinking this looks remarkably like the way Maka was just a few days ago.

He nods and points to her leg which has drill marks on the back of it.

"As weee werr rwuning away one dwilled holls in her leg."

"Professor, this is like what happened to Maka. Kid has some herbs or something that cured her. Nikolas, she's gonna be ok."

He throws his arms around me and starts crying. It's hard to tell what all he's saying, but I can tell that he and his sister had feared that they would never make it out of the desert.

"Come on. We gotta hurry," Stein says surveying the horizon and motioning to me to get Nikolas seated. "Have you seen any Flu in the Area?"

Nikolas nods. "To the Noort."

"Oh, dear!" I hear Marie shout. "Frank! We've got birdmen at 3 o'clock. Oh, no! Oh!" She says as she franticly flips switches and toggles and lifts us back up off the ground.

"Marie, get us out of here, before they call flyers!" Stein shouts.

"What do you think I'm doing, Frank?!" Marie answers.

"Here, you two hold her." He hands Magumi to me and Nikolas and we arrange her so that she is stretched out across our laps and we can hold onto her should the ride get bumpy.

Stein stands in the open doorway of the chopper fishing around in the deep pockets of his lab coat. He pulls out something and proceeds to light it before flinging it to the ground.

"Homemade smoke bombs. Might keep them busy for a bit," he explains.

"Oh, Frank!"

"Don't worry. Just get us _outta_ here," he shouts back to the pilot.

Stein holds onto the door jam with one hand and stretches to reach a rifle that is hooked to the inside wall of the chopper. I had no idea he could shoot.

"Oh, Frank, that makes me so nervous. Could you at least strap yourself in, sweetheart?"

"Nope. No time," he says lining up a shot and pulling the trigger.

"Quit trying to show off, Frank!"

"Who would I be showing off to? Medusa isn't here," he says with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Frank! I cannot believe you."

"Quit getting distracted and steady her out! I can't hit em!"

"It's not like I'm not trying! There's a strong wind!"

"Oh, what good are ya?" he says with a laugh as he pulls the trigger.

"Frank! How dare you!"

"Ah! Got em. Look at em scramble… Shinigami, I wish I could dissect them!"

He reloads and takes another shot and smiles with satisfaction before strolling up front.

"Good job, sweetie."

"Don't sweetie me! I can't believe you. Why do you think that I-"

Her words end abruptly as he leans over either to give her a kiss or whisper something in her ear before sliding into the copilot seat.

"Because, _immensely_ embarrassing though it is, I find you incredibly attractive and sweet… But while I'm sure you would love to have your hands all over me-"

"Frank!"

"Duty calls," and he strolls back to join his students and patients in the back of the chopper.


	63. Chapter 63: Justified Rage

**Risenfromash: **My apologies that a few more misspellings slipped in this time than usual. I kept clicking ignore rather than change when I was spell checking. Whoops!

_**Chapter 63: Justified Rage; Is Anger Universal?**_

We're lucky that no flyers come after us. Maybe Marie skillfully evades them or it takes too long for the ground troops to notify flyers to get in the air in pursuit of us, but either way it looks like we will have smooth sailing at least until our first pit stop for more gasoline.

Jerome falls asleep his head resting on Jule who seems to be sleeping with his eyes open… maybe the poor guy doesn't have eyelids. Who knows? Nikolas is wide awake and spends most of the trip rubbing his sister's head and murmuring to her. He notices me watching him and he clams up.

"Sorry. Don't be embarrassed, I did the same thing with Maka. It feels too weird not to talk to them."

"Soul, I reeespet your openyun. Wooold you have dwon what we did?" It takes me a moment to translate and comprehend what he's talking about. He must mean running and leaving some of the DWMA students behind.

"Don't second guess yourself. You and her are still alive and you aren't in the hands of the enemy so you must have done ok."

He starts shaking as his eyes start to glisten with tears, "Whhat if those fookers keellled more of us aaaftter we raan?"

"Hey, you can't think like that. We're weapons; are primary responsibility is to our partner."

"I gweus."

"Nikolas, Maka was one of the people there, so believe me if I thought you ran for the wrong reasons and sticking around would have turned the tide of that fight you would know it. I probably wouldn't have let you on the chopper."

"When I saw them keell Jakob I knew I coodn't protect her so I told her we had to run. The fooking bustards! All we do is traaain and traaain some moure an we're steell nut goud enough."

"You were holding your own against that winged chick," I remind him.

"Bearly."

"Nikolas," Lydia calls his name to us from the gurney. "You went together, that's the important thing."

But Nikolas, being hard of hearing, doesn't hear her. I often forget that if he isn't looking at you when you're talking to him he misses things because he reads lips.

"Lydia just said that what's important is that you and Magumi stayed together," I say.

"Yaaah, where iss Ereeka?"

I widen my eyes and give him that don't-go-there look and he mouths back to me, "Oh, shit." Then leaning closer to my ear, he whispers, "I've always thooght Lydeea could do beteer. Ereeka's kind of a beetch." I guess the Thompson sisters aren't the only ones who aren't crazy about her.

Nikolas looks around the chopper for something to spur another topic of conversation with which to distract himself. His eyes come to rest upon Jule and I realize we haven't explained to him why there is a demon riding with us. In fact, I don't think we acknowledged it in any way.

"Is he souposed to be some kind of caapteve or somethin?" Nikolas asks nodding in the direction of Jule who remains in some vegetative state though his eyes remain wide open.

Professor Stein who has been in the cockpit with Marie comes strolling back. "That's Soul's latest recruit. What's his name again…Moonblast or something?"

I take a deep breath and wince as I say his name. "Julius Starfire." Nikolas' arches an eyebrow. "Look,_ I_ didn't name him. He and Jerome came up with it and he does like sci-fi. He was attacking us with a toy ray gun before he gave it to Jerome and started helping us out."

"He appears to be a demon with an unusual desire for companionship," Professor Stein says as he toys with the unlit cigarette between his lips. "Look at how peaceful he looks with Jerome. It's funny he's the one who stopped us from taking off. He must have seen or smelt Nik and Magumi or something. I wonder if they have some meister/weapon detection ability…" My teacher trails off deep in thought, but his comment makes me nervous. He requires no excuse to dissect people _normally _and here we have a strange being we need to better understand, but I'm not going to let him do anything to hurt Jerome's friend…which might make me a very unpopular student at this point in time.

"I gwuess MaCaa was right about them. Which makes me feel teweerrible becawse me and Magoomoo did take down a couple like him a few daeys ago."

"I think all of us have," I say acknowledging an ugly truth that I'd much rather ignore. "But now we have an opportunity to change strategies. If more are like Jule-"

"He _may_ be an exception," Professor Stein says. "I'm not confident that all of these special 'munchkin'-type have as much of their humanity left. He may have a more human-like soul trapped within the body of a demon."

"Do you think there's a chance of converting him back?" I ask.

"I really don't know. I would like to think so, but it depends a lot on how Avian Flu performed the conversion…if that is in fact what happened. It's still only speculat-"

"Maka's right about them," I interrupt him. "Jule's confirmed it for me. They were once little kids." It is a horrible truth, but I am proud of my meister for being the one to put the pieces of the puzzle together. How many more might have gotten killed if it had taken us longer to figure it out? But this topic is depressing and I realize I better shut up about it because we aren't acting jubilant like a bunch of people who just had their lives saved; we're behaving like we're on our way to our demise and that isn't the DWMA way. Maybe Stein is thinking the same thing because he suddenly smiles and leans over Lydia.

"Lydia, more pain medication?" He says seductively as he pulls from his pocket a syringe with a hypodermic needle and wiggles it enticingly between his fingers.

"Sure, it does feel like it's wearing off some," she admits.

"Good, a little for you and a little for me," he winks.

"Frank!" scolds Marie from the pilot's seat.

"I was only kidding, of course," he says grinning broadly like some kind of mad man as he gives Lydia the shot in the meaty part of her upper thigh.

"You could at least pretend that you're _trying_ to behavior yourself, Frankie."

"If I behaved you would not currently be in the state you are in, my dear," he growls and getting up from the floor where he has been attending to Lydia he says in a stage whisper, "Condoms are your friends, boys."

"Frank! You are not authorized by the academy to teach sex ed and don't make it sound like you aren't thrilled about becoming a Daddy!"

Nikolas smiles for the first time since entering the helicopter. "You don't need to wohry aboot iny of that with mee, Professoor. You know Magoomoo is my sistr, and we don't have time to date. We're always too boosy studying."

"Both of you are very driven, but you are only young once and you may find that after we defeat our enemy you will have girls throwing themselves at you eager to show you their appreciation for saving the world. That's how Marie became putty in my hand, right, sweetheart?"

"Hardly," she says with a giggle. "It was more like Medusa seduced you and turned you into an evil puppet and I pummelled her to ground because nobody messes with _my man_."

Nikolas shakes his head. "I don't thenk I need to wohry."

"You never know. I jest but condoms are _incredibly _important." He's staring right at me with a cautionary look. I bet one of Kid's team blabbed to him about me and Maka doing it while on assignment. He must be worried I'm going to knock up his star pupil… Oh, God, and if Stein knows than Spirit will know! Maka's dad may kill me before Avian Flu can finish me off. Shit!

Stein smirks and walks up front to the pilot seat grabbing a canteen from the floor by it and taking a swig as he sits down. "Want some, dear?"

"What I want is for you to quit filling their innocent little minds with talk of sex. You're supposed to be a better example than that."

"They're teenage boys, dear. I assure you that their minds are already swimming in thoughts of sex."

"Well, I suppose that's probably true, but… I'm not ready for them to grow up yet! They're just little babies!"

"I know, they do grow up fast, but that's why we're having one of our own and we will get to be there for every milestone. First tooth, first upchuck, first dissection-" Suddenly, he jumps up from his seat. "Marie, turn us around."

"Oh, no. I am not turning around just so you can show off your ranged combat skills, again. We are getting the children to the infirmary ASAP."

"No, I think I saw a signal to us."

"More of the kids?!" Immediately, the chopper makes an abrupt change in direction.

"Now, don't get too excited, Marie. It may be a trap…"

"Oh, Frank. Those poor kids…I can't imagine the horrors they have been through. I just want to hug them all and give them-"

"There," Stein points out the front window of the copter. "Doesn't that look like…"

"It's a Lord Death mask out of stones!"

"Try to get closer. I'm gonna grab the rifle." Stein walks toward the back of the chopper warning us to stay buckled up. "No one is going to fall out, understood?" We all nod intrigued by who might be here as we're quite a ways from the site of the train derailment.

Stein flings the bomb bay door open, his lab coat once again flapping behind him like a cape. Only a moment after he opens the door something comes sailing by him into the chopper. It's a chain scythe!

"Tsubaki?!" I shout as I unbuckle and leap to catch her before she ends up landing on someone and hurting them. She had to have been thrown by someone… dare I hope…?

"It's Black*Star!" shouts the professor grinning as Tsubaki appears in human form next to me. She and I run to the door to look out.

"But, hun, they're nowhere to land!" Marie isn't kidding. Black*Star is standing on top of a pillar of sedimentary rock barely the size of a city block. I can't imagine how he and Tsubaki got up there.

"We don't need to land," Stein says. "Just get us as close as you can to that rock formation."

"Maybe you can lower me in weapon form," Tsubaki suggests.

"It's ok, Tsubaki. We have this," Professor Stein pulls from the wall of the chopper a long extendable cable. "Black*Star, take this," Stein shouts as he flings out the lifeline.

It requires a jump for Black*Star to catch it, but he does, making the entire chopper pitch itself violently. To avoid falling out Tsubaki grabs the wall of the chopper and I grab her. My right hand in her left and my left hand grabbing something soft and... oops. I'm grabbing her boob. Oh, well, I'm gonna have to go with it.

"Hey, thought you'd go somewhere without Black*Star did ya?" the assassin shouts as he climbs up the cable. His head appears in my view and he lets out a wail. "_**Soul! **_You're alive. Oh, my God, I'm so happy, man." For a moment I think in his elation he is going to let go of the rope with both hands, but he manages to maintain his grip and a moment later he is dragging himself into the chopper on his belly in army crawl fashion. Once safely inside he hops up and presses his lips onto mine. "Oh, my God! I'm so happy I had to _kiss_ ya, man. Dude, you're _**alive!**_**" **Then abruptly his tone changes.Don't worry, we're gonna get Maka back. We'll organize a rescue party and we'll- Hey, wait a second were you just feeling up Tsubayee?!"

"Seme," Lydia says pointing to my best friend and I roll my eyes. Girls can make up some of the most bizarre shit in their heads sometimes.

"What did she just call me?" Black*Star asks looking confused.

"Never mind, Star, it's not important," Tsubaki says glaring at Lydia.

"Does Maka really think I'm dead?" I ask the two of them incredulously.

"I think so. I don't think she's a good enough actress to fake it like that. She was really losing it at one point," he answers.

"Yeah, she said she saw the blast that hit you and Jerome," Tsubaki says. "And she couldn't imagine how you could have lived through it."

"I don't get why she would think I'm dead. She has Soul Perception. She should have sensed-"

"That purple fog shit-" Black*Star begins.

"Guys, the kids are awake now. Please watch the language," scolds Marie gently.

"Sorry, Marie," Black*Star says and then with great zeal continues, "It doesn't only turn weapons back into human form. It fucks-"

"Black*Star," shouts Marie. "There are children present!"

"Sorry. It screws with meister abilities, too. I couldn't throw my soul wavelength. Maybe she couldn't perceive your soul. Or maybe it was an act and she just wanted to do whatever it would take to get those bastards-"

"Black*Star, not in front of the kids!" shouts Marie once again.

"Marie, they're teenage boys," Frank says with a chuckle. "This is how they talk."

"That is no excuse. Were you like that as a teenager?"

"No," Frank answers with amusement. "I was much worse."

"I'm starting to really hope we're having a girl," Marie says a little nervously.

"That might be for the best," Stein comments with a smirk. "Otherwise, you'll have two of us to keep in line and I fear that I'm a full time job."

Black*Star, Tsubaki, and I continue to stand in the middle of the chopper excitedly strategizing how to get our captured comrades back.

"I say as soon as we're done reporting to Kid we head…" Suddenly I feel a little whoozy. Maybe I'm getting motion sickness… I should sit down.

"Soul, you ok, buddy?" Black*Star asks me, but I don't respond.

"Whooa, Soowl you look rwelly pale!"

"Oh, I'm fine. I just need to sit-"

I wake up in the dispensary with only a cloudy recollection of being carried out of the helicopter and stretchered into the DWMA. My eyes flutter open and I immediately wonder how much time I've lost. I can't believe I passed out! I've gotta go get Maka back. I sit up and I'm immediately overcome by a wave of dizziness. Fuck! Oh, well, I'm sure it will get better once I'm on my feet. It's probably because I've been in bed for too long. I stand up and realize they've put a fucking IV in me. Damn nurses.

I look at the IV bag…it has a label on it with a bunch of writing I can't decipher. What the hell are they treating me for? I'm fine. My only problem is a deficiency of Maka.

I start to pick at the tape holding the IV in place. I'll be getting this out of me and get on my way.

"I'm glad to see you strong enough to stand," Nurse Mira comments. "I feared you might be out for another day. You really outdid yourself this time, Mr. Evans."

I scratch the back of my head. Oh, no. They shaved it to clean up the wound. Aw, that's gonna look crappy. "Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly my idea… So… can we get this thing out of me and-"

"I said I was glad to see you _standing_. _Not_ that you were ready for discharge."

"What?!"

"You've gotta be shitting me! Maka's-"

"Not here," she says bluntly. "So, you may as well lay back in bed until they bring her back."

"They?"

"There is a rescue mission in the works. Otherwise, I'm sure Kid would be here with you. He is quite distraught over your condition. Black*Star is, too, but I've told him that we cannot afford another broken infirmary door so he needs to behave himself. He and Tsubaki went to go get something to eat. They'll probably be back a little later to check on you."

I sit back down on the bed. I do feel a little weak, but Maka's out there somewhere at the mercy of those fucking crazies. I can't afford to wait till I feel better.

"Don't you even think about it, ," Nurse Mira says walking up to me. "I know you are worried for your meister, but right now the most important thing for you to be doing is getting rehydrated and making sure you don't get any secondary infections."

"But-"

"Lie down, Soul."

"But-"

"Lie down, now! You are not well enough to be out of bed yet!" Nurse Mira seems willing to fight about this so I lay back down and she tucks the bedcovers in around me. "Now, rest. You are not the only person capable of bringing Maka back. Give your comrades _some_ credit."

I sigh. It's not that I don't think they can do it, it's just it's really _my_ duty and all of them have a lot on their plate right now. They don't need to be picking up my slack when I'm not even really injured. I'll just have to wait until she's distracted or leaves. Then I'll yank out this IV and I'll find Kid and figure out what's going on and if I don't like the plan then I'll make one of my own, because now that Jerome and Lydia have been safely turned over to other people I have to get back to protecting my meister.

Nurse Mira stands over me for a few minutes before she seems confident I'm not going to try running off (what a naive woman!) and then returns to her work of drawing up some medications at the counter. A few hours pass as I'm forced to waste my time laying there staring at the ceiling wondering what Maka is seeing right now. Is she being held in one of those depressing little cells like Geoffrey and the others were? Are they doing things to her?

Mira steps out and I figure that I'll wait a few minutes and then get to work freeing myself from the IV, but I hear the door open again, but it's not Mira. It's Spirit and he is marching up to me followed by Professor Stein. Oh, Shinigami, here it comes.

"_Soul Eater_," Spirit shouts my name as he ceases his marching at the foot of my bed. I sit straight up and steel myself for dealing with a lot of anger, not that I blame him. His only daughter is in the hands of Avian Flu that alone would be enough to drive any man insane. The problem is Spirit was already insane. "I'd like you to tell me in your own words _how_ _**exactly**_ you managed to return to the academy without my Maka."

"I'm very sorry, sir, but we got separated during battle," I explain. "It was a freak accident. We had just defeated an Avian Flu commander and were in a free fall. She was a little below me-"

"What?!" He leans toward me screaming in my face. "That should _never_ happen! You should be stuck like _glue_ to your meister. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir."

"I don't care what's going on! Your job is to protect my daughter… my sweet, beloved moonbeam!" He pulls from his pocket that creepy, little Maka ragdoll of his and begins to caress it, murmuring wistful things to it. I groan. Maka, a 'moonbeam'? She's far too strong a fighter to be a moonbeam; A crashing ocean wave, a clap of thunder and the accompanying flash of lightening _maybe_, but a moonbeam? Give me a break!

"Sir, I am sorry. I feel really bad-"

Maka's father narrows his eyes and studies me before interupting, "Why are you calling me 'sir' all of a sudden?"

"I'm trying hard to be respectful. You _are_ Maka's dad…" I say lowering my head. I have to tolerate his beratement because he's right. I shouldn't be back at the DWMA without my meister and Maka's the most important person in the whole world to me so even though _she_ doesn't respect her father I figure I should at least try to maintain a semi-decent relationship with the guy. It won't be easy if every time we're in the same room together he is trying to kill me.

Spirit's hand cinches down upon the doll as he clutches it to his breast, "Oh, Shinigami, it's true! They're sleeping together. Oh, my God, oh!" The Deathsythe begins to hyperventilate reaching out for Stein to provide him with physical support as he struggles to breathe.

"Calm down, Spirit," his old friend says gently.

"How can I be calm when that…" He wags his finger at me. "_That_… boy… is… doing… _things," _At the word 'things' his eyes grow incredibly wide."To my dear, sweet Maka!" Spirit's nostrils are flaring with every breath as he pants giving him the appearance of a mad bull about to charge and I feel like a cornered troubadour.

Stein rolls his eyes and sighs. "Spirit, they're in _love_. That's what people in love do."

"In love? What kind of a reason is that?"

"A far better one than you have for hooking up with every cabaret girl in DC," Stein says looking deep into the eyes of his comrade. "Just because you can't be a single woman man doesn't mean Soul's intentions are impure."

"Stein! I can't believe you are taking _his_ side on this. You're my closest friend."

"I'm not taking a side. Our opinions are completely irrelevant. What matters is how Maka feels and I'm certain that Soul hasn't done anything without Maka's consent so, perhaps, you should _calm down_ and channel all that anger toward the real enemy here, which is Avian Flu. _They're_ the ones that got the two of them split up in the first place. Soul wouldn't just wander off. You and I both know that." Thank Shinigami the professor is here. There's a chance that Spirit will listen to him… a slim one, but that's better than nothing.

Spirit turns his attention back to me. "A weapon does not leave his partner!" he shouts as he continues to leer at me from the foot of the bed.

"Then where is _your_ current meister, Spirit?" The professor says with a smirk. "Or did you forget that somehow Lord Death was stolen away from right under your nose."

"That was an entirely different situation!" Spirit shouts.

"Is it, really?" Stein says with amusement still talking in a quiet, gentle tone of voice. "I fail to see the difference. What I see is that Avian Flu is constantly working to undermine our trust in one another and break our bonds of friendship."

"No," I say. "Spirit is right. I shouldn't be here without her, but I did the best to fulfill my duty as a DWMA student just as I believe Maka would have done were our roles reversed."

Stein leans close to his friend. "Let him be, Spirit, Soul's a good kid and you know he's broken up about what's happened."

"He should be. He used her and then he abandons her when she most needs him."

Those words cut into me like a knife. I leap out of the bed waves of vertigo hitting me as I shout back, "That's _not_ what happened and you know it!" I'm screaming at him from the tops of my lungs. I can take a lot of shit from him, but I refuse to stand her and let him say that I abandoned her. Honestly, since _I'm_ the one that got thrown out of the train many people would see it as her responsibility to find and recover me, but now that I'm out of the desert I won't allow myself to be mad at her for not coming to find me. "And if you have a modicum of respect for Maka you will stop treating her like a little kid."

"I know she's not a little kid! She's blossoming into a beautiful, young woman which is why I think she should keep her options open instead of hooking up with her partner!"

"Is that what you think? That Maka and I just 'hooked up'? We're _best friends_. We've been partners for _years_. If you think seriously think Maka would _ever_ 'hook up' with someone you don't know your own daughter very well."

"You presume to know her better than me?" He has tears in his eyes, but I don't care. I'm going for the throat.

"I _know_ I do. She loves _me_ and I'm the one she turns to for help, because she knows she can't rely on you because you're too busy partying with every loose girl in DC."

"Why you little trouser snake! How dare you criticize me when you came back without her."

Despite my dizziness, I walk right up to him extending myself to my full height. "Spirit, it's not my fault that I got back here without her and all I've been trying to do since I got here is to get the all clear for me to go get her back. I'm sorry, but _I'm in love with Maka and she's in love with me _so you better hurry up and learn to trust me. Shit happened on this mission. We got separated and I ended up back in DC without her, but I did _not_ abandon her."

"I can't believe Maka would want to be with an ass hole like you!"

"Neither can I and that's why I will do _anything_ for her! Can't you see that?!"

"What is going on?" The three of us are startled by a woman's voice.

"Liz, what are you doing here?" I ask.

"Coming to see how you were doing. Spirit, you better get out of here. Nurse Mira will be pissed if she finds out you've been harassing one of her patients… and Lord Kid will be even more pissed." Her eyes are hard and the threat meets its mark as Spirit grumbles, "We were just leaving. Come on, Stein." I watch as the two men leave feeling a little disappointed I can't yell at Spirit some more. How dare he come and criticize me when I've dedicated my life to his daughter's safety and happiness.

"You doing ok?" Liz asks me as I flop back down on the bed. That 'conversation' took a lot out of me.

"I've been better, that's for damn sure."

Liz pulls up a chair next to me. "You know that Spirit has no reason to be criticizing you."

"I came back here without Maka. That's enough of a reason for him. Plus, he's more or less realized that I'm Maka's boyfriend now and he's not super pleased about that, either."

"Screw him. He should be thanking you were it not for you Maka would have been killed a long time ago. He hasn't been out at the front lines enough to know what it's like out there. But don't worry. Kid's got a plan to get everybody back. He's gonna come visit you soon and tell you about it himself, but he's really busy so he told me to head on over and he'd join us later."

"How are _you?_" I ask her.

She shrugs. "Things are… a little odd right now." Our conversation is interrupted by someone coming into the dispensary. It's a girl I recognize from around campus, but don't know personally. "Oh, hey, Soul, glad to see you're awake."

"Thanks," I say as she makes her way to Hiro's bedside.

"How long have I been out?" I ask them.

"Fourteen… maybe fifteen hours," Hiro answers his eyes locked onto his visitor. "Hey, baby doll." The girl lets out a flirtatious giggle and I groan. He already has his hands up her shirt and is working on unclipping her bra. I curl my lips in distaste.

"Liz," calls out before burying his face in the young woman's neck. "You mind pulling that curtain? I think we'd appreciate a little privacy, wouldn't we, baby doll?" The girl murmurs, "yes" in a breathy, sensual way and Liz stomps over to between his bed and mine and yanks the curtain so we don't have to see them. She then stomps back to her seat her nose scrunched up as though she's just smelt something exceedingly foul.

"Where was I?" she asks me.

"You said that things are a little weird right now."

"Yeah…" she trails off apparently deep in thought about something.

"Well, I think 'a little weird' is one hell of an understatement," I laugh as an ear-assaulting variety of slurping and body-slapping noises come from behind the curtain.

"Yuck," says Liz. "Has this been happening a lot?"

"Second time today. Luckily you were here to close the curtain this time."

"Oh, God. I'm sorry," Liz says shaking her head in disgust.

"You wanna hear the best part? It's not the same girl," I whisper to her.

"Classy. Real classy." She glares at the curtain and says nothing for a while. I start to feel awkward. Liz and I are good friends, but we don't often talk one-on-one. I wonder if there is something more I should say. I'm not really good at talking to girls other than Maka-

"Soul, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, 'course… Let me guess is it about Kid?"

"How'd you know?" she asks with mock amazement. She pauses and takes a breath. Is she nervous about what she has to ask me? "Do you think Kid is… dangerous?"

I draw back in surprise. This was most definitely not the line of questioning I had expected.

"What do you mean? He's a meister, so, of course, he's dangerous. He kills people… er… demons for a living."

"I know, but do you think he'd ever hurt someone else… like a friend?"

"No. There's no way," I answer quickly. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Well," she frowns. "Kid's hinted that reapers aren't supposed to have romantic relationships and I figured it was just that old superhero cliché that those with special powers and arch rivals put those they love in danger, but Patti and I are always in danger anyway. We're right in there fighting with him… so I figured it didn't really matter, especially since either one of us would sacrifice our life in battle for him."

I nod. "You're not exactly damsels in distress."

"We try," she says grinning. "But Stein let something slip… I guess, that's not the only reason why shinigami aren't supposed to fall in love. Apparently, some reaper killed his own lover before her time because he couldn't control his rage."

"Lots of people have a temper. Why do they think it had anything to do with him being a reaper? Crimes of passion aren't rare, right?"

"I don't know, but I don't want Patti to be in any danger. She'd never believe Kid would be capable of hurting her… well, _physically_ hurting her. We all know his bumbling can cause problems sometimes…"

I grin. "Well, he is a guy. I don't think being a reaper changes that, but…" I debate whether to say what I'm thinking or not. I decide to go for it. "Shouldn't you be worried about yourself, too? I mean you and Kid-"

"_No_," she says shaking her head. "He's made his choice."

I raise my eyebrow. "He's told you he's in love with Patti?"

"Not in those words, but isn't it obvious? He needs her cheerfulness to balance out all the darkness and loneliness in his life."

"Maybe, but if he hasn't said-"

"Look, he's _hers_ and I'm fine with it, but I won't support them being together if it might be harmful to her."

"Liz, can you honestly tell me you aren't jealous?"

"I'm fine."

"But what will happen when they start…"

Liz shifts a little in her seat. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Liz, be honest with yourself. You told me and Maka that you love him."

"It doesn't matter how I feel. What's important is Patti's happiness."

"I think that before you make any assumptions you should talk to him and Patti. I know it will be awkward, but Liz, it's important. I put off talking to Maka about how I felt for so long that it almost destroyed us. The only good thing that has come out of this whole Avian Flu thing is that it got me to stop running away from her and admit to her how I felt."

"Well, Kid keeps acting like there's something important he wants to talk to both of us about, but he says it needs to wait until the war with Avian Flu is over and, not to sound pessimistic, but when the hell will that be? He says we can't afford to be distracted-"

"You know what I see?"

"What?"

"The three of you are _constantly_ distracted… and you only live once. _He's_ the one that told me not to wait any longer to tell Maka how I felt and he was right. So, if you three have important things to talk about I think you should do it sooner rather than later, _especially_ with the way things are right now, cause, fuck, who knows what tomorrows gonna bring…"

Liz chews at her lip, "But, Soul, in the middle of a war isn't a good time to break up the team-"

The door flies open and Kid enters. "Soul! Sorry, I haven't come to see you, yet. We discovered this morning how Avian Flu has been spying on us, but Liz probably told you."

"No, she didn't mention it."

"Oh! Well, this whole damn time we've been looking for an informer, but this morning when I was standing in the Death Room with Patti and Liz I noticed-"

"That's code for 'freaked out'," Liz says winking at me.

"I _noticed_," he says frowning at his partner. "That the ceiling lacked symmetry and I was confident that I had never noticed it before and we discovered that the thing on the ceiling that everyone thought was a sensor for the lights was a damn bug. It's probably been there for months, but I didn't notice until I was looking at the place from my father's vantage point. Then it was totally obvious that it didn't belong there."

"Well, that explains a lot," I say with a sigh.

Patti comes running into the room hollering her meister's name. "Kid, they're in the girl's bathroom, too!"

A tremor of agitation reverberates through his body for a moment. "Well, that's why we're checking everywhere. Soon, we'll have our privacy back."

Joe enters the room with some difficulty as he has some sort of machine strapped to his back. In his hand he is holding something that looks like a vacuum cleaner hose attached to the contraption on his back.

"Did Patti tell you?" he asks. "Lord Kid, there's one in every stall."

Kid's hands form fists. "Oh, I will-"

"Kid," Patti whines dancing by his side. "I have to pee… and I'm scared. I don't want anyone watching me."

"It's ok. I ripped 'em out of the first two stalls already," Joe says gently. "On my honor, Patti. It'll be all right."

"Oh, Joe, I don't mean to make it sound like you aren't doing your job," Patti says apologetically. "I just can't stand thinking that they've been sneaking peeks at all of us. It's bad enough all the other horrible things, but-"

"Come on, I'll go with you," Liz says standing up and taking her sister's hand. "Kid, it ok if we head back to the house?"

Kid nods. "Yes, go relax for a bit. I'll give Soul the update… but, I'm sorry, I won't be comfortable having you in the other wing of the house tonight. Can you spend the evening with me?"

"Sure, Kid," says Patti with a smile. "You know I always love a pajama party and you need some fun. You're working too hard."

"Thank you, ladies. That makes me feel much better. I'll meet you at the house for dinner."

"Ok, bye, Kid," Patti says giving her meister a kiss on the cheek. Liz stays at arm's length from her meister and says, "Bye, Kid. Don't work yourself into a tizzy, ok?"

Kid smirks a little. "I'll try not to."

He watches them leave and then rushes over to the door and shuts it. As soon as the door is secured he turns around and shouts, "Fuck them! _Fuck_ Avian Flu. _Every stall_ of the ladies' room are you serious, Joe?!"

"Yeah, it's pretty sleazy, even for Avian Flu," Joe answers. "I've got the janitors ripping 'em out right now."

"Well, we better make scanning all the bathrooms a priority. I can't have people using them when in good conscience I fear they might be being filmed."

"Sounds good, Lord Kid, but how bout I do the dispensary while I'm here. Otherwise, you won't be able to talk to Soul."

"Yes, I guess that makes sense," Kid says talking to Joe over his shoulder as he makes his way to the chair by my bed. "Have Mr. Crawfield make an announcement over the PA that tells everyone that the plumbing will be off for the rest of the afternoon and that means the toilets will all be out-of-order. And for Shinigami's sake, please stop calling me 'Lord'. I'm just filling in temporarily."

"Sorry, Lo- Kid, it's just habit. I'll go talk to Mr. Crawfield and I'll be right back."

Kid slumps into the chair by my bedside. There are bags under his eyes and he looks rather rumpled.

"How are you holding up?" He asks me.

"I'm going insane and Spirit just came and chewed me out for 'abandoning' Maka."

"Oh, good grief," Kid grumbles.

From behind the neighboring curtain a long, lusty moan meets our ears and Kid lifts an eyebrow.

"Hiro's having a conjugal visit," I say with a frown and he and I both twitch.

"Sorry, I guess we should invest in building private rooms…" Kid mutters.

"Don't worry about it. You've got enough on your plate. How's Lydia?"

"She's fine. They took her to surgery last night. She'll be moved in here with you guys soon, but right now she's in the intensive ward with a nurse by her side twenty-four seven… and we tracked down Jerome's parents and they're on their way here escorted by a Deathscythe."

"Thanks."

"Thank _you_. I don't know what any of them would have done without you. I know it's selfish of me, but I'm almost glad you got thrown from the train… I never should have left."

"Hey, it's not your fault. It sounds like if you'd been there they would have gotten _you _and we can't have that."

"They killed Jacob," Kid says his voice quivering as his eyes fill with tears. "He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Never had a bad word to say about anybody. Did you know that he volunteered here in the infirmary on the weekends? He'd play cards with the patients and bring them flowers and things. When Mira heard the news she started sobbing. I've never seen her like that. I wanted to be the one to deliver the news of his death to his parents, but they don't live near here, so a couple Deathscythes that didn't even know him are having to inform his parents because we still haven't found Tran. He's probably dead, too. God, it just doesn't seem right." He stares off into the distance. "What if I can't do this? I make fun of my father, but he's never had a student killed on his watch. What if I make the wrong choices?"

"Kid, you can't expect us to get through this without casualties. That's not realistic. Don't try to hold yourself up to unreal expectations."

"I suppose," he says sighing. "But I so badly want to make them _pay_ for the suffering they've caused."

"Uh, Kid," Joe interrupts. He had returned and we hadn't realized it. "I'm gonna start scanning if that's ok."

"Yeah, go ahead," Kid instructs with the wave of his hand.

Starting at the far end of the room, across from my bed Joe takes the long hose and runs it over the floor, walls, and ceiling occasionally stopping to adjust the toggles, switches, and dials on the contraption strapped to his back. I watch intrigued.

"Oh, I almost forgot I need to talk to you about your… 'recruit', but I shouldn't do it right now," Kid says watching Joe. "I guess it's a good thing my OCD has been acting up or I might never have noticed that bug in the Death Room."

Kid offers me a cup of tea and I continue to watch Joe search for bugs until Kid starts to head back with two cups of tea. Joe who has been systemically investigating the room with his thingamajigger flings back the curtain around Hiro's bed ready to investigate the next area of the room.

Hiro and the girl let out a scream as the action behind the curtain is revealed.

"Oh, good God!" Kid shouts, immediately dropping the cups of tea onto the floor. Joe, Kid, and I all stare in stunned silence at the image of Hiro eating out his guest. She's on all fours above him her ass right up to his face. Completely naked save for a pair of little white ankles socks trimmed in islet. I had known that something gross was going on behind that curtain, but this is too much.

"Learn to knock," Hiro says yanking the curtain shut, as though one should expect that kind of behavior to be going on in a hospital bed.

"Hiro!" Joe shouts impatiently while Kid and I remain frozen. "I have orders from Lord Kid to scan this room for bugs and recording devices-"

"What?!" Wails the girl. "You mean somebody could be watching us?!"

"Aw, baby doll, don't worry about it. You're gorgeous," Hiro says.

"You think I'm worried I might not look pretty enough? Hiro, I don't want total strangers seeing me naked. I'm not that kind of girl! It doesn't bother you that somebody might be getting off watching us?"

"Not really, besides why would they bug the hospital ward nothing special ever happens in here," answers Hiro.

"Nothing special?!" she squeals. "You can't be serious. I've never done this with anyone before-"

"That's not what I meant! I just meant that Avian Flu wouldn't gain anything from-"

"_Hiro_," Kid bellows, as he stares down at the puddle of Earl Grey and shattered teacups on the floor. "They had surveillance devices in every one of the girl's bathroom stalls. So, help your friend get dressed _now_ so that Joe can do his job."

"Fine," Hiro grumbles. "We'll have to continue this later, baby. Ok?"

"In your dreams, Hiro!" A minute later the girl emerges from behind the curtain her face crimson with embarrassment as she runs for the door as though all of Avian Flu's demons are biting at her heels.

"About time," Joe grumbles as he pulls the curtain back and starts running his hose over the area around, over, and under Hiro's bed while Kid disappears for a moment.

"Hiro, that isn't the same chick who was in here earlier today is it?" I ask.

"What's your point, Scytheboy?"

"I was just wondering because it _seems_ strange to me that _both_ those girls appear to think that they're your girlfriend," I say. "How do you think they could have come to that conclusion?"

"No idea," Hiro says and I glare at him. What an ass hole. "Hey, I didn't lie to 'em. They can think whatever they want."

"Omitting the truth is still a lie," Kid says bluntly returning from wherever it is he had to go to find a broom and dustpan.

"You're not gonna tell them are you?" Hiro asks.

I shake my head and grumble. "No, I won't… but Kid on the other hand considers all business that goes on at the school as being his business, so…"

Kid looks up from his sweeping and grins at me. I think he appreciates this round-about way of adhering to the guy code without actually letting Hiro continue to break the hearts of a bunch of naïve girls. "Yes, how long before _you _tell them? You can only get away with this charade for so long-"

"Kid, I don't _make_ them do anything. It isn't _my_ fault that chicks want to get their hands all over a man who's lost the use of his junk. You're just jealous 'cause your girlfriends won't put out."

"Hiro!" Kid stomps over to the meister's bedside. "You are-"

"Oh, Hiro, I didn't expect you to have company," comes a lady's voice from the infirmary entryway.

"Yeah, now isn't a great time," Hiro mumbles.

"Yes, if you'd been here like ten minutes ago. It would have been so much better," I say snidely glaring at my fellow patient.

"Really? Why?" The young woman asks looking puzzled.

"No reason. Soul's all hopped up on pain meds. He doesn't even know what day it is," Hiro's voice sounds calm and normal, but he's staring at Kid from the corner of his eyes. He's scared. It's a shame that all these stupid chicks probably think he actually loves them; otherwise it would be hilarious to watch this whole thing blow up in his face.

"Well, let me give you a quick kiss and then I'll be on my way. She leans over and gives Hiro a kiss that is anything but quick. Kid watches it transfixed. I hate to admit it, but he may be he is a little jealous.

"Oh, I almost forgot," the girl says as she pulls her lips from Hiro's. "I brought you some food," she pulls from her bag something wrapped in aluminum foil. "Just ask Mira to reheat it for you."

"Thanks," Hiro says.

"OK, I'll see you later, Hiro. Thanks for coming to visit him, Kid, he gets terribly lonely when I'm not around." She blows Hiro a kiss and then scampers out of the room.

"Hiro, you are a louse!" Kid says as Hiro peers under the foil to see what the girl brought him.

"Oh, grilled chicken and au gratin potatoes! My favorite!"

"I'm glad someone has an appetite," Kid grumbles. "I for one won't be able to stomach food for the rest of the week after having watched your hobby in action."

"Ah, Kid?" Joe says uncertainly still standing by Hiro's bed with the hose in his hand.

"Oh, yes, sorry, you may precede, Joe. Ignore Hiro's interuptions as he apparently has half the freshman girls doing _favors _for him."

"Oh, not just _freshman_," Hiro says with a lecherous simper upon his lips. "But don't worry. I wouldn't _dream_ of messing around with Liz or Patti. I know you've got a reservation to dip your pen in that ink." Kid whirls around and grabs Hiro's shirt lifting the asshole from his hospital bed by the collar with his left hand.

"Kid, don't!" I say leaping from the bed and trying to yank his right arm back before he breaks Hiro's smug face. "He's an asshole, but you can't hurt him. It isn't a fair fight, Kid!"

"I don't care! He crossed a line!" Kid shouts trying to shake me off his arm. "His eyes don't match. He's not symmetrical! He doesn't deserve to live!"

"Joe… help!" I shout. Kid must have crazy amounts of adrenaline pumping through him because I can hardly manage to hold on to him.

Joe starts to put down the hose, but just then the machine starts to emit a horrible high pitched noise and Kid drops Hiro as all three of us reach up to cover our ears. Joe seems oddly unaffected but moves the hose and the sound fades. I tentatively uncover my ears, ready to once again hold back the rampaging reaper, but then Joe moves the hose back over the same area of the ceiling and once again the sound builds up to an ear-piercing squeal and fades when moved from the spot.

"Looks like we've found one," Joe shouts to Kid. "Were gonna need a stepladder."

"No, _allow me_," Kid says making his board materialize and using it to hover above the floor. He lifts the ceiling tile where Joe's machine has been giving a positive reading and from the back of the tile, produces a small black thing about the size of a half-used pencil. He looks at it for a moment, before holding it in front of his face and yelling into it, "You think you're so smart, don't you? Keeping us under surveillance day and night… but this will only serve to enrage the populace you are trying to coerce into joining your cause. Don't pretend that you thought my father or I would be holding councils-of-war in a stall in the second floor women's lavatory. _You are scum_. _Perverted_, _**moralless**_ _**scum**_ and I vow to use every ounce of energy I have and every resource at my disposal to punish you for the evil you have done. So, be warned if you do not wish to be torn limb from limb you will _surrender today_ otherwise you should prepare yourself to feel my wrath, for I will purge each and every one of you from the earth. You think you are winning, but I assure you it is merely an illusion, and before you know it you will be kneeling at my feet **begging** for mercy as I _**crush**_ you."

Kid rips the thing from the tile and throws it on the floor. Then he lowers his hover board, puts it away, and proceeds to stomp on the camera. As he pulverizes it I see his face for the first time since he started monologueing. His face is twisted up in a level of rage I've never before seen, not even when he learned his father had been kidnapped. Is this the reaper rage that Liz was warned about? Did I do the wrong thing telling her that Kid was incapable of being violent toward a friend, because right now if I'm honest with myself he's kind of scaring me and Hiro looks terrified.

"Kid?" Joe asks completely unaffected by Kid's antics. "Shall I continue, now?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I… I…" Kid looks up from the pulverized surveillance camera bits that litter the floor. He appears disoriented. "I… I… Soul, I'm sorry. I just remembered I have a meeting with Professor Stein and Sid. I've got to get going. Please focus on getting better. Don't worry about Maka. I have things well in hand," and with that he heads out of the infirmary.


	64. Chapter 64: Worries and Wonders

_**Chapter 64: Worries and Wonders; Will Soul Survive Singularly?**_

Word spreads quickly that I've rejoined the conscious and soon Black*Star comes bursting into the ward ranting about how I'm not allowed to pass out like that ever again.

Everyone keeps telling me to relax even though they all know damn well that it will be impossible for me to relax until Maka is back, but what they don't realize is that it isn't only Maka's absence that has me on edge. Every time I close my eyes I think about Jule and the other kids turned demons forced to fight on the side of the captors who have abused them. Why was Jule able to exercise his free will when the others couldn't? Was seeing another little kid with whom he could identify enough to trigger a rebellion within him or is there something special about Jule in particular that prevented him from being completely turned to evil? With Maka's help I'm sure the two of us could figure it out, but by myself I feel ill-equipped to make sense of the demon's actions.

And as if that weren't enough, I'm now worried about Kid's apparent increased aggressiveness. I told Liz not to worry, that there was no way in hell Kid would hurt Patti or any of his friends or comrades, but now I'm second guessing myself. Do any of us really know what a pissed-off reaper is capable of? Not that I blame him, we're all insane right now, but is what we're seeing just a result of his frustration with Avian Flu or does it have something to do with him being shoved into the Shinigami role before he was ready?

My only respite from these haunting questions comes in the form of visits from my friends or talking to Lydia who has now been transferred into our ward. Her bed is directly across from mine making it easy for the two of us to talk. She and I develop a game in which we place bets on which of Hiro's girlfriends will show up next, how long they will stay, and if they will bring gifts or not, but even this snarky game can't make me smile. Being here makes me miserable, but I know being at home would be worse because there Maka's absence would be more pronounced. So, I sit and glare at the world or listen to music from Liz's headphones that she lent me. The only person I bother to hide my grouchiness from is Jerome because I don't want him to ask me a shit ton of questions about why I don't look happy.

"Soul, you doing ok?" Tsubaki asks me approaching my bed. I hadn't even noticed that she and Black*Star had come in.

"Yeah, are you ok, Soul?! I've been freakin' out!" Black*Star's voice booms from one wall of the infirmary to the other. Tsubaki places a finger to her lips to indicate that he should quiet down.

"Yeah, I'm just _peachy_… every time I stand up I get fucking vertigo. It shouldn't take _this_ long to get rehydrated."

"They say that you really pushed yourself and you got your electrolytes all out of whack in the process," she says patting my hand and Black*Star nods in agreement.

I shake my head. "It pisses me off. I need to get out of this bed."

"No, you don't," she says firmly. "What you need to do is to take care of yourself. You saved Lydia and Jerome and Jule. That's more than enough work for a few days. You've earned a vacation."

"Yeah, don't worry about things, Soul. Black*Star's gonna take care of all of it."

"_Black*Star_ needs to shut his trap!" shouts Hiro from behind the curtain. "He's killing the _mood_."

Black*Star points to the curtain and arches an eyebrow. I nod and Black*Star's jaw drops. Tsubaki's face crinkles in distaste.

"My thoughts exactly," I whisper.

It takes a few moments for Black*Star to recover, but he eventually takes his eyes off the curtain surrounding Hiro's bed and continues, "You and Maka have been hogging the spotlight lately, so it's about time the _star_ of the show take over. Me and Tsubayee are gonna be unstoppable. _We'll crush Avian Flu like the __**dickless cowards**__ they are_."

"Dickless?" I mutter more to myself than to my friends. Having Maka in the hands of an organization where no men have genitalia could be a real comfort at this point.

"I don't think Black*Star meant that literally," Tsubaki says apologetically.

"I know. I was just hoping," I mumble sadly.

"Don't worry, Maka isn't gonna fall for some Avian Flu guy's mojo. She hates them as much as we do," Black*Star reassures me.

"I'm not worried about that, ya numbskull. I'm worried they're gonna be messing with her head like they did with you."

"They are pretty crafty," points out the shadow weapon quietly. "If they weren't they never would have gotten you, Star."

"Aw! That doesn't count. That was when I was workin' with _Harvar_. _That's_ why I got caught. We weren't a very good team. In battle we were _ok_, but we always wanted to do things in different ways. He was always _strategizing_ and comin' up with '_better_' ," the assassin forms quote marks in the air as he says this, "ways of doin' things like he was smarter than me or somethin', but me and Tsubayee are unstoppable 'cause she knows Black*Star works best when he operates on _impulse_. You think I've got good instincts don't cha, Tsubayee?" He asks as he wraps his arm around her waist. He leans in to give her a friendly hug, but because of their difference in height he ends up more or less rubbing his head against the side of her right boob, which doesn't seem to bother him in the least though it seems to fluster his weapon a bit.

"When are you going to start saying my name right?" She says curtly glaring at him as he nuzzles her bosom. "It's not that hard. 'Sue-bock-E'

"Sue-bake-E. There, I said it," Black*Star says grinning as he pulls his face away from her chest.

"That's not it," she says angrily.

"Yeah, but it's closer, right?" He says continuing to smile at his partner. "Don't worry. I'll get it, eventually. Besides, I don't really _need_ to call your name. You're by my side all the time so if I start talking or giving orders you can just assume I'm talking to you."

"Wonderful," she grumbles sarcastically.

He throws his leg up on the chair at my bedside and states loudly as if for the whole world to hear, "_Because Black*Star is always thinking of his TsubakeE_."

Tsubaki sighs, "He remembered the combination for his gym locker without a problem, but how to pronounce my name? I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever get it right."

"What's it matter? As long as we both know you're the most important person to me in the whole world, I could call ya anything and it shouldn't matter."

"I'm the most important person to you…?" Tsubaki asks tentatively.

Black*Star shrugs. "Yeah, of course, you're my partner and a damn good one… and hot, too. That's a major bonus." The corners of Tsubaki's lips curl upward as she looks downward shyly.

"Of course, that's all secondary to my brotha from a different motha, after all. Right, Soul?" Tsubaki's smile fades some and I pretend not to notice that Black*Star has offered me the bromantic gesture of his hand to fist bump.

"I think what Black*Star is _trying_ to say is that your world revolves around your partner…and uh you walk through life together, so… uh, " I trail off in my attempt to say something that will somehow make Black*Star's idiocy less hurtful, but I seem to be failing miserably. Sometimes, he just needs to shut up while he's ahead.

"Yeah," the assassin says sitting down and putting his feet up on the edge of my bed. He crosses his legs and puts his arms behind his head, reclining. "Which is why Black*Star wants to know what you're prepared to give me for delivering your partner back to you. It sounds like we'll be headin' out soon to try to get everybody back who was on the train and since that includes your flat-chested, brainiac of a meister I think I deserve some kind of special thanks for saving her butt. After all, Black*Star is here to help." He punctuates the sentence by thumping himself on the chest as though I might have forgotten who Black*Star was. Granted it can get confusing since he insists on talking about himself in the third person…

"Star, what does Maka's chest size have to do with it?" Tsubaki shrieks.

"I was just saying she isn't all stacked and hot like you are, but I know Soul's crazy for her anyway, so _I _think he should have to thank us in some special way for bringing her back to him." Hit by inspiration, he shouts, "_I know!_" I hear Hiro growl from behind the curtain. "You and Maka have to get on the PA and say that me and Tsubaki-"

"You said it right!" Tsubaki exclaims as she leaps upward, a look of pure glee coming over her previously downcast face.

"Of course, I did," says her meister as though it's no big deal. "Soul and Maka have gotta say that Tsubayee," Tsubaki's shoulders slump, "and Black*Star are the most incredible team at the DWMA and that from hence forth they will be called Team Assassin Command."

"Um," Tsubaki lowers her eyebrows. "I don't know about that Star… isn't that the name of that giant female robot in that TV show you-"

"_Yeah_, that's what makes it _perfect_!" Black*Star says with great enthusiasm.

"Star, that show is incredibly sexist. The girls always have to unveil their bosom to release rockets-"

"Yeah, it's awesome… and how that flight deck commander makes those funny sounds every time a pilot flies into the hangar between the robot's legs."

I nod. It is a pretty awesome show. Girls just don't get the humor for some reason.

Tsubaki taps Black*Star, "Star, you should take this seriously. Maka could be in big danger."

"I am taking it seriously. Dead serious. It's just that Soul's in love with Maka and they're always thinking they're so much better than us. So, this is our chance to make Meister Maka admit that I'm on top!"

I glare at my best friend. He's being a total ass hole. "Fine," I grumble. "I'll do anything you want, except for kiss you."

"Yeah, save your lips for Maka. I can't have people thinking I got loose lips. I'm saving 'em for someone worthy." He grins at Tsubaki who looks a little flushed.

"Black*Star, we better get going. We've got that meeting to go over the details of the mission."

He glances at the clock on the wall. "Damn, you're right. Ok. Later, Soul, and don't you worry… soon you'll have Tiny Tits back."

"Don't call Maka that!" Tsubaki says swatting her meister on the arm.

"Why not? Soul calls her that all the time."

"He has not called her that in years! It's not nice."

"Well, it must not be _too_ bad because she's sleeping with him. Then again, you slept with that total dick wad and Kid says Liz is _always_ givin' it to a bunch of losers. Are women attracted to ass holes? Do I have to become a jack ass to get laid?"

"If being an ass hole got you laid I assure you that you would have lost your virginity many times over by now," Tsubaki grumbles.

"You have my permission to hit him," I shout to her. "Try to keep him out of trouble, ok?"

"I'll try. See ya, Soul," Tsubaki says as she waves good-bye to me.

The next day is excruciatingly long. The rescue party left after dark yesterday and I was told not to expect them back for at least a few days which leaves me lot of free time without any of my closest friends. Almost all of the DWMA's best combatants were called up including Stein, Spirit, and Sid leaving the school under the watchful eyes of Mira, Marie, Joe, and Ms. Leech.

I look up at the clock for what surely must be the five hundredth time today. A repulsive slurping noise is coming from behind Hiro's curtain. This visitation has already lasted over twenty minutes. I've lost the bet on how long the next girlfriend would stay. I had bet Lydia she would only be here for twelve minutes. I glance over at Lydia and she's grinning smugly and pointing to the clock. I shake my head because she may have won that category, but she lost the bet for which girl it would be. She predicted it would be the one we call Curly Sue with the huge curly brown fro, but I won with my prediction that it would be the one we've dubbed 'Torpedo Tits' for obvious reasons.

The curtain slides open and Torpedo Tits emerges adjusting her ruffled hair says her goodbye to Hiro and leaves the infirmary. I lean over and mark on my paper. One point for Lydia and one point for me.

It's really sad that this is our only amusement, but for some stupid reason there are no TVs in here so it's really all we can do to amuse ourselves. Hiro looks over at me smugly. "Must suck to have a prude for a girlfriend, especially when you have all those great excuses to be alone together while you're on assignment."

"Maka's not a prude," I grumble as I roll over to face the wall. I have greater ease of movement now that they've decided I don't have to be on IV fluids, anymore. Mira's just keeping me around so that they I don't have to come back for another round of wound cleaning and I actually don't mind because I don't want to be alone in our apartment. It'd drive me nuts to be there without her sitting on the couch deeply absorbed in some novel the way she always is.

"Sure, she isn't. You just keep telling yourself that, but I bet Maka won't do half the things _my_ girls do for me."

"I don't think I want her to do half the things those girls are doing to you," I mumble. No one is ever going to be allowed to insinuate that _I'm_ a pervert again, not after I've witnessed a real sexual deviant in action.

We hear the familiar sound of the infirmary door beginning to open and Hiro reaches onto his bedside table and grabs something to spritz in his mouth before raising his bed up.

"Hey, how are you?" he asks seductively.

"Fine," Ms. Leech says gruffly. "I'm here for Soul." The old woman stomps through the room headed to my bed as Hiro busts up laughing, pointing at me, and mouthing the words, "Nice booty call."

I flip him the bird as the ancient woman comes to an abrupt stop at the foot of my bed.

"Mr. Evans, your presence is needed in the Death Room."

"Uh… ok," I say nervously as I stand up. Kid and the others aren't back yet, right? If they were coming back victorious the people of Death City would have rung the bells in the tower like they do on the days of big DWMA victories, right? "Is something wrong?"

"You of all people should know that is far too relative a question for a truthful answer. There are always 'wrong' things in this world, but to which do you refer? The fact my marching orders now come from a child _fifty_ years my junior?"

Oh, Lord. I should have known better than to ask. Ms. Leech could never actually share anything useful or reassuring. She's such a fucking witch.

"You don't really need me to escort you there, do ya? Because I think you're old enough to handle these things on your own. Especially if you think you're old enough to be doing all the mucking about that you and Black*Star do. Damn disgraceful. All you teenagers so disrespectful and messing up missions left and right. This generation has no disciple-"

"Yes, I can get myself to the Death Room," I grumble. "I've been there plenty of times when my meister and I have received our mission assignments. Assignments where we've risked our lives-"

"She wouldn't be risking her life if she got herself a decent weapon. Scythes are outdated. Kid has it right. Our artillery needs to move into _this_ millennia-"

I walk away no longer willing to have my ears accosted by her stupid opinions.

I enter the Death Room and see Marie and Mira sitting in front of the mirror. In the frame I can see Kid with a bunch of our friends crammed in around him.

"Soul?" I hear Kid's voice and walk up to the full-length mirror.

"I'm here."

"You might want to sit down," Kid says. "We have some bad news." I hear a sobbing from somewhere outside of the frame.

"Is… is… that… Spirit?" I ask as Marie slides a chair up behind me.

"Yes," Kid says rolling his eyes. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as he's making it out to be."

"Pull yourself together, man! For Lord Death's sake!" That's Stein yelling at his weapon.

"Ok… so, I take it you have news about Maka," I say because it doesn't take a genius to put the pieces together.

"We do," Kid says bowing his head. "Soul, I'm really sorry, but…" my heart starts pounding as though it is trying to free itself from my chest.

"Soul," Tsubaki interrupts. "She isn't here. We've looked everywhere and Rodrigo thinks they transferred her to another facility."

"Where?"

"That's the problem. We aren't sure."

"Well, then we've got to go to all of them. We can split up and cover more ground." I stand up.

"Soul, I wish it were that simple," Kid says. "We've got our hands full here."

"Too full to bother to find out where she is?" I ask half curious what could be so damned important and half thinking nothing could be more important than getting her back.

"We're working on it," the reaper says. "I promise. We just don't have great leads yet."

"It doesn't matter. Any lead is enough. We have to go get her. Now!"

"Soul," Black*Star shouts. "Calm down. We're all just as worried about Maka as you are."

"No! No, you aren't. You don't understand. I've _been_ patient. You said you'd get her back. You _said _she was there."

"Calm down, Soul." I recognize Patti's voice though she has to part the crowd to be visible to me. "It's not Kid's fault. Everyone else who was captured at the derailment… whose still alive… is here. I'm sorry, but you gotta believe us. This hasn't been easy…" I see that her arm is in a haphazardly-constructed sling.

Kid continues not acknowledging his partner's defense of him. "I think we can safely narrow Maka's location down to three different Avian Flu facilities, but in response to our victory today they may move her again… and we've got reports coming in that new facilities are opening up all over the place."

"_Tell me the plan to get her back._" I don't think that's too much to ask.

"We'll form three different parties and head to each of the facilities, just like you suggested," Kid says. "_But_ it can't be till we're back from this mission. We've got a mess here. Robin sustained a hit to the chest… and we've discovered about a dozen munchkin type demons we've got to transport with us."

"So, you're telling me that we've gotta _wait_ before we free her?"

"_Yes_, I'm sorry. There just aren't enough trained fighters… Soul, this was the hardest battle I've ever been in. This was nothing like Mexico."

"It doesn't matter how hard it's going to be. _Maka_ wouldn't worry about that if it were one of us in need of help. We should be-"

"Soul," Kid says my name softly before belting out, "_I __**order**__ you to stay put until we're back!_"

"_Fuck you_, Kid. How can you say that when you know what they did to Jacob and Black*Star?!"

"I'm saying it as your commander. I know this is hard, but you aren't seeing the big picture."

"And you are?" I shout at him. I'm pacing back and forth in front of the mirror like a wild animal kept in too small a cage.

"_Yes._"

I stop pacing and walk right up to the mirror so that my face is squared right up to the face of my '_dear'_ friend and commander, Lord Kid. "That's _easy_ for you to say when the people _you_ care most about are _right there_ with you!"

"Soul!" Liz shouts. "Don't be an asshole. Kid is doing all he can do!"

"Of course, you defend him!" I growl.

"Calm down," she urges me. "Maka wouldn't want this."

"Yeah, well she's a lot nicer than I am," I shout as I stomp down the guillotine foyer of the Death Room. "Tell me when you have _real_ news, like you actually accomplished something important."

I continue stomping all the way to the infirmary where I stew in bed as word of the DWMA victory spreads. I hear cheering coming from the hallways as underclassman celebrate their comrade's triumph, but I feel no pride in the rescue of our comrades. I feel betrayed. How dare people celebrate when one of our own is still held captive! I sit spewing my own haze of anger from every pore.

Lydia grumbles. "OK, clearly you're gonna make me ask instead of telling me what's going on. So, don't bite my head off, but… is Maka…?"

"They can't find her. She got transferred to another facility."

"Shit, I'm sorry," she says. Then a minute later she says, "Soul, you should just be happy she's not dead."

"I guess," I grumble. "But they want me- _ordered me_, to stay put until they're back. I guess it was a hard won victory or something."

"Did we lose people?" she asks.

"I don't know. I didn't ask," I say flatly.

"Oh."

"Don't say it like that!" I shout at her.

"Like what?" Lydia asks.

"Like I'm a fuckin' crazy person who only cares about what happens to my meister."

Lydia laughs. "Oh, come on. We've been through this you care a lot about Maka, but she's not the only one you care about. However, right now you are _kinda_ acting like you don't care a lick about anybody else or about the academy."

"Thanks for the support," I say sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just being honest. I know you don't only care about her, but it seems to me like you're becoming a little unbalanced. Did you know Mira is contemplating giving you a sedative?"

I don't say anything. Maybe I should let them sedate me. I wouldn't mind being knocked out until she's back in DC.

"Don't do things you're gonna regret just because she's not here. Don't fight with your friends over this. It isn't Kid's fault." I growl at her. "If Kid and the others _didn't care_ about you and Maka they wouldn't have taken time out of everything to call you to tell you the truth. They could have waited until they were back."

I think about this. It may be true that I'm being a little hard on them. I walk over to Lydia and pull up a chair so I can sit by her bedside. "Ugh. I guess you have a point, but come on… we all know the longer she's in the hands of Avian Flu the more of a chance we have of…" I close my eyes. I might as well say what I mean. "The more of a chance _I_ have of losing her."

"Just remember you're not the only one fighting. Wherever Maka is I'm sure she's doing all she can to get back to you. Unlike _some_ partners that shall remain nameless," she says with a sad half-smile. It makes me wonder if they found Erika with the others or not. I still can't believe she just bolted from her meister like that.

"Soul, come here and let me look at your head wound," Mira orders before the door has even closed behind her.

I stand up obediently and let Mira examine the back of my head and put whatever crap on it she keeps slathering on it periodically. "Well, good. It looks a lot better. I don't think we'll need to change the dressing daily anymore. You're cleared for discharge," she says spinning me around and smiling at me. "You get to go home."

"Thanks," I say glumly.

"Soul, it isn't as bad as all that. Kid will be back in a couple days, maybe even sooner than that and then you can head out to get your meister back. You need to learn some patience."

"Yeah, I guess," I sigh. "Thanks."

I say goodbye to Lydia and shout a goodbye to Hiro whose curtain is closed as he is currently entertaining 'Strawberry' so dubbed by Lydia and I for the berry hair barrettes she always wears.

"I'll come check on you guys, tomorrow," I mumble as I head out.

_Home._ It feels like forever since I've been there and I know that being there is only going to make me miss Maka more, so I decide to meander around the campus rather than head straight home. I wander into the library, but don't pick anything up to read. I stumble upon a game of basketball going on in the gym and I watch for a few minutes before moving on. I walk up to one of my favorite spots, a balcony outside the grand ballroom. This is where I hide out from the crowds when we have dances and stuff. It was on this balcony that I had the first inclining that I might be in love with Maka. I don't even remember when it was, but I remember standing there beside her and suddenly wanting to know what it would be like to hold her in my arms. It had scared the shit out of me at the time, but after that the feelings kept building. Oh, Maka, what have they done with you?

As I stand there reminiscing, I'm startled by a voice from the level below me. Someone must have just stepped outside.

"It's terrible news! Three Deathscythes lost in one day." It's Marie. There's no mistaking the earnestness in that voice. _Three_ deathsythes… that is bad. "Isn't that some kind of record? I'm so worried about Frank!"

"Don't be. He's tough and Spirit isn't _entirely_ useless," the voice is gravelly and old. I'm betting it's Ms. Leech. "They're a much better team than Spirit and Lord Death, as long as they don't start acting too crazy."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know how those two are. They _experiment_." Oh, shit! Don't tell me that Spirit and Stein have the same kind of outlandish rumors circulate about them as me and Kid do. Oh, now I have to eavesdrop!

"Ms. Leech, when you say 'experiment' do you mean with new attacks or science experiments or…?"

"With everything… drugs… science… chemicals… sex-"

"Sex?" Marie's voice wavers. "Like with each other?" I have to clamp a hand over my mouth to stop from snickering so loudly that they'll hear me. I wish Black*Star were here, he'd be dying!

"I wouldn't be surprised. They _do_ have chemistry, but most of the stories I've heard revolve around Spirit's antics in trying to find a woman for his good friend. Which brings me to the question. Why in the _hell_ have you let Frank go gallivanting off with Spirit without first forcing him to make an honest woman of you?"

"Oh, you know how Frank is," Marie says sweetly. "He questions all conventions… including marriage…"

"And you're ok with that? Back in my day a man put a bun in your oven he was responsible enough to get down on one knee and put a ring on your damn finger. That's what men _used_ to do and it's _still_ the _right_ thing to do."

"Well, honestly, I don't want Frank to ask me to marry him just because of the baby. I want to know that he really wants _me_."

"Hmpf. Men _never_ want to be tied down. They're all the same."

"Frank isn't like that. He's just got to go on another mission or two before he comes home. There _is_ a ton going on, after all."

"Then why aren't _you_ out there?" Ms. Leech asks curtly. I feel sorry for Marie. I thought Ms. Leech was only a bitch to students, but I guess she's that way with everyone.

"I _have_ to stay here. I'm in charge of caring for Jule and Jerome for the time being and Frank doesn't want me going on solo missions right now and I agree that it wouldn't be wise. Avian Flu is a little too baby crazy for me to be running around by myself now that I'm showing. When Frank gets back we'll probably be sent to bust up the Texas facility. They think that's where Justin Law is being held so I know they'll be eager to bring it down."

_Justin Law_ has been captured and they think he's in Texas. All of a sudden all thought of picking up an embarrassing anecdote about the Professor and Maka's dad is forgotten. It may end up being just a rumor or false hope, but if Justin Law _is_ in the Lonestar State I'm willing to bet money that is where Maka is being held or, at the very least, where she's headed. I listen for a few minutes more in case Marie lets any other valuable tidbits slip past her lips, but I don't learn anything more. Still, it's enough, because now I have a direction and I'm already hatching a plan.


	65. Chapter 65: Awkward Conversations

_**Chapter 65: Awkward Conversations; Does the Weapon Have a Plan?**_

It doesn't matter that the intel I've gathered could be bad. It doesn't bother me that I have no means of confirming its validity. All that matters is that Lord Death saw fit to send me a clue as to where Maka might be being held and for that, I have to act.

I spring into action immediately beginning to create a plan before I've even exited the school and step one is to create an easy means of reentering the school even in the middle of the night. The academy usually gets locked up around eight pm, but I suspect I'll be needing to sneak back in before the night is over, so I steal a few inches of clear tape from a class room and use it to cover the tumbler of the lock on a seldom used door in the southeastern corner of the school. I'm betting nobody will notice that it isn't actually locked.

In my mind I form a list of things I will need. A motorcycle is going to be a must. I'll need some cash for the road, maybe some kind of weapon in addition to my scythe arm… I've never had to worry about that before, but since Avian Flu's arsenal includes that damn purple fog that makes us demon weapons lose our ability to transform I had better have a backup plan. Ugh! Hate isn't a strong enough word for the way I feel about those fucking bird people!

The first place I head is home. With all the craziness, I've long since lost my key to the apartment, but that's no problem because Maka and I keep a spare hidden inside the Lord Death mask hanging on our front door. I open up the apartment and am met by a horrific odor before I enter. Yuck! It seems to be wafting from the kitchen. Blair must not be coming around. I had been planning on making myself something to eat, but the aroma has effectively turned off my appetite. Oh, well that's one less thing I need to get done.

I go into my room and grab a change of clothes and head to the shower. I take a little longer in the shower than I probably should, but it feels good to get really clean for the first time in days. While I was in the infirmary I only took one shower, because it's a major hassle to cover the IV and I don't like other people to have to help me with that sort of thing, so it's really refreshing to feel all those layers of sweat and grim being washed away. Who knows, I might even get my hair to actually be white again.

As the water cascades down my body I contemplate my first challenge. I need to get a motorcycle. I'm done with trains; I don't want to look at another train for a long time. Right now it just doesn't feel safe enough to be in something that has a set route. For safety, I need the flexibility of something I'm in charge of, but I don't know anyone else who has a motorcycle. The academy does own a couple bikes, but they are total junkers. I'm pretty sure that they only keep them around in case Joe can use their components in any of his contraptions and I need something reliable because I'm gonna push it to the limits… I miss Brunnie so much.

Wait! I _do_ know someone with motorcycles. I take a deep breath. This is going to be a challenge. I hurriedly get dressed and slap on some deodorant before heading to my closet. I need some collateral…

I have to dig around through a pile of old sneakers I really should throw away, a spare sleeping bag, and a pair of snowshoes (where the hell did those come from?) and pull out a hat box I've shoved in the corner. I don't look in it often but it's not because I don't care about its contents. It's just hard sometimes to look at my mom's stuff because it makes me sad, but I find it comforting knowing that it's stowed away there at the back at the closet should I feel the sudden need to reminisce. But this time I'm not opening it up to take a look at photos of my mom's smiling face or the birthday cards she made for me each year. I'm looking for something in particular.

I lift the lid and sift through the unorganized collection of photos, greeting cards, drawings, and other mementos when my hand brushes against something in a box made of imitation leather. It's a jewelry box. I cross my fingers that my mom's diamond earrings are as gaudily big as I remember them being. I pull out the box and pop it open revealing a pair of large diamond studded earrings with a little dangly thing that comes off each one with another diamond on it. Good, they are as big as I remembered. I'm sure they aren't worth as much as a motorcycle, but they should be enough to get someone to loan me one for a few days. I grab a hoodie from my closet and slide the box in the pouch on the front along with the key to the apartment and head out ready to do whatever it takes to get a set of wheels.

I head to the Screaming Eagle deciding that being honest and upfront about the situation will be the best… as long as the dude there doesn't punch me for failing to protect my meister. He _is_ a meister worshipper so it's possible he will blame this entire situation on me.

I step into the Screaming Eagle and scan around. Will I even be able to recognize the guy who runs this place? I glance at the bar and the guy serving drinks there is definitely not the one who Maka got to patch up Brunnie for us.

"Something I can get for you? Like a kick out the door? We don't serve DWMA students here. We observe the law," the balding man behind the counter asks me.

"I'm not here for a drink. I'm looking for a guy who helped fix up my bike a week or so ago. I think he runs the-"

"Oh, it's _you_," a voice comes from a room back behind the bar. "What do _you_ want? I know you didn't foul up my repair job."

"No, I didn't mess up your repair job, but _Avian Flu_ sure did." I now have the attention of everyone in the bar.

A woman at the counter who is chugging down beer from a huge glass stein pauses her alcohol consumption to snarl, "Damn them fuckin' bird people! The lot of 'em should be stuffed and eaten."

I nod. "They totaled my bike so I'm in need of a new one and I was hopin' you could hook me up."

"What's your budget?" he asks.

"I'll be honest. It isn't much, but I was hoping you'd consider taking these in trade for loaning me one of your bikes for a few days." I pull the jewelry box out of my pocket and pop it open. Even in the darkness of the bar the diamonds glisten gorgeously.

The burly barman arches an eyebrow, "Those real?"

"Yup."

"You steal 'em?"

"No, they were my mom's." His eyes narrow. He probably doesn't believe me. It's often hard for folks to imagine that a dude like me came from a family with money.

"Doesn't the school give you an expense account for stuff like this?" he asks wearily.

"Yeah… but this is a… extra-curricular mission. My meister was taken by Avian Flu and I'm going to get her back before they mess her up too bad. I'm not going to wait for the DWMA's marching orders. I want to leave tonight." I sincerely hope he isn't having some kind of bondage fantasy about my meister right now, but I fear he probably is.

"You're going by yourself?"

"I might take one other person."

"Shoot! You're damn cocky if you think you have a chance in hell of taking on Avian Flu by yourself," he scoffs.

"Probably so, but I've tangled with them enough times already to know some of their tricks and I'm not trying to take anybody out… just to get my meister back. That's all. We can make them pay for what they did later. Right now I've just got to get in and get back out with her."

His brow furrows as he considers this. "How the hell does a weapon lose his meister? I thought scythe technicians kept you guys on a real short leash." Just the kind of thing a meister chauvinist would say.

"It's a long story. We were fighting on a train, there was an explosion and I got thrown from the train; my meister did not."

"Let me take a look at those earrings." He brings them close to his nose presumably to check out the quality. "Those are valuable, alright, but I ain't got a woman to give 'em, too… and I think they'd look a little silly on me. Besides, a bike's worth a lot more money than even that bling. See, you've already admitted to me that your last bike got trashed. I'm guessing you're not going to be gentle with this one neither, so you got anything else you can sweeten the deal with?" For the briefest of moments offering him a dinner with Maka crosses my mind, but that turns my stomach. Ugh! What else do I have of value?

"I don't have anything else. I mean, there's the TV and the GameBox…" I mentally walk through the apartment searching for anything else I could use as collateral. Then I remember something. It isn't super valuable, but to me it's one of my most treasured possessions.

"I have a mint copy of Skeletoxin Issue 6, the first appearance of-"

"Clan dez Time before Katrinka Kloutis is killed," he interrupts.

"You know your comics," I smile.

"Yeah, but it's not that rare. I already got a copy."

"But I bet your copy isn't signed by the late great Earl Takari."

His eyes grow wide. No wonder he's into Maka. He's a nerd the same as me.

"You went to BoneCon?!"

I nod. "Yup. Stood in line for six hours just to have him sign it."

"Keep the earrings. Give me the comic and you got yourself a bike."

"It's a deal. I'll be right back."

I won't pretend that I'm happy about losing it. I am a huge Skeletoxin fan and items signed by Earl Takari are super rare since he was such a hermit in those last few years of his life, but this is for Maka and she's way more important.

The bartender doesn't provide me with the best bike he has, of course, but the one he gives me is sturdy and I like the shade of blue she's painted in. It's kind of a cobalt with shiny silver accents.

"She'll get ya where ya need to go and back, but her purr's awful loud so you won't be able to sneak up to anybody unless they are stone deaf," he tells me as I sit down on her to take her for a little spin around town to get the feel for her. She has more fluidity than Brunhilde, but he wasn't kidding she is fucking _loud_! I think the Avian Flu compound in Texas will hear me coming all the way from here.

I get off and walk the bike to the DWMA. I don't want to make a spectacle of myself as I break into the school. I walk up to the southeastern door and, sure enough, my tape job worked; the door opens. With so many of the staff off on assignment I figured no one would notice. I sigh; I really need to talk to Kid about the school's crappy security. Avian Flu could waltz right in here! Only problem is after this little adventure, I'm not sure when he and I will be back on speaking terms as I'm disobeying a direct order from him by going, though you can't tell me he wouldn't do the exact same thing were it Patti or Liz in the hands of the enemy.

I tiptoe into the school and up to the door of the infirmary. I crack it open and peer in. If Mira is on duty she is elsewhere at the moment. I take off my squeaky sneakers and walk across the floor in my stocking feet tiptoeing up to Lydia's bed. It's dark in here other than the emergency lights on the edges of the wall and beds and the blinking lights on the various medical equipment scattered throughout the ward.

Lydia is asleep, a small puddle of drool on the pillow beside her mouth. I'm not sure what the best way to wake her up is so I squat down and whisper in her ear, "Lydia, wake up." She murmurs something and rolls over. "Hey, Lydia wake up." She seems to be a heavy sleeper. I take her hand… and she starts screaming. I panic and do the first thing I think of, which is to clamp my hand over her mouth which freaks her out even more.

"Lydia, calm down! It's just me. It's Soul!" I whisper as she chomps down on my hand.

"What the hell! You nearly gave me a heart attack. I have post-traumatic stress, you moron!"

"Sorry," I whisper.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home. Don't tell me you want to hang out here now, because I'd give anything to be home, believe me."

"I needed to talk to you."

She rolls her eyes. "I take it that the subject matter was too important to wait till morning. Wait, let me rephrase that, it _better_ be too important to have waited till morning," she sternly warns me.

"I think I know where Maka is."

"Good," her tone suddenly happy. "I'm glad to hear it. Did Team Boob Commander find her?"

"No. Black*Star and Kid have nothing to do with it. I happened upon a really good lead."

She is silent. "Why are you telling _me_ this?"

"Because I need a meister."

"That's what I was afraid you were gonna say…"

"A few more days may be too long," I tell her seriously.

"Huh?! You mean that you want to go _now_ before Kid and the others are back?!"

"Yes," I answer flatly. I refuse to be apologetic or ashamed of this request. I know this is the right thing to do… for lots of reasons.

"Just the two of us?!" she asks in a loud whisper. "Are you fuckin' nuts? How do you think the _two_ of us can fight a whole squadron of birds?"

"We don't. We sneak in and out. Very covert."

"I don't think you know how to be covert."

"Come on, I'm not _Black*Star_. I can be sneaky and you _know_ that I'm highly motivated to get this done."

Lydia adjusts herself in the bed. "You realize that I should punch you in the face just for asking me this."

"Why?"

"Only you would have the gall to ask a girl who likes you to risk her life to help you rescue your girlfriend."

"You like me?" I kind of suspected that, but I didn't think it was a big deal. I mean, sure she was checking me out when I was all hot and sweaty from cutting through that damn metal beam in the train wreckage, but I check girls out. It doesn't mean I'm into 'em, it's just habit.

"Don't play dumb with me. That head injury didn't cause brain cell death, ya goober. I like you and you're taken, so I'm trying _really hard_ to be respectful of that… and now you're asking-"

"Begging," I correct her.

"Me to come on some kind of crazy adventure with you," Lydia says. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

I contemplate this and then I remember what Maka's always told me. "If you had to live with me I'd be a whole lot less attractive to you or so Maka says. Living with me is apparently a living hell or something. I don't know. Maybe having to deal with me on this mission will snap you out of it." She groans. "Lydia, I need help and I consider you a friend… and-"

"You saved my life."

"I wasn't going to say that. I was _going_ to say that it doesn't matter what you might be feeling because the truth is I belong with Maka."

"I know. You act like you're freakin' married," she grumbles.

I laugh, "We do don't we? It's funny, 'cause I don't think Maka will ever get married."

"Really? Why?"

"Long story," I say. "So, uh… you do kinda owe me one," I lay it on pretty thick. I'm not worried about my pride. I will do the sad puppy dog eyes if I have to. I've watched Patti do it to Kid enough times I think I can imitate it.

"This is a pretty big ask. You know that, right?"

"Sawing through that thing in the train was-"

She growls. "You said you weren't going to bring that up."

"I changed my mind. See, give it a few hours on the road and you will no longer be attracted to me at all. You'll be so happy to have me once again be Maka's problem."

"That is probably true…" Her voice trails off as she contemplates. "But I'm not even cleared to leave the hospital yet. I'm off IVs and I'm eating, but I should be on light duty… not-"

I interrupt her and quickly explain, "We'll take with us all the meds you need and I'll get you anything else you want. Let's just see if you can wield me."

She nods and gets out of bed and I transform. She winces some as she bends over, but she's able to pick me up. I thought so. Something told me that she'd be able to wield me.

She stands there looking down at me. "I don't have much experience with melee weapons."

"That's why this will be a good experience for you," I say my scythe eye stretching so I can see her as I speak to her. "Think of how good it will look on your resume to be able to say you can handle Maka Albarn's weapon."

She's nodding and she's gripping me tightly, getting the feel for my weight. I think she's gonna do it. Alright!

I feel a tinge of guilt. Oh, crap. I think I better make sure she's clear on something first. I take a deep breath, "Hold on. There's one more thing I need to tell you." I reappear in human form.

"Before you make your decision I need to make sure you understand something, because I think you deserve to know the truth. _I'm not doing this because she's my meister._" I take another deep breath and continue matter-of-factly. "I'm doing this because I'm in love with her. Over the years I've done a lot of stuff and played it off as though I was simply performing my duties as her weapon, but you need to know that I'm doing this because she's my girlfriend. I think that even if I wasn't her weapon or anybody's weapon I'd be doing this, because I desperately want to get her back before Avian Flu wipes out all her memories of me." My eyes are starting to tear up. "I can't stand the thought of that happening to me and Maka."

It's embarrassing to be like this in front of her, but she deserves to know the truth since I'm asking her to risk her life. I turn away so she won't see the tears that are now rolling down my face. I wipe them away with my sleeve.

"What will you do if I say 'no'?" she asks.

"That shouldn't affect your decision," I say with my back still toward her.

"In other words, you'll go without me and end up getting yourself killed."

"Not necessarily," I retort as I sniffle a little. "I'm a decent fighter."

We stand there for a moment with my back to her as I try to regain my composure. I sniffle a couple more times. It's anything but manly.

"Oh, Lord, you really do love her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," I say turning back around to her a half smile on my lips. "But I've only been admitting it for a couple of weeks now… so, this isn't exactly… comfortable for me."

Lydia shakes her head. "Well, that's good. Then we'll both feel awkward and uncomfortable."

"You mean?"

"Yes, I'll meister you."

"Oh, thank you!" I say encircling her in a big hug that effectively pins her arms to her sides. "And don't worry about getting in trouble. When we get back you can tell them that I threatened you and forced you to come with me. I'll take the fall for everything. I'm perpetually on academic probation, anyway, so there's no sense in getting you in trouble."

"So, what meds do I need to grab for you?" I walk across the room to the cupboards that house many of the drugs given to students in the infirmary.

"I get these big white ones for pain," she whispers to me handing me a vial of something.

"Oh, and what about these?" I say holding up a pill bottle. She brings it closer to her eyes to read the label in the dim light. "Yeah, you're right. Ok, and then I need these…"

"I'm gonna see if they have any of those leaves we used when Black*Star was-"

"Gotcha!" All of the lights of the infirmary switch on at once and Lydia and I freeze. "Soul, why ya busting Lydia out?" I turn around to see Hiro glaring at us. In his hand he has some kind of remote control for the room's overhead lights.

"Who says we're busting out?"

"Oh, come on. I'm not an idiot. Either you're dumping Maka for Lydia or you and her are heading out to go try to rescue your meister. Either way you're breaking rules," he says with self-importance.

"Like you don't break about a million rules a day," Lydia says to him with disgust. "At least Soul's honest about what he wants and who he wants."

"Are you insinuating something?" Hiro asks.

"I'm not _insinuating_ shit," Lydia responds. "I'm _telling_ you that Soul and I could get you in a huge amount of trouble if we wanted to, but we've sat back and let you have your damn fun so-"

"So, I'm supposed to just let you two leave?"

"What's it to you?" I ask. "Yes, I'm going after my meister and Lydia's coming along to help, but I don't see why _you_ care. You get your meals brought to you, class is out of session because of the war, and you're up to your neck in pussy, so why the fuck, do you care?!"

"_Because I can't get out of this bed._ That's why!" He shouts at us.

"_No_, I don't think that's why," Lydia says stomping up to him. "I think it's because you're jealous of Soul! You're jealous because he has people in his life who really care about him and you know that _you_ don't. So, instead of learning how to be a good friend you've taken the opportunity of your injury to fill your life with all these hollow relationships, but there is a _reason_ you don't have real friends. You're a fuckin' jerk! Do you know how much it's going to hurt those girls when they find out you've been cheating on them? They actually _want_ to take care of you and make you feel good and you're treating them like dirt."

"Oh, and I suppose your precious Soul isn't using you at all? It seems awfully convenient to me that you've been all hot for him and _you're_ the one he comes to for help."

"We're _friends_. Friends help each other out," Lydia says. "I'm going with him to help bring Maka back."

"Don't act like you're better than me. You want some action, too, both of you and given half a chance you'll be putting the moves on him and he's gonna be forgetting all about-"

My hands move fast to grab his and before he even knows what's happening I've got his hands bound with IV tubing.

"Soul?" Hiro asks looking shocked.

"You shouldn't have questioned Lydia's motives or mine, 'cause now we're both _royally _pissed at you. So, you better get one thing straight. We are going to get Maka back and nothing you or anybody else does is going to stop us." Lydia hands me some hospital towel thing to use to gag him. "There, that should hold him long enough for us to get out of DC."

"Hiro," Lydia begins. "You're right. I do like Soul, but what girl wouldn't? He's the kind of guy every girl wants as a boyfriend. I'm envious of Maka, but only because so many guys are pigs like you." She jogs over to the counter beneath the drug cabinet and opens a few drawers to do something. I have no idea what she's up to. Then she comes walking back. "_This_ is for questioning my motives." She unfurls from her hand one of those paper bibs they make you wear when you're at the dentist. She clips it around his neck and I see that she has written on it, "Ask me about my six girlfriends."

I bust up.

"Wass that?" Hiro asks, barely understandable with the gag in his mouth.

"Just a little something to help start some much needed conversations with your lady friends," Lydia says patting him on the leg. "Next time spring for a private room, kay?"

Lydia leads the way out of the hospital ward. I have to run to catch up with her. "Come on, Soul. Let's get going. Maka needs help."


	66. Chapter 66: Confidence and Faith

**Risenfromash: **I'm so happy to be posting this chapter today, as I'm really looking forward to writing and sharing what happens after this chapter! Hopefully, I'll be able to keep myself awake long enough to write them. This one I'd work on and find my eyes drifting shut on me…

_**Chapter 66: Confidence and Faith; Are You Armed for Love?**_

We swing by Lydia and Erika's place to pick up a couple things she wants and some snacks as I've told her that all the food at my apartment is questionable at best. Their place has a distinctive angry grrl kind of vibe with purple walls, gothic candle holders, and a garland strung about the living room that is made of ginormous plastic beads and doll parts. I'm very relieved that it has never occurred to Maka to decorate this way, as I much prefer the cozy, homey atmosphere of our place.

While Lydia ducks into her bedroom to change clothes and grab some stuff, I rummage through her kitchen cupboards. I think the kitchen is less scary than the living room until I pull a box of tampons out of the cupboard with the breakfast cereals. I don't want to know why that's in the kitchen-

"Ok, I'm ready. How do I look?" She asks stepping into the kitchen as I turn my attention from the contents of a lower cupboard. Hhhmmm. She looks cute, but I can't say that because that might translate to 'I think she's cute' which is something entirely different.

"You look more like yourself," I comment as it dawns on me that I've grabbed the box of tampons instead of the box of granola bars I meant to snag.

"It's the piercings," she says with pride, tipping her head so I can admire the wall to wall metal in each ear. "They made me take them out for surgery. I'm lucky they didn't seal up. Some of them love to do that as soon as I take the studs out."

"Anything else you need?" I ask her.

"No, I don't think so. What about you?"

"I could use a bag to throw this food in," I say as I toss some snacks onto the kitchen table. "And do you have any kind of regular weapon?"

"I have a gun," she comments casually. "I'm planning on bringing it." Her nonchalance about this creeps me out.

"Well, if you want to bring it to use, I guess that's fine, but _I_ was hoping for something I could use and I don't really know how to use a gun. I tried to defend me and Maka with one recently and Kid told me the only person I was liable to hurt was myself."

Lydia raises an eyebrow. "You've never been shooting?"

"No, it's not really my thing. I'm kind of a pacifist."

Her face erupts into laughter, but it's cut short as she winces in pain. "I can't believe you can say with a straight face that you're a pacifist. You cleave people open with an enormous fuckin' blade! You and Maka have one of the longest kill lists in student history."

"Demons only," I mumble while gripping a granola bar in my teeth, a box of tea bags in one hand and a package of crackers in the other.

"Ok, well I'm gonna bring it, because when we get Maka back you should let her meister you and I'll need a weapon and _I_ know how to handle it, cause I'm not a total wuss like you."

"Thanks," I grumble sarcastically as she goes back into her room returning with some kind of holster and a small pistol in her hand. She rests her leg on the seat of one of the kitchen chairs, rolls up her pant leg and straps the holster on to it and slides in the gun.

"Will that go off on its own? It's gonna be a bumpy ride…" I ask nervously as I tip my head back to swallow more of the granola bar without using my hands.

"Yeah, I'm really gonna strap a gun with a faulty safety onto my own leg. I'm really eager to blow my own foot off and end up back in the infirmary," she tells me as though I am the most clueless person on the planet. "Besides, I wear this all the time. You think I would go on a date without this thing?"

I arch an eyebrow. "You take a gun with you on dates?"

"Duh! You know how many guys are out there looking to get only one thing? Hiro looks like a prize compared to a lot of them."

"I think a few bad apples earn all guys a bad rap… but most DWMA guys are cool."

"You're so naïve," she says as she grabs a DWMA logo emblazoned jacket from a hook by the front door. "Have you ever even been on a date with anyone besides Maka?"

I open my mouth to quickly affirm that, _of course_, I've dated, only to realize that, no, I haven't. I've never even really been on a date with Maka and considering that Lydia seems to think you need to be armed to go on one, I'm glad that Maka and I never bothered to date other people. Besides, I'm always more content curling up with her on the sofa than going out, anyway.

"I thought so," she says shaking her head. "If you had, you'd be packin' too, believe me. Now let's get."

"I still need something to toss the food in."

"Oh, here, use this," she fumbles around under a couple other coats hanging by the door and unearths a white duffle bag with a flashy pink design of tubes of lipstick and kisses printed all over it.

"Wow, between how noisy the bike is and how loud this bag is Avian Flu will know we're coming long before we even make it out of Nevada," I snicker as I stuff the bag full of munchies.

"Quit your complaining. That was an expensive bag and it's not like you have to carry it. Just strap it to the damn bike."

I frown a little. Maka bosses me around, but either I'm ok with it because I'm used to it or I have more respect for her because she's super smart and has saved my hide a million times… but I'm not sure I'm ok with Lydia bossing me around, especially so soon into the mission. We haven't even left DC yet and this is _my_ mission. She's the meister, but I should be in charge. I consider saying something, but I decide it might antagonize her, so I decide to keep my mouth shut, at least for now. It's probably best not to upset someone with a gun.

Outside, I help Lydia mount the bike careful not to put strain on her incision. She grumbles about the assistance, but never comes right out and tells me to stop. After she appears settled, I hop on and we experience an awkward moment as Lydia tries to figure out what part of me to hold onto. Too low, and her hands rest too close to a very private area. Too high, and she only feels secure if she's hugging me which feels a little too personal, too. Eventually, she goes with her hands resting on my hips and her torso a respectful distance from me. Even riding with Kid was not this awkward.

I turn the key in the ignition and the engine _roars_ and off we go, headed east out of DC at break-neck speed.

"This thing is hella loud!" she shouts.

"Yeah, I know. The muffler's must be missing a part… Sorry. Beggars can't be choosey, I guess. Though, I am actually kind of renting it."

"Where did you get the bike?"

"I'm borrowing it from the guy who runs that biker bar on seventh. I had to give him my autographed copy of Skeletoxin number six for it." She seems unimpressed. Clearly, she does not know her comic books or she would be appalled, I'm sure.

"That where you go to drink?" she asks.

"No, but the guy there has a lot of bikes and he's helped me and Maka out before."

We ride onward in silence as conversation is difficult over the noise of the motor, but eventually my partner shouts, "So, where are we headed exactly?"

"Texas," I call back to her.

"Oh! I'm from Texas. What part's Avian Flu set up shop in?"

Oh, no. I had never detected a southern accent. I wasn't ready to talk to her about this! "Well, uh… we're gonna need to do some digging…" I mumble, not entirely confident she will be able to hear me, and not minding at all if she doesn't.

She's silent for a moment. "Wait! Do you not know _where_ in Texas we're going?! Holy shit! Soul, Texas is fuckin' huge! It's like three times as big as Nevada! Tell me you at least have _some_ idea of where the hell we are going."

"Hey, don't freak out! That's so not cool," I scold her. "We'll be able to figure it out once we get closer. None of Avian Flu's compounds are exactly secret. They set them up in economically disadvantaged areas to make themselves seem like humanitarians. It's how they manage to get people to support their craziness, so I figure we get to Texas and then start asking around."

"Holy crap," she yells. "You felt it necessary to spill your guts to me about how you're so _crazy_ in love with Maka and that's why you're doing this, but you _neglect_ to tell me you have no idea where we're going?! I'm gonna brain you!" She smacks me hard in the side of the head causing me to make the bike swerve.

"Hey, watch it! I'm driving!"

"You brought me under false pretenses. You told me you knew where she was."

"I do. She's somewhere in Texas and we'll find her. I know it. I can find her."

"You don't have Soul Perception!"

"I don't need it. Maka and I are meant to be together. We'll find each other somehow," I say firmly.

"Oh, my Lord. Are you serious? Does Maka find idiocy like this romantic or something? Cause I sure don't. You're a moron."

"I'm so glad I chose you as my partner on this expedition. I find it nice to have a companion who insults me the entire time," I say dryly. "I told you that once you actually got to know me you wouldn't be attracted to me anymore."

"And you were right. I'm beginning to wonder about Maka now… I thought she was super smart, but she puts up with your stupidity. What does that say about her?"

"That she's infinitely more patient than you and she pulls bullshit of her own that I call her on."

"Well, there you go. I guess you two are meant for each other. But what, pray tell, makes you so sure she's in Texas?"

"Word has reached the DWMA that Justin Law has been captured and is being held there."

"What's _he_ got to do with it?" she asks. From her tone I can safely assume she is no more of a fan of the DeathScythe than Maka. "She's not friends with him is she?"

"No, he kind of creeps her out for some reason, which is why she freaked out when she learned Avian Flu would like her and him…" My insides churn as my mind drifts to places I wish it wouldn't. "To be _more than_ friends."

"Oh! Shinigami, I'm sorry. No wonder you didn't want to wait. You don't think they're gonna try some of that brainwashing stuff on her like they did to Black*Star do you?"

"I'm betting they'll try it, because there is _no way_ she's going to willingly cooperate with them. If it were one of our friends she might play along or whatever, but she's told me she doesn't even like the thought of being alone with Justin so she'll be doing all she can to resist."

Lydia makes a humming sound and then says, "So, one of Avian Flu's goals is to bump _you_ off and create a Albarn-Law baby." My stomach knots up and the bike swerves again.

"Soul! Pay attention to the road!"

"I am! I just get really disgusted thinking about-"

"Fine, we won't talk about it anymore." She says with finality as she taps her fingers on my abdomen.

"Lydia, I know it's hard, but trust me, ok?" I hope that she can hear the sincerity in my voice since it's not like I can look her in the eye when I say it.

"I'm trying, but you have to admit that this is a longshot and that may be enough for _you_ cause you're in love… or _whatever_, but _I'm_ not… so, it's harder for me to be ok with having no real plan."

"I know," I turn my head as much as I dare while driving. "Thank you for coming with me. Being with someone takes it down to a more healthy level of scary."

She leans forward and hugs my back. "Don't thank me yet. I may end up being more trouble than I'm worth in the condition I'm in. You really are a moron. You don't know where you're going and you choose to bring with you a meister who should still be on light duty."

"You'll do just fine. Like I said we're not trying to take out a bunch of operatives, all we're trying to do is get Maka back."

"Ok," she says doubtfully.

"But there is one more thing… I should probably warn you that Maka's first reaction to you being with me might not be-"

"She's gonna freak out isn't she?"

"Probably. She's a little possessive sometimes." I rush to add, "But I am, too."

"You two are so weird…"

"I don't think so," I say offended. "Is it weird that we like each other?"

"No. What's weird is that you're teenagers who seem to think you're gonna stay together forever."

"I think we will. I hope we will, anyways. We're really happy."

"_Wow_!" There isn't a hint of sarcasm in her voice now. "How does this happen to a teenage guy? How do you settle down like that? It's like you're already married or something. I thought you're supposed to be all about stickin' it wherever you can, as often as possible."

"What an attractive analysis of the male condition," I grumble.

"Well, Soul, your level of…" She pauses trying to find words to put to a thought. "Caring… affection… devotion… commitment… something… it just _isn't _normal, especially for a guy."

"Hey, guys fall in love, too, and after all the brushes with death Maka and I have had recently, I'm not gonna lie about how I feel in order to look cool even if _some people_ think it's abnormal."

"I don't think it's uncool. In fact, it's very cool that you think you've found your soul mate or whatever. I just wonder how you can be so sure, especially when you haven't experienced other things."

"You mean other people."

"What's the difference?"

"There is a difference. Experiencing things wouldn't hurt Maka, but experiencing being with other people would. I can't imagine having a date come to the apartment for me and Maka seeing me leave with some other girl. That'd be so weird. It would hurt her even if we weren't 'together' and just partners the way we used to be. We're really close."

"First off, you're the _guy_ so you'd probably go pick up the _girl_, that is _if_ you're as big a gentleman as you pretend to be-"

"Whatever. Maka and I don't like to see each other with other people like that. We never have and I don't think we ever will. It just feels weird. Besides, I'm not interested in anyone else."

My companion sighs. I'm not entirely sure why and maybe I don't want to know. I meant what I said to her about her crush on me. I figured that a few days on the road would wipe out any lingering attraction she has for me and everything would be fine, but if not I may have made a mistake bringing her. What if she tries to make some kind of move? I don't want to hurt her feelings, but… naw, she wouldn't do that. She knows I'm not into her. We've just spent like the last half hour talking about how much I love Maka, and Lydia's not stupid.

"What if Maka or you change as you grow up?" she asks. I take a second to decide if I should answer. This is awfully private stuff, but it seems like she's genuinely curious and as long as there isn't some ulterior motive I don't mind sharing.

"We've already changed… a lot. We were just kids when Maka asked me to be her weapon. We've grown up together. I wouldn't be who I am today if she wasn't in my life." I shrug. "I think we're gonna keep growing together." I pause. "I know it's different than what most people our age want, but Maka and I _are_ different."

"I guess…" she says and we both fall silent. Whether it's because we both need time to separately think about the things we talked about or simply that we're both too tired of fighting the noise of the engine whenever we speak to one another, I can't say.

We make very good time crossing the desert, in part because the terrain is more or less flat and also because, unlike the Thompson sisters, Lydia doesn't require a trip to the ladies' room every five minutes. She doesn't ask any more questions about Maka or the rescue mission. Instead, when we talk again we stick to lighter topics of conversation like movies, video games, and what a bitch Ms. Leech is.

For dinner, we stop at a deli. I make my meatball sub disappear so fast, Lydia is convinced I'm going to make myself sick. She nibbles at her all veggie sandwich, saving a bunch of it for a midnight snack. I suggest that we stay on the road as long as we can manage and she says she doesn't mind so it isn't until well after dark when we pull into a roadside motel that has a neon sign proudly proclaiming that it offers 'clean rooms' and 'color TVs'. When we enter our room Lydia immediately takes some pain medication and lies down and is asleep before I'm done with my shower.

The next morning we head out before the sun is up, determined to make it to the western border of Texas before going to bed. The ride is fairly uneventful, but Lydia seems more painful than yesterday. She doesn't say anything, but I sense a hesitation before she moves in certain ways and she seems far less enthusiastic and talkative than the day before. When I finally get the nerve to ask her how she is feeling she just barks, "I'm fine! Don't worry about me," which, ironically, I find not at all reassuring.

It's about seven in the evening when we cross the border into Texas and after traveling for another forty-five minutes or so we arrive in a small city called Saddle Ridge. With assistance from some other travelers we find the nearest hotel. It is a much snazzier joint than the place we stayed in last night and I fear I might not have enough money to stay there, but to my surprise I do and soon Lydia and I are riding the elevator up to the fourth floor to our room.

As soon as I unlock the door, Lydia makes a v-line for the bathroom. I stretch out on my bed, kick off my shoes, and close my eyes. Lydia's in the bathroom for quite a while before she reappears.

"You doin' ok?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," she says climbing into her bed

"I'm sorry." I feel guilty. She's obviously in pain. What was I thinking bringing along someone who just had major surgery?!

"No big," she shrugs. "Honestly, my ass hurts more than my surgery site."

I laugh, "Yeah, she isn't a very smooth ride. It really makes me miss Brunnie… that was my motorcycle, but Avian Flu totaled it."

"That sucks," she says rolling on her side and sighing.

Not only does my butt hurt, but my arms do, too. The shape and positioning of the handlebars on this bike seem to fatigue me more on a long ride like this, but if I'm honest with myself what I miss the most about Brunnie is the streamers that hung from her handlebars. She was so damn cool and she was mine... and Maka's. It was awesome while it lasted. Once this war is over I'm gonna save every penny to get another bike of my own, one Maka and I really like, maybe with some of those nice saddlebags for our crap and the first weekend we have it we'll cut class on Friday and go somewhere for the weekend, just the two of us.

I lay there daydreaming. It would be awesome to take a trip where the most critical thing we have to do is to decide what movie to watch or what to have for dinner… or whether to get in the hot tub or mess around in bed. My mind is seriously drifting. I try to bring it back to less sensual thoughts, but doing so only reminds me that they've got Maka and that's just depressing. I roll on my side facing Lydia's bed and notice that she seems to be tossing and turning.

"Having trouble getting comfortable?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says. "It's like all my muscles are cinched down on my back."

"Want me to rub it?" Her eyes meet mine and I see something like fear. "It's ok. It's only a backrub. You've earned it." I climb on the bed by her and touch her shoulders. She wasn't exaggerating. Her entire back is hard as a rock. "Gees, this isn't normal is it?"

"It happens sometimes when I'm stressed."

I start where her neck meets her body and work my way down. My fingers find the spots where the muscles connect with bone and rub there hoping to loosen them up some. I work at it for a while and, if nothing else, she at least _looks_ more relaxed.

"Now, I get why Maka keeps you around," she says her words muffled by the plush bedding. "If you're half as good in bed as you are at a massage, she's a lucky girl." I blush, but say nothing. "Not gonna say anything, huh?" she says baiting me.

"Nope, it's really uncool to kiss and tell."

"We're not talking about _kissing_," she says as she brings a hand backwards to gently whack me with it. "But now I'm _pretty_ sure you and Maka have done the horizontal tango. See, I wasn't entirely sure before, 'cause Maka seems so-"

"Many people only see one side to Maka and she's… a very dynamic person," I say with a half-smile as I rub where Lydia's neck meets her shoulder.

"And _you_ get to see all those sides," she says as though to herself.

"Yeah, that's how it works. I'm her partner, her roommate, her boyfriend… I see it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly."

"So, there're things about her you would change?" she asks. "If you could?"

"I dunno. Everything is a part of her. That's not to say there aren't times she drives me nuts."

"Uh huh, I see." She rolls onto her back and looks up at me with narrowed eyes.

"What?" I ask confused, having hurriedly withdrawn my hands.

"I'm trying to imagine you and Maka having sex."

"Why?" I say jumping up from the bed and backing away before she asks for some kind of demonstration.

"I just imagine it's really different than when I've done it. I've never been in love…"

Now it's my turn to try to imagine stuff, Lydia out with some guy, sleeping with him at the end of the night when she doesn't have any real feelings for him. I can't imagine a dude could pressure her into it so she must have been ok with it, but she sure doesn't look happy laying there on the bed contemplating whatever it is she is thinking about.

"I've never liked any of them as much as I like you!" Her voice wavers and tears start pouring from her eyes. Shit!

"Lydia!" I run to her side. "Why are you crying about this _now_?" I'm not going to pretend to understand. Sometimes, girls are such a mystery.

"Shinigami, you're clueless. You keep talking about love and all those guys…"

"It was _fun_ wasn't it?" I ask, praying that not all of these men, however many there may have been, sucked at showing a lady a good time.

"Sometimes…"

"Well, there you go," I say trying desperately to end this topic of conversation. "At least you had fun."

"But-"

"Come on," I say tipping my head in the direction of the door. "Let's go downstairs and get something to eat in the restaurant."

Lydia rolls her eyes. "You don't want to be alone with me, do you?"

"Not if you're gonna be like that," I tell her with sincerity.

"Because you're worried about Maka's feelings," she says sadly.

"No. Because _I _feel bad that I can't give you what you want. I'd really like for you to be happy, but I just don't feel like that about you." The trickle of tears grows to a stream. "God, Lydia. Don't cry! I can't take it. It makes me feel terrible."

"It's not your responsibility to make me happy," she says glumly.

"I know that, but I'd like to help. Tell you what, we get through this, and Maka and I will set you up with someone."

"Oh, I'm not _that_ pathetic!" she whines.

"No, it's not a bad thing. Friends see things that people don't recognize about themselves, like what they need and really want. Black*Star and Kid knew I wanted to be with Maka long before I realized it."

"Fine," she says with a deep sigh. "But no one who's bad in the sack. I've had enough of those."

"Ok, and it would need to be someone… considerate…" I mutter thinking aloud.

"And he'd have to be funny… and not mind my super short hair…"

"Do guys not like your hair?" I ask surprised.

"Some don't."

"Then they're idiots. I think it's cute. It suits you."

"But you prefer ponytails," she teases.

I grin from ear to ear. "I do, but only on a particular person. Now, come on," I say holding the door open for her and gesturing for her to go through it as though I'm the doorman at a super swank apartment complex. "Let's get some food. I'm starving."

On the first floor of the hotel at the end of a long corridor there is a restaurant that saturates the entire lobby in the heavenly aromas of grilled meat, garlic, and spices. We happily follow our noses there and are seated at a booth near the bar. As soon as we sit down, Lydia immediately begins to study the menu. I don't look at mine. I'm too busy sizing up the late evening dinner crowd to see if there is anyone I might be able to strike a conversation up with as we need to start learning about the area and seeing if anyone knows anything about Avian Flu.

Most of the patrons look like they are in town on business or visiting their grandkids, but at one end of the bar there is a couple that look distinctly younger and hipper than the rest of the crowd. They might know something or maybe I'm just pretending that's the case because I'm having a hard time taking my eyes off the chick because she looks like she could be a call girl. She has light brown hair with blonde highlights and is wearing the shortest skirt I have ever seen. In DC, girls would be using that skirt as a headband. I try not to stare but it's impossible not to gawk at those sexy legs.

Lydia pats the table in front of me to bring my attention back to our booth. "I'll be right back," she tells me. "I gotta go pee. Try not to drool too much while I'm gone."

I give her a dirty look as she slides out of the booth. I give one more look to Ms. Sexy Legs and resign myself to reading the menu.

I'm busy trying to determine if a double quarter pounder with bacon is going to be enough for me when I'm startled to hear, "That your girlfriend?"

I look up from the menu to see the hot blonde sliding into Lydia's spot in the booth followed by her date a guy with wavy brown hair and a nose too large for his face.

"I hope you don't think this too forward of us," the blonde says in a voice far too loud to say something one might think is 'forward'. "But my boyfriend and I have a bet going. Is this your first overnight trip alone with your girlfriend?"

"Uh… yeah, why?" I ask genuinely confused as to why they would have any interest in what me and Lydia are up to.

"See, I told ya," she squeals at her man.

"That's not what the bet was, Kerri," booms her date. "The bet was that their first time _doin' it_ is gonna be in this hotel."

My eyes widen. Wow, these two are _really_ drunk.

"Sorry!" the blonde woman takes my hands in hers. "We're a little drunk, but see this is where we both lost our virginity." She waggles a finger back and forth between the two of them.

"But not with each other. She was with _Todd Terwilliger_," he shouts. "God, I hated him," he snorts. "He had _everything_ I wanted. _Bastard!_" He takes a long slurp of his drink as half the restaurant turns to look over at our booth. They are making a spectacle, but of the three of us I'm the only one who seems to notice.

"So? You were with what's-her-face…Twyla…" the hot woman says as she snaps her fingers as she tries to recall the name of her date's former lover. "Teresa… Trisha?"

"Brisha!" He thunders. Do they even remember that they're in _my _booth?

"Right, what a _cunt_! You know what I mean?" She asks me. I guess they _do_ remember I'm sitting here.

"Tell us," her boyfriend says leaning toward me so I get overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol from his breath. "Have you and your lady done the deed yet?"

"Uh… no we haven't," I say awkwardly.

"Told ya!" The girl claps happily. "Pay up, Ken."

Again, they seem to have forgotten I'm here as they slap each other flirtatiously.

"So, what brings you here?" I ask in hopes it will remind them to go back to their spot at the counter. It doesn't.

"We're headed to a wedding. Kerri's cousin is tyin' the knot with some lawyer," he explains.

"He's in law school. He's not an attorney yet," Kerri corrects as she stirs her drink and sips from it.

"Whatever," Ken says. "He's loaded so I guess she decided to go for it."

"Yeah, I give it no longer than nine months, but we might as well enjoy the party. You know?"

"What about you? Just gonna be staying in your room? And _in_ yer girl?" He snorts and Kerri slaps him.

"Don't be so crude, Ken. They're so young and innocent. It's adorable."

Seeings as they refuse to leave I decide I might as well steer the conversation in a more helpful direction than my imaginary sex life with Lydia. "My girlfriend and I were also hoping to learn more about this group we've heard about… Bird Flu or Cough or something. They're supposed to help people out."

The man's eyebrows scrunch together. "Never heard of 'em. Is it some kind of non-profit or club or something?"

"I don't really know," I say starting to spin a web of bullshit. "I guess they create work for folks and give them powers and stuff."

"Powers? Like superheroes?" he asks making strange jesters with his hands that I can only guess are supposed to look like he's shouting something from his fingertips.

"Yeah, something like that, I guess."

"I know what you're talking about," the woman says nodding. "Bird Flu… one of my girlfriends was really interested in joining the movement. She went to one of their recruitment thingees."

I can't believe it's this easy. I was right. Avian Flu isn't hiding down here.

"Hello?" Lydia says as she walks up wearing a very befuddled expression. I'm sure she is wondering what I did to get this playgirl to give me the time of day.

"Oh, hey, _sweetheart,"_ I say with deliberate emphasis in hopes that Lydia will catch on that she's playing the role of my girlfriend. "This woman has a friend who has also been interested in joining the Avian Flu movement."

"Really?" Lydia says with delight.

"My girlfriend's really hot to find them," I explain.

"I can tell," Ken says leering at my companion in a way that makes Lydia's hand gravitate toward her gun-toting leg.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce you. Lydia, this is Ken and Kerri."

"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you," says Lydia as she slides into the booth next to me.

"You must be so excited about tonight," Kerri says grinning at Lydia.

Lydia looks confused.

"Sorry, sweetie," I say. "It kind of slipped out about how we're taking things to the next level tonight."

"Oh," Lydia says bowing her head in mock embarrassment. "But that's not the _only_ reason we're here. I really want to find these bird people." She's very convincing. I don't know why I'm surprised. I should have guessed that Lydia would be better at lying than Maka.

"Well, be careful because I haven't heard back from her since she went to that thing they were hosting. I worry it might be some kind of cult," Kerri says in a very loud whisper before erupting into laughter as though what she said was super-duper funny.

"Do you know where this thing was that she went to?" I ask.

"Nope, I don't remember. Sorry, I don't even know if she told me. Maybe, the front desk would know."

"Ok, we'll ask them, thanks," I say.

"But not till tomorrow morning," Ken says winking at me and staring at Lydia's chest. "Your boyfriend's gonna keep ya busy tonight, right?" He chortles.

"I'm sorry, he's not usually like this… He's just super drunk," Kerri tries to assure us.

"Like you aren't?" Ken exclaims.

"I only had two drinks!" she says defensively.

"Yeah, right! You just lost count is all."

The two continue to argue till the waiter comes to get our order and then Kerri announces, "Well, we won't intrude any longer. But we'll be down at the pool later so maybe we'll see ya. We're in three-O-five on the third floor."

"Of course, it's on the third floor. All rooms starting with a three are on the third floor, Kerri. That's how it works," the man explains.

"I just wanna be sure they know. In case they want to join us for some fun."

"Why? You think I won't be enough for you, ya slut?" he says grinning and smacking her ass as she walks away.

He leans over me and whispers, "You want any pointers, look us up. I know how to make a woman _holler_ believe me and we'd be happy to have another couple join us especially one as hot as you two."

"That's not what I meant!" she says.

"Like hell it isn't. You dig his red eyes. I can read you like a book, babe," he grunts as he pulls her close and locks lips with her slamming her back into the wall. He pins her there and begins thrusting suggestively as she hikes her tiny skirt up even further.

Lydia gasps as he reaches to undo his pants. "Oh, my God! Are they going to do it right here?" A restaurant employee followed by a mob of wait staff dash toward the couple serving to block our view of the amorous couple until we see them being escorted out of the restaurant and down the hall in the direction of the elevators.

"Have fun fuckin'," Ken shouts back at us. I would sink lower in the booth were I not paralyzed with shock. After what feels like a long time, Lydia and I look at each other and burst into laughter, true belly-shaking, gutt-bustin' laughter and it feels really wonderful, at least for me. It probably still hurts Lydia, but she's doubled over so I can't tell.

Gasping for air she says, "Woooowww! I think I just learned how drunk is _too_ drunk to be in public."

"No kiddin'. At least they won't remember any of this tomorrow."

"Yeah, they'll be wondering why all the other guests are snickering every time they see them."

The release of laughing my head off feels great after all the worrying and awkwardness I've been feeling today, but I settle back down just in time for the arrival of our food.

"So, we did learn something-"

"How to make a great diversion? We could have robbed everyone in here _blind_ during that little incident," Lydia giggles as she stirs her bowl of soup.

"Yes, besides that. We learned that Avian Flu is actively recruiting which means that if we keep asking around we will find them."

She nods. "But, I'm worried. I think they may be expecting you to come after Maka. They know you'd sacrifice everything to keep her safe."

"Except, they think I'm dead. If Maka really thinks I'm dead, then they must think so, too."

"_Maybe_, but I'm not convinced. Avian Flu is many things, but they aren't dumb and they didn't kill you or find your remains, so do you really think they will really be one hundred percent convinced you're dead?"

"I guess not…"

"And you are rather… distinctive."

I grimace. _Every _covert operation I try to carry out, it always comes back to this; I'm an albino and that prevents me from blending in with any crowd save a convention for people lacking melanin.

"So, what do you want me to do?" I ask angrily. "Wear sunglasses inside? In case you didn't know that's conspicuous, too."

"No, I'm less worried about your eyes and more about your hair. We need to get you a hat."

"Good luck. You ever seen a hat that can cover this much hair? Maka and I have tried everything believe me."

"Maybe a headband that's big enough to cover most of it… or you could cut it."

"I'm not cutting it. It's bad enough they had to shave the back of it cause of my head injury."

"Hair grows back, Soul."

"Maka likes it. I'm keeping my hair."

I'm holding my ground on this not only because I love the feel of Maka's fingers caressing my skull and dancing through my hair; cutting my hair would be yet another win for the enemy. Avian Flu is forcing me to do all kinds of things I wouldn't normally do and I don't like them having that kind of control over my life. Little by little, they are affecting my normal and I hate that even though I haven't been captured that they still have so much power over my life and the lives of my friends.

I've been forced to go rogue against the orders of one of my closest friends. I'm having to pretend that Lydia is my girlfriend and that we're gonna be getting it on tonight when I _should_ be doing everything in my power to get her _not_ to be thinking stuff like that about me. Add to that that they've destroyed my motorcycle and stolen away my girlfriend and I'm suddenly one of those crazy people clinging to any tiny bit of normalcy and for me that's my fro. Avian Flu ain't gettin' my hair. Fuck 'em.

Lydia must sense the level of my conviction as she drops any talk of shaving or cutting my hair, but we agree that she should take the lead on questioning people and I should hang back to avoid being recognized should Avian Flu be on the lookout for a pissed-off albino. We spend most of the meal coming up with ideas of where we could encounter people who might have information about Avian Flu. Our list included chambers of commerce, homeless shelters, dance clubs and discos, and trailer parks. Basically, we're going to ask everyone because we didn't really get a lead as much as had our taste whetted to the fact that if we ask around we will find something.

The next day, we're on the road again before sunrise, eager to find the info we need in order to locate Avian Flu's nearest base of operations. But after about an hour on the road we're ready for a pit stop and so we stop at a little coffee house by the roadside. Lydia orders a blueberry scone and a grande coffee with a list of particulars a mile long. I order hot water with a tea bag and a bagel with cream cheese. I grab my food and drink and settle into a burnt orange velveteen couch. I plunge my tea bag into the water and set it down on the low table in front of us as Lydia walks over by the door and grabs a newspaper before settling down next to me.

"Time to exercise my mind," she announces opening the latest issue of _Urban Prerogative_. I groan. She must do the crossword. It's a popular thing to do. Actually, every part of _U.P._ is popular, which is why last year it narrowly edged out _The Rock Raider_ as the nation's most read alternative news weekly, but I've been boycotting it ever since their music editor slammed one of my favorite musicians. I believe it's a good thing for artists to try new things and expand their repertoire and when Clint Yarbuckle tried his hand at ballads, I didn't appreciate their pretentious music critic calling his album one of the _worst albums of the decade_, not the year, the _decade_. Fuckin' ass hole. Pretentious music critics are the worst.

Lydia seats herself next to me on the couch and nibbles on her scone a bit. "What's another word for 'super worn-out'?" she asks in-between bites.

"Wasted. Thrashed," I sigh. "Zonkered…"

She pulls a pen from her purse and scrolls something on the paper.

"What's a four letter word for a shade of green?"

I think for a moment. "Puke."

"Hhhmmm. It doesn't fit. Maybe it's 'mint'."

"How 'bout 'olive'?"

"_Four_ letters."

"Oh, right… but who knows? U.P.'s crosswords never have normal answers, anyway. One time when a bunch of us were on a field trip together, Kid was doing one once and was stuck on 'cave'. After a while, the Thompsons told him that the answer had to be 'pussy', but he wouldn't believe it. He got all stubborn and kept working to find another word that would fit and they kept telling him to knock it off because the answer was 'pussy'. After about an hour of this, Liz got all pissed off at him and in front of the entire class yells, 'We keep telling you that it fits! So, just hurry up and put in 'pussy!''' It was hilarious. Liz and Kid couldn't look at each other for the rest of the day. True story."

"Well, sadly 'cave' is not a clue today," she snickers from behind the newspaper. Then, she murmurs something, but whether it is in response to my story or another enigmatic clue I'm not sure.

The barista shouts Lydia's name followed by the world's longest description of a cup of coffee I've ever heard. I stand up and get it for her. It's as hot as molten lava. I hurry to set it down on the table by the couch.

"What's an eight letter sport?" she asks.

I'm spacing out as I watch the mashed up leaves and herbs suffuse from the teabag into the water. "Baseball… football…" I mutter only half listening to her. "How many letters is lacrosse?"

"Hhhmm. I don't think it's any of those… oh, wait. Maybe it is. I might have gotten twelve across wrong."

The top part of the newspaper flops over so it's draped upside down over her hands as she struggles to determine if one of her answers is wrong or not.

I blow on my tea and find myself reading the words, "Want to earn your wings?" I don't mean to read it. My eyes just fall upon it and I start reading as though on autopilot, but the words echo through my head with a level of significance. Why? Right, that's what Jerome's kidnappers had said to lure him away from safety. As I bring my cup to my lips to have a sip of tea, I tip my head a little further to examine the three by three advertisement using the familiar phrase.

I read, "Want to Earn Your Wings? Do you want to be part of making the world a better place for future generations? Not opposed to hard work for a cause? Learn more about the Avian Flu movement." I forget that I'm in the midst of taking a sip of tea and it slides down into my windpipe causing me to cough violently.

My companion tosses the paper aside. "You ok there, buddy?" she asks arching an eyebrow.

I point to the paper and choke out, "A..vee..n Flu."

She turns to the paper in confusion. "Holy crap!" She shouts when her eyes fall on the ad. "It's for some kind of recruitment event. It's probably like what that woman's friend went to."

I nod as I continue to cough.

"Crap. It was last weekend. What do we do?"

"We…" I hack some more and Lydia makes an exasperated noise as she exhales.

"Come on _breathe_, Soul. You can't survive fighting demons just to get killed by a cup of tea."

I frown at her as much as I can manage while having a coughing fit. A minute later the spasms have stopped so I can choke out, "We… need… to go where the… thing was held. Tell them we missed it and… see if they can put us in touch with-"

"The Avian Flu _Party_. Did you see this, Soul? It says that the advertisement was paid for by the 'Avian Flu Party', like they're a freakin' political organization."

"They kind of are," I croak out. "They have their own ideas, that's for sure."

"They're _bullies and murderers_. No one would fall for their crap, would they?"

"I don't know. I don't think anyone other than the DWMA and Rodrigo's Free Mind group actually knows that Avian Flu has lethal methods and if they sugar coat what they're doing it could sound really good, I guess. _If_ you didn't realize it's all about them being in control and everyone else becoming their puppets."

"Well, let's get going," she says folding and sticking the copy of _U.P._ under her arm. "I refuse to be anyone's puppet."

"Finish your coffee," I order her.

"I can drink it on the road," she says quickly.

"Not on that bike you can't. I'm not going to risk you accidentally spilling that on my back. I'm just getting over being burnt. I don't need coffee burns, too."

She rolls her eyes. "I can control my beverage. Better than you can, obviously," she says with a giggle as she watches me continuing to try to clear the last bit of tea out of my airway. I grumble.

"So, what will be our cover story?" she asks.

"Nothin' special. We're interested in learning more about what Avian Flu is and what they do, but we missed the event and need to find out how to get in touch with them."

Lydia nods. "I think we need something more compelling…"

"Well, I'm not about to tell anyone I'm looking for them because they kidnapped my girlfriend. Not if they are masquerading as a benevolent organization down here."

"I think you should let me do the talking."

"I guess you're right," I concede. "Like you pointed out yesterday, they could have told people to keep an eye out for me."

"To be on the safe side, you should stay with the bike and I'll go in and do the talking and if this doesn't get us anywhere then we need to pursue contacting _U.P._'s regional publishing office to learn who placed the ad. It was obviously locally placed since the only event listed in the ad was for around here."

I nod. "But I think _U.P._ is pretty protective of that kind of information. Otherwise, they wouldn't have so many bizarre ads. There's more than one reason that Bondage for Bros and Anarchists Anonymous only advertise in _U.P._"

"And all this time we thought they were the most insane groups out there," Lydia says with a sigh in between slurps of her coffee. "How naïve we were only a short time ago."


	67. Chapter 67: Public Persona

**Risenfromash: ** Thanks for staying tuned! This story now has 99 favorites! Help me to get to over 100! And thank you for the wonderful words from those of you who frequently review or have 'binge' read up to this point. I smile every time I hear from you.

_**Chapter 67: Public Persona; What Makes Someone Nice and Honest?**_

The location in the ad takes us to a large meeting hall with a sign proclaiming it as Lodge Number #348 of the Honorable Order of the Buffalo.

"Normally, we don't rent our space to political parties," the Honorable Buffalo who answers the door tells us. He welcomes us into the lodge with the wave of a shaking, wrinkled hand. "We don't want to be seen as affiliated with any specific idiom, but Avian Flu has so many charitable functions we figured we could make an exception for them. They're just some nice honest, decent folk, you know."

I growl when the man says this and Lydia turns on me her eyes wide. "I thought you said you took your allergy medicine, dear." Then turning to the old man explains, "I'm _so _sorry, my boyfriend has the worst throat condition. It's the ragweed or something. I better be getting him to the nettie pot or you just don't want to know the kinds of mucus he'll be spitting and sneezin' out. You don't happen to know how we could get in touch with any of the organizers do you?"

"Well, actually, I do. They left a few extra brochures for us to share with our community. I think I've got them on the desk in my office. If you'll hold on a moment, I'll get you one."

The man disappears and comes back his shaking hand offering us a trifold brochure.

"If you happen to talk to them, let them know we sure appreciate them stacking up the chairs and being so nice and tidy. We'd be happy to rent to them again, any time."

Lydia performs the expected niceties for the both of us as I stomp back to the bike my jaw set in an angry scowl.

"Soul, what is your problem?!" Lydia yells at me when she joins me back at the bike.

"How can people think they are 'nice and honest'? They leave a trail of death and destruction everywhere they go! I just wanna wring the neck of every idiot who-"

"Oh, Soul, you're so _good_ at being a _pacifist_." Her sarcasm does not amuse me. I snatch the brochure from her hand. "So, where the fuck do we need to go?"

"Watch it, Turbo! You almost gave me a paper cut."

"Big, fuckin' deal," I say as I scan the pamphlet.

"Hey, paper cuts really hurt…" her voice drifts off as she and I begin to read the brochure. It contains more of the same bullshit that was in their newspaper ad: Avian Flu does good things, Avian Flu can help you achieve your dreams, Avian Flu wants the best for everyone, blah, blah, blah. I can barely control my rage as I read this garbage so I just scan it looking for a name or address or anything else that would give us a clue as to where to find one of them. I flip it over and find that there is a blank spot specifically designed for this purpose the way door to door salespeople will tell you which market to expect them to be selling at the following weekend, but they used a rubber stamp and the ink is smeared.

"Shit. I can't believe this is our best lead!"

"Soul, calm down. I'm sure we can make it out," Lydia says snatching the pamphlet back. Obviously, she doesn't care whether I get a paper cut or not.

"See it's not that bad… It says Cleveland Street… northeast or southeast… one hundred-twenty-five? Maybe."

"That's a six, Lydia."

"Ok, well whether it's one hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and twenty-six shouldn't really matter that much. They'd be really close to one another. I swear, what happened to all your confidence that we'd get Maka back?"

"We will get Maka back. I'm not worried about that. I'm angry."

"Well, if this is what going without sex for a few days does to you Maka's gonna be kept busy."

"It isn't that," I growl, curling my lips in disgust. "I just hate people! Are all Texans dumber than a box of rocks or what?"

Lydia looks at me with an arched eyebrow. "Well, I think one _DC_ resident is dumb as shit if he thinks he can get away with insulting his partner's homeland and not be at risk of getting himself shot."

"Sorry," I mumble.

"Look, I know that you're upset. I get that. But if you act like that no one's going to want to help us and we won't blend in. You're acting like a self-centered dick."

"But they have Maka and they're _**evil**_!" I shout at her.

She stamps up to me so that her toes are almost touching mine and proceeds to stand on her tiptoes and blast right in my face, "I know that, Dill Hole! You are constantly reminding me, as though I might forget why we're on this mission and, in case you forgot I'm aware that Avian Flu is evil incarnate. They stabbed me with a busted train! They killed Jakob, who I cared about, by the way, and they threatened to play mind games with me, Erika, and almost everybody else I know. I get it! I really, _really_ do! And I'm trying not to be hugely cynical or jealous of the fact that you have a fucking soul mate and I got nothin' because my shitty partner abandoned me when the going got rough."

I shy away from her gaze by turning away from her and slinging my leg over the bike. I can sense her starting to get on the bike, but I can tell she's struggling probably because she's painful. I get off and without saying a word I grab her ass with my left hand and clutch the front of her shirt with my right and set her on the bike.

"You just touched my ass!" She gasps and then in a teasing tone twitters, "I'm gonna tell Maka on you."

I grin as I mount the bike myself. "You do that and we won't need to worry about Avian Flu killing us. Maka's got one hell of a karate chop."

She smiles and hugs me. "That's the spirit! Come on we gotta go find your girlfriend so she can assassinate me."

She keeps her arms wrapped around my chest her head resting on my back as we ride in silence. It gives me time to think about stuff and I realize I guess I have been awfully absorbed in my own drama.

"Look, I'm sorry if I-"

"I can't hear you," she shouts over the bike.

"I said, I'm sorry-"

"Still can't hear you!"

"I'm sorry that-"

"You're gonna have to speak up. It's really hard to hear you when you're mumbling," she says.

"_**I'm sorry if I've been caught up in my own shit. I know you've lost people, too,**_" I holler the words with all the power my lungs possess just to hear her laughing. "Oh," I say realizing she's been messing with me the whole time. "I'm sorry. I just get really angry thinking about how fuckin' stupid people can be. Don't they see?"

"That's just it, Soul. They _don't _see, because all the shit Avian Flu's been doing has been targeted at the DWMA or done really covertly. Around here Avian Flu is just another group of people renting out space to hold meetings and talking to people about how great their organization is. The Buffalo wasn't wrong for thinking they were nice because all he saw was their public persona. They probably did treat him better than previous renters. I'm sure a lot of people have a kegger and trash the place."

"I guess. So, uh, were you and Jakob close? What you said got me to wondering and don't take this the wrong way, but he doesn't…didn't seem like your type."

"He was a friend to me, for a while."

Lydia is quiet so I let the topic die as we head toward the northeast side of town. We make a few wrong turns, but are able to confirm that Avian Flu _doesn't_ have an operation at one hundred and twenty five or twenty-six on _northeast_ Cleveland Street because it's a fish and aquarium store and when we ask the employee there about Avian Flu he starts shouting at us not to spread rumors that his fish carry disease and proceeds to chase us out of his shop.

From there we start heading to the southeast part of town which takes us through a residential area full of more old people. This town seems to be what my grandmother calls a 'sleepy' community meaning it is mainly home to a bunch of retired people. Lucky for me, this means the residents have nothing better to do with their morning than to yell at me as we pass. By the time we get close to the one hundred block I'm _really_ tired of hearing that I need to get my damn bike fixed or should get a horse instead.

I'm relieved when the sector changes from residential to office buildings. This must be the heart of the business district here. We park and check out one hundred-twenty-six, but don't find Avian Flu and I'm starting to feel discouraged. If Avian Flu isn't in the building next door, then we are back to square one. Lydia leads the way into one hundred and twenty-six and takes a look at the signage. She turns to me nodding. We've found it.

I jog up to her and read the sign, "Avian Flu Party Suite 243". I smile. It's about _fucking_ time. I start walking down the hallway to the elevator and push the button.

"Uh, Soul, what are you gonna do? 'Cause we've been over this. Maka isn't here and you're 'distinctive'."

I pull my hoodie up as the elevator doors open.

"Hey, I thought we agreed I was the person who was gonna do all the talking," she says annoyed.

"Sure, you talk. I slice," I say narrowing my eyes with determination.

"Oh, Shinigami don't you dare go all macho on me now. Remember we're doing all of this to get Maka back, not take revenge on Avian Flu. That's later. If you walk in there and cut up-"

The elevator dings to indicate we're on the second floor and the doors pop open. I step out.

"Soul," Lydia grabs my hand and I turn to look at her. "Please, let me go first. You hang back in case they're on alert to be looking for you. You don't want to get captured yourself."

I stop. She has a point and I have to admit this sounds like the kind of thing Maka would say to me were she here. Damn, being partnered with smart chicks can really cramp a guy's style. I exhale and extend my arm. "After you," I concede rolling my eyes.

She leads me down the hall and my heart rate increases. It seems unlikely, but this could be an elaborate plot. We could open the door and be swarmed by a horde of evil doers. When you're at war any moment could be your last…

Lydia walks up to the door and I start to feel sick. Yeah, it makes sense for me to hang back, but letting her go first? After all, this is _my_ mission for _my_ meister yet I'm letting her take the greater risk. I don't have time to further question myself as I hear her shout an expletive.

"You have got to be freakin' kidding me!" she says kicking the floor with her shoe.

"What?!" I exclaim as I run up to her. She's focused on the door of the Avian Flu office. There's something taped to it. It's a printed sign that looks like it was made on a dot matrix printer. It reads: "Thank you for visiting the office of the Avian Flu Party. We are eager to meet you and work with you to change the world, but we are currently out of the office for a rally at our regional headquarters. You are welcome to join us at this celebration. Just follow the directions below." Below the typing is a hand drawn map to a place labeled as South Central Avian Flu Headquarters, formerly the Farlow Cattle Ranch.

"This is where she is," I say jabbing my finger at the ranch on the map.

"Your cosmic connection gettin' a reading, Romeo?"

"Yes, and don't call me 'Romeo'. Maka and I are working _very hard to __**stay**__ alive_ so we don't appreciate the comparison, but don't feel bad you aren't the first one to make it."

She scrunches her face in thought. "Who was the first?"

"Falconer, before we killed him," I say as I rip the sign off the door and head back to the elevator with it clutched tightly in my hand.

It goes without saying that we will be leaving for the ranch immediately, but first we have to make sense of the map. This proves to be a challenge since the penmanship of whoever made it makes my handwriting look like fucking calligraphy. Plus, the mapmaker references local landmarks that Lydia and I don't know since we're from out of the area. Finally, we approach a woman stepping out of a nearby bank and she is nice enough to help us decipher the map. After saying a hasty but heartfelt 'thank you' to her we head out of town toward a hotbed of the enemy.

"I think that's the railroad depot up ahead," Lydia says acting as my navigator. There aren't really any roads out here so periodically Lydia uses a compass to verify that I'm going the correct direction and she helps me find the landmarks on the map.

"That means that once we're there I'm supposed to turn to the east, right?"

"Yeah, I think so. It looks like you'll continue east for quite a while, but then again…" It didn't take us long to discover that the map was in no way to scale. The first few landmarks looked like they were a fair distance from one another when in reality they were virtually next door to each other, which we only figured out after driving fifteen minutes past them and being forced to turn around and retrace our travels.

I lean my head down and rev the engine pushing it to the limit to get to what we think must be the train station.

"Soul, can I ask you something?" Lydia asks.

"Sure, I guess. What?" I reply never once taking my eyes off our target.

"Do you _honestly_ believe you're somehow cosmically connected to Maka?"

"I dunno. Would it be that hard to believe? Our souls have been successfully resonating with one another for years. And I think the longer you're partnered with someone the more intense the connection can be… I'm sure Maka'd have a word for it… not 'spiritual', but 'soulual' or something? I know that's not a real word, but you know what I mean."

"Not really…" admits Lydia.

"Maybe it's different for weapon/meister teams that aren't also attracted to one another. I don't know. But weird shit happens with me and Maka all the time. Since I'm infected with Black Blood she's been able to intentionally contaminate herself with it to make herself stronger when needed. That's how we brought down Crona and Ragnarok, though it took all my strength not to lose Maka to the madness entirely. If someone had videotaped the duel we would have won a million dollars on funniest videos, for sure. My meister was so messed up she was trying to eat Crona's head," I smile. Maka can be so goofy sometimes.

"I heard that one time you guys discovered a new technique without even trying."

"Yeah, we were fighting and we go to do Witch Hunter and Genie Hunter happened, instead. I was freakin' huge and powerful like never before and Maka just ran with it. It would have been awesome had it helped bring us to victory, but that day wasn't a good one for the DWMA. It took us a long time to be able to do Genie Hunter again, since we had no idea how the fuck we had done it in the first place. Not knowing drove Maka nuts but eventually we managed to gain control of the attack and do it when we wanted to and it's happened again. We _just_ discovered another new attack right before I got thrown from the train. It was while we were fighting that flying bitch. Maka's named it 'Flaming Rage' 'cause I burst into flames that didn't hurt me or her, but consumed our enemy. So, once I get her back I know she's gonna be a slave driver about practicing that new attack with me and, as per usual, neither of us has any idea how in the hell we did it."

"Ok, that's definitely a train station," Lydia puts a pair of binoculars to her eyes. "The sign says, 'Rocky Junction'. Awright! Turn east now!"

"It's lucky you brought those binoculars," I comment.

"Don't you and Maka bring a pair with you guys on missions?"

"No, we don't own a pair and I don't think either of us has ever thought of it. Then again, with the way Maka and I lose our stuff we'd need a crate full-"

"Soul, is that a helicopter?!"

I listen. Lydia's right there is some kind of noise that is not a train and is not the loud rumbling of our _lovely_ temporary conveyance. "Shit!" We're in the middle of ranch land. There's nowhere to hide.

"It's not necessarily Avian Flu," she says nervously.

"Ranchers don't use choppers to move cows!"

Lydia spins her head around looking in the sky. "There it is!" She locates the flying machine and once again brings her binoculars to her eyes. "Holy Crap!"

"Oh, no! Do we need to outrun them?"

"No," she says with a laugh. "It's Roadside Refuge!"

"The crappy boy band?!" I ask thinking that _surely_ I must have heard her wrong.

"They aren't a _boy_ band, but yes the band. It's painted on the side!"

I shudder. Larger than life images of the band's members are also no doubt plastered on the side as the band's popularity is more about the look of its members than the music. Despite my mind's obsession with getting Maka back, thinking about the fame of this sorry excuse for a 'band' is enough to send me into a tirade; they are a prime example of all that is wrong with the popular music industry today. "Well," I begin happy to spend a minute or two ranting about something other than Avian Flu. "They are comprised of what… four or five boys"? Each attractive and representing some kind of archetypical female fantasy? They practically soak their CDs in pheromones to boost their sales to hormone-driven teenage girls."

Lydia hits me in the side. "I'm not hormone-driven! I just like the beat. They're good songs to dance to."

"We're _teenagers_, we're _all_ hormone-driven and dancing is _way_ overrated."

Lydia "Why are guys always jealous of male idols?"

"Because most of them are total dicks yet girls fantasize about doing all kinds of things with them that they would never be willing to do to the nice guy they take math class with."

Lydia grunts. "There are very few nice guys even average looking guys from math class. Besides, I don't like them because of how they look. I told you I like the beat. You've never been clubbing have you?"

"No. I have no interest in that sort of thing. Neither does Maka," I say flatly. "So, are you saying that you don't think a single one of the guys in Refuge is hot?"

"Are you saying if I think they're hot I've been suckered by a record company?"

"Exactomundo. They were chosen for their looks not for talent. They were selected and did not endure the blood, sweat, and tears involved in forming a band. They don't write their own stuff. They lip-sync at concerts and they hock toaster pastries."

"Well, it's not like I can listen to the music you write, because everybody knows Soul doesn't perform for anyone else. From what I hear he is quite the intellectual type who won't share his music with the commoners."

"Only because my music scares people," I mumble.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Lydia says patting me on the shoulder.

I frown. These days I only feel comfortable playing piano for Maka. I put too many emotions into my compositions… making them far too raw to share with just anyone, and Maka knew that from the beginning. I sigh. Who will I play for if I don't get her back? Will I be forced to bottle all those feelings up with no outlet?

"We have bigger problems," I tell her realizing that my mind has inevitably returned to concern for my meister, just as I knew it would. "Why would a headliner like Refuge be here?"

"You don't think they're headed to the ranch, too, do you?"

"I'd say that there's no way in hell, but what else is there out here?" I ask hoping that her knowledge of her home state will provide some other explanation.

"A whole lotta nothin' as far as I know," my companion admits.

I was worried that's what she'd say. "Damn…" If Avian Flu has somehow hired or invited a big name band to their event they'll attract a ton of people and even though many of those people probably couldn't care less about politics or saving the world they could easily fall victim to Avian Flu's propaganda.

"Hey, look there's another 'copter," Lydia says pointing to another form far off in the distance. "I've never seen two in one day," she says nervously. "Does that mean that people rich enough to own helicopters are giving Avian Flu support?"

All I say is, "Let's hope not," but I'm definitely developing an unsettled feeling. The closer we get to the ranch the more people we run into, either on the road or above our heads in helicopters. The rally is definitely attracting a crowd and it's impossible for Lydia or me to know how many of these people are simply curious spectators and how many are hard core Avian Flu supporters, but one way or another even if only a tenth of these people are serious followers of Avian Flu we're screwed.

We watch the people ahead of us as they approach a wooden fence with balloons tied to it and a sign affixed to its post. Whenever people come to it they read it and turn right.

"What's it say, Lydia?" I ask her.

She looks through her binoculars and sighs, "'Avian Flu rally 3 Miles'… and it has an arrow pointing to the right."

We are silent. Sneaking Maka out of Avian Flu's clutches while all this is going on could make it easier or a lot harder. I don't have any idea what to expect so I try to focus on the present moment and take it one breath at a time, but it isn't easy.

When we get close to the ranch we see that they've organized vehicle parking leaving a huge amount of space for helicopters. I count at least ten. It's incredible. Are these all guests or are some Avian Flu's? I don't know which would be worse…

"Well, the good news is I don't think we're gonna have any trouble sneaking in with all these people around," Lydia whispers to me. I nod as I nonchalantly take in the crowd. My stomach churns as I realize that Avian Flu is strategically working to win this war on the battlefront of public opinion, something the DWMA has never even _thought_ to do. We're used to working in the shadows, rarely recognized for the world-saving we do. The DWMA never tries to get glory or attention outside of DC, but Avian Flu is _aggressively_ recruiting people to their way of thinking and that's scary as all get out.

As we head into the field to park the bike, Lydia pulls my hoodie up for me and whispers, "Keep your head down, and let me do all the talking."

I nod and try to focus on acting as normal as possible, because no one else seems freaked out to be here. They all seem to think they're going to the county fair or something rather than the political rally of a paramilitary organization hell-bent on world-domination.

I park the bike and pretend to be adjusting some of our gear to give her time to survey the scene.

"They've got security at the entrance," she whispers to me as she pretends to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Looks like they're checking bags."

"For weapons or booze?" I ask her.

"I can't tell. Probably both. But there's no way we can get you through without them looking at you. We need to find another way in."

I nod and we walk against the flow of people which makes me feel like we are being very conspicuous, but it's better than walking up to the bouncers. For the umpteenth time this week, I curse my albinism. There's just nothin' good that comes of having no pigment.

Lydia walks close by my side and slides her hand into mine as though we want to be close because we're in love when actually she wants to get close so she can continue to whisper to me.

"It looks like the main part of the ranch is surrounded by a chain link fence, but we could easily scale it… or you could. There's no barbed wire." I nod. I could get over it, but in Lydia's condition it wouldn't be a good idea for her.

"I can cut through it. It'd be a piece of cake after everything else I've had to slice through lately."

She rejects this idea immediately, "Too risky… There are also a few big trees that have branches overhanging the area inside the fence. You could climb a tree and drop down."

"But we need to get _you_ inside," I remind her. "Not just me. I'm definitely gonna need your help."

"I can go in through the main entrance. I'm too common looking for them to be able to recognize. There have gotta be tons of other dark haired, short-ish teen girls here."

"Ok, I can scale the tree and then jump down and you can meet me underneath."

When no one is watching she takes off her gun holster, removes the pistol and hands it to me. I awkwardly stuff the gun in my pants at the waist. How do gang bangers do this? It is _super_ uncomfortable! A part of me feels like I should ask Lydia if I'm doing it right, but that would be _so _uncool I decide to leave my mouth shut and just go with it. We synchronize watches and she stands guard as I climb up the tree. Once I'm effectively shielded from view by the maple tree's large leafs she gives me a thumbs-up and joins the throng of folks headed toward the main gate. I can't see crap from the tree, but I can hear snippets of the conversations of people passing by. Unfortunately, nobody says anything noteworthy and time crawls by. Shouldn't Lydia be here by now? I look at my watch. Nope. It's still too early. She's probably still in the line to get through security.

I sigh. I've become such an impatient person lately, instead, of my usual chill self. I hope that changes when I get Maka back. I close my eyes and reach out with my soul trying to find anything that feels familiar. Technically, I can't detect souls, but I often seem able to figure out if Maka's around. Like she's a familiar aroma and I'm a super-sniffer or something, but there's just too much going on here and too many people for me to pick up anything. Shinigami, I hope that's the reason I don't feel her. If's she not here I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.

I look at my watch, again. It is already five minutes past when Lydia was supposed to rendezvous with me. I'm gonna feel like a complete shit if Lydia gets hurt or caught because of me. What the hell have I done? Is my love for Maka worth asking so much of a friend? Ugh. Sometimes when I don't know what to do I try to decide what Maka would do, but I have no idea what the fuck she would do were our roles reversed. I know she'd do anything to keep her friends safe, but she's also extremely loyal to the DWMA. Would she really go against a direct order from Kid like I did? Aw, crap. What have I done? A horrible vision of someone finding my decaying corpse in this tree years from now flashes in my mind. It's official, I need to get a grip.

Then out of the noise of the crowd I recognize Lydia's voice and she's not screaming or crying. She sounds ok and she seems to be talking to someone.

"I know. He _is_ even hotter in person," I hear her say.

"My sister is gonna freak when she hears he held my hand!" squeals someone. I can only assume that person, obviously a desperate female, is under the spell of Roadside Refuge. "I'm gonna go see if I can find Jack and get his autograph, too! Wanna come?"

"Naw, I'm good with Bryant's, if you know what I mean," Lydia says suggestively. "I'm gonna catch some shade. Good luck!"

I see her beneath me as she leans casually against the trunk as though enjoying the long shadow cast by the massive tree. In her hands is a colored photo of one of the members of Roadside Refuge on a heavy cardstock. She was getting a fucking autograph?! I'm going to kill her! As soon as she gives the signal I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind. I might just rip up that photo of Mr. No Talent Assbag. I can't believe-

She motions to me that the coast is clear and I drop down out of the tree.

"Is that an autograph in your hand?!" I don't even give her a chance to speak. I just start chewing her out in a whisper. "Were you seriously late to rendezvous because you were getting an _autograph_?!"

"I was blending in. Walking by Bryant Larame when he was giving autographs would have made me look very suspicious. Now I'm just another fangirl giddily wandering the grounds after my idol locked eyes with me."

This makes sense, but I refuse to acknowledge it aloud. I still feel like ripping up Bryant's self-important sneer.

Lydia ignores my irritation and whispers to me, "It sounds like they're going to be officially starting things soon by giving some kind of speech or something. What do you wanna do?"

I consider this for a moment. "If the speech is the official kickoff then a lot of people will be there and it will be a good chance for us to take a look around. How bought we go into that building over there and get on the roof so we can see the layout and plan our exit strategy?"

Lydia nods. "Sounds good. You might even be able to see Maka from there. I've got my binoculars."

"I love you!" I say appreciatively. "Er! In a friendly-"

"Shut up while you're ahead, Soul," she orders and I do.

The building we want to get into is the only thing on the compound that looks out of place on a ranch. It's a four story boxy thing of modern, utilitarian construction. I would guess it got erected after this place was converted from the Farlow Cattle Ranch to one of Avian Flu's headquarters, which means that inside that building could be practically _anything_, but security doesn't seem to be guarding it at the moment and we are able to walk right in and go up the stairwell all the way to the roof without a problem.

From the roof, it's easier to comprehend the scope of the event and Avian Flu's influence on the people of this part of the world. There are hundreds of people here milling around, though we can't see them all as Avian Flu has erected a number of enormous canopies that shade the countless folding chairs they have set up facing a stage befitting a popular band like Roadside Refuge. There are also areas set up with round tables with chairs that I would presume are meant to be used later in the day when food is served. They've even made the place festive with colorful balloons, streamers, the works.

From where we are, Lydia and I have a decent view of the stage and we watch as several musicians come out and begin playing. It isn't Roadside Refuge; they are probably the main event. These guys are obviously the opener. I scan around trying to develop a plan to search for Maka. It won't be easy to find her if she's part of this crowd.

After a couple tunes, the musicians play a fanfare and a man comes jogging up to the microphone from backstage. "My name is Cornelius Wagner and I am a proud member of Avian Flu!" His announcement is met by a few hoots and hollers from the crowd. I shake my head in disgust. "Welcome!" he says. "So, what are you here for today? Do you want to learn how to change the world and make a better life for future generations? Are you wondering what the BLEEP Avian Flu is all about?" There are shouts from the audience, but I can't make out what they're saying. Cornelius laughs. "That's alright. Don't worry, the band's gonna play more and, yes, there is gonna be free grub, too! I promise! Let's hear it for the band, folks. This is Klondike Escapade and all of them were born and raised right here in the great state of Texas!" The audience cheers.

"But this weekend isn't _just_ about chillin', dancin' and gettin' down!" Someone at the back of the crowd lets out a whoop. "It's also about answering your questions about Avian Flu and telling you what you and Avian Flu can achieve together."

Lydia groans. "He sounds like he's trying to get them into a pyramid scheme."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's where they get their money," I comment, no longer watching him but scanning the visible people looking for Maka.

"Do you think Bryant knows what they're up to?" she says uncertainly.

I frown. While I have no respect for Roadside Refuge or their record label, I guess it's gotta be a blow to someone who likes to 'dance' to their music to discover they might be supporters of Avian Flu or too stupid to realize that being here makes them appear to be supporters.

"I doubt he's evil incarnate. He's probably just dumb or Refuge's manager is an Avian Flu supporter or something."

_No Maka visible on the west side of the building._

Cornelius continues, but I try to ignore as much of the bullshit he is spewing as I can. I walk the perimeter of the roof casing the entire compound absorbing only parts of his speech. "Avian Flu recognizes that this world has a finite amount of resources so we aim to distribute them fairly and we know that the only way to make the world a better place is to change. It's us. It's the human race that's the scourge upon the earth, but what if we could change that?"

_No Maka visible on the south side of the building._

"What if we could take flight to a way of life that would ensure our happiness and our survival for a millennia? Well, we can, because Avian Flu is working together with parents to raise the next generation of kids differently than we were raised. This _enlightened generation_ will help spread our word across the world so that we all abide by a very simple set of principles that will ensure our peace and harmony worldwide…"

"Barf," Lydia grumbles in disgust. "What a load of _crap_. Basically, they're saying they want to be the church and government for the entire world but they're spinning it so they sound like they're just a bunch of _nice people_ wanting to help everyone to have a full tummy and live in peace."

I nod as I study the northern view. There is a group of women in fancy dress on a lawn in what looks to be a rose garden, and I think… did I see something? Some movement like my meister? Was it my imagination? What did I see?

I stand there watching. Something is definitely making me want to study that group of women more. They're tightly clustered so I can't see her if she's there, but…

"It's Maka!" I say as the group of women parts slightly. It's gotta be her. I recognize her stature…or something, though I will admit it doesn't _exactly_ look like her.

Lydia turns her attention from the asshole on the stage to me.

"Where?" she asks, pulling out her binoculars from her oversize purse. I point to our left at about ten o'clock. "How can you tell it's her? Her hair isn't in ponytails."

"I just know," I say firmly.

"I guess you'd be the authority on the subject," she looks in that direction with the binoculars. "Oh, shit…"

"What?" I panic. "What's wrong? Is she hurt?"

"No. I think she's fine… just…ah… cool your jets, Romeo."

"What did I tell you about that?" I ask her annoyed.

"It's just…" she stammers. "I think that-"

"Gimme those," I say impatiently grabbing the binoculars from her hand, not realizing she has the strap around her neck so I end up yanking her into my chest.

"Oh, ah, sorry," I say as she awkwardly works to wiggle her way out from the straps' clutches.

I put the binoculars up to my eyes. "What in the hell is she wearing? She looks like a damn marshmallow… it's so poufy… oh, wait, they're doing something." I narrate more for myself than for Lydia's sake. "And why is her hair like that? She hates having her hair pinned up that way. It gives her headaches-"

"Soul," Lydia says calmly, placing a hand on my arm. "Try not to freak out… but I'm pretty sure that's a-"

The women step back from Maka revealing that the monstrosity of a dress has a long train and the unthinkable hits me. "Why's my meister wearing a wedding dress?!"


	68. Chapter 68: Promises and Vows

**Risenfromash: **Thanks for all your support! Sorry the updates are coming slower these days. I'm working more…it sucks but it gives me time to embellish my already laid out ideas. Thank you to all the SoMa fans hanging in there during their separation. I love you guys!

_**Chapter 68: Promises and Vows; Forsaken Soul?**_

My heart is pounding and I'm gasping for air. My meister, who for as long as I've known her has described marriage as an 'unnecessary institution' that should become obsolete, is wearing the traditional white, lacey garb of a woman on her wedding day. My eyes bulge from their sockets as I stare at her manner of dress which seems so traitorous to her values. Even her ponytails are gone. From my throat a noise involuntary escapes like the whimper of an unhappy puppy.

"Soul, are you ok?" Lydia asks and in no way does her tone contain her normal snarkiness; I must really have her worried. "Oh, for Shinigami's sake, Soul. You know she doesn't want to, so just calm down." She's trying to help, I know, but her orders offend me. My girlfriend is being forced to marry a guy she can't stand and this chick wants me to be calm about it? I tell her that she's whacked if she thinks I can be calm right now and she tells me to quit acting like a freak.

I slide down to a seated position on the roof. "But, this is so much worse than I imagined…" I hang my head. Oh, Maka, what have they done to you and why does it look like you're cooperating?

"Even that monstrosity of a dress can't be as bad as some of the things you feared, so just chill out and together we'll come up with a plan."

I mumble my agreement, but I'm still too stunned to be able to assume plan-creation mode. All of a sudden scenes from every movie I know of where a woman is forced into an arranged marriage play through in my mind, but every single one is her stoically doing what she must while hating every minute of it. A string of obscenities spews from my lips as Lydia continues to survey the happenings below, patiently giving me the time I need to process what I've just seen.

"I think I see Justin," she says and I can feel her gaze on me. She doesn't know what to expect from me and neither do I at this point.

"Where?" I jump up. The thought that Avian Flu would have a hard time conducting a wedding ceremony were the groom bludgeoned to death crosses my mind.

"Three o'clock in the silvery greyish tuxedo. They must have the male part of the wedding party gathered over there." She indicates a different side of the garden not visible by the women due to a wall of hedge.

"Yeah that's him. God, he looks like a douche."

"I think you might be just a tad biased."

"Nope. He looks like a douche because he is one. I bet he still has his damn headphones in his ears," I grumble bitterly. "Damn him. Look at him all that praying to good ole Lord Death didn't do him much good did it?"

"It did enough good that he's getting handed a woman on a silver platter," Lydia says only to realize the insensitivity of this comment when I glare at her.

"I can't believe he got sucked in by this crap. God, I hate him even more now than I did before."

"Hating Justin isn't going to help. He's as much a victim in this as Maka," Lydia reminds me, but I care too much for my meister to be able to empathize with him.

I start to pace as I begin to run through different potential rescue scenarios. "I could try to get over there and take a few of them out-"

"I think we need to deviate from the original plan of being covert. You sneak back there and they'll shoot you," Lydia says bluntly.

"In front of all these people?"

"That's just it… no one will know what happened. They could say you were a lunatic and they were protecting her or whatever… but you make a scene _during_ the wedding…"

"They won't dare lay a hand on me! You're brilliant." I once again have some hope.

"Now, _Justin, _on the other hand. _He_ might try something."

"_I can take him_," I growl staring down at him with distaste.

"Just yesterday you said you couldn't 'cause he's a Death Scythe," she reminds me.

"_Yesterday _he wasn't marrying my girlfriend."

"Good point," she says with a smile. "You look like you could take out about three Justins at this point." "Actually," she adds nervously. "You look like you might crush him with your bare hands. It's kind of scary…"

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt _you_," I attempt to assure her. "Only easily manipulated assholes like him!"

"Yeah, well, I would think it probably is a lot easier to brainwash a guy in a circumstance like this. All _he _has to buy into is having a bunch of sex with-"

I cover my ears with my hands. "I don't want to hear about it. My meister is not going to be giving birth to enlightened babies! _None!_ You hear me?!"

Exasperated she shouts, "Yes, and so will half the people here if you don't chill out a little. I'm not kidding. _Calm down_." I know she's right, but I'm hurting. Even if Maka isn't making the _choice_ to be with someone else I can't help but feel replaced especially after she didn't come look for me in the desert. What has been going on in that head of hers? Is she even still the same person? "Remember, Maka could have a plan in place or be biding her time for the right moment to break free. Don't assume anything."

"I'm not. She could have some reason for cooperating… but she could also be like Black*Star was…" The thought of Maka's sharp wits being dulled to the point my best friend's were is hard for me to imagine, but I can't ignore the possibility that it might have happened. "I need to know which it is. I've gotta get close enough to her to find out."

"Why?" Lydia asks me nervously. "We've got only _like_ one chance at this."

"I know but I need to figure some stuff out. If she's placating them and faking her cooperation than she'll be onboard with helping us…if not…" I don't voice the other possibility. I've already lived it with Black*Star. I think I know what to expect.

"OK," guardedly she agrees. "But don't be impulsive. I know your instinct is to swoop in there, scoop her up in your arms, and run away. It's written all over your face that that's what you want to do and you can't. Got that?"

"I have _some_ restraint, _thank you_," I say. "I'm not a complete idiot."

"Maybe." _Maybe?!_ Seriously? What an ungrateful-

"Well, we'll need to find you a suit," she says, suddenly getting down to business. I give her a confused look and she points toward the manicured lawn and rose garden. "Everybody in that area seems to be in fancy dress…"

"Oh, I hadn't noticed that," I admit.

"You're a guy, of course you didn't."

"Hey, I noticed that Maka looks like a cream puff decorated with bows."

"It would be hard not to notice that. Even from here I can tell that has to be one of the _ugliest_ bridal gowns I have ever seen," she says frowning.

"So, uh, how am I gonna get a suit?" I ask her.

Lydia scans the crowd and murmurs, "We need to find someone about your size and steal their clothes. We don't need to worry about me. I've got some in my bag that I can probably make work for me." This statement strikes me as odd, but I don't say anything as I'm too intent on looking for someone with my dimensions.

"There, what about him?" she asks me. "The guy leaning against that pole there?" She is pointing to a young man with shoulder length brown hair who is slumped again one of the canopy support beams looking as though he would rather be anywhere but here. I give him a once over with the binoculars. He does appear to be about my size and I suspect getting his suit from him won't be very hard as he looks about as comfortable in it as an ape would.

I smirk. "He's perfect!" I say dashing for the stairs.

"Wait for me!" Lydia shouts as she struggles to keep up with me. "How are you gonna get his clothes?! Do you need the gun?"

"Nope. I'm gonna ask him for them! I bet he'll just give them to me."

"You're crazy. That's never gonna work!"

"Watch me!" With an insane amount of determination I exit the building and stroll up to the man. I attempt to act casual as I approach even though I would love to run right up to him. "You look like you're having about as much fun as I am," I tell him as a conversation starter.

He nods, "I thought having to listen to Refuge perform was gonna be the crappiest part of the weekend, but the guy up there talking right now is a real assbag, too."

I smile. I _like_ this guy. We could totally hang out together. "Why you at this thing?" I ask him genuinely curious.

"My aunt drug me here. Thinks Avian Flu could whip me into shape. What about you?"

I take a breath and quickly recite, "Avian Flu is strategically working to subvert our existing system of government and human rights by getting people to buy into their edicts. My school, the Demon Weapon Meister Academy, is engaged in a war with them. My girlfriend, who is also my partner, has been taken as a prisoner of war. They've brainwashed her and are making her marry a guy she doesn't even like so they can have 'enlightened' children together. I'm on a mission to save her."

His face breaks into a wide grin. "Wow. _That's awesome._ How long you been practicing that answer?"

"Ever since they took her." It doesn't bother me that he thinks I'm blowing smoke up his ass. If things go according to plan he'll know soon enough that I wasn't lying.

"There something you need from me to help you with your 'mission'?" he asks chuckling.

"Yes, there is. Thanks so much for asking. You're about my size and I need fancy clothes to get close to the wedding party. I was hoping you'd trade me."

He appraises my dirty t-shirt and jeans and then shrugs. "Whatever. This stupid collar makes me itch, so I guess I might as well go for it. Even if you are the world's worst liar."

"You've made a wise decision. Come on. We can sneak inside and find somewhere to change."

We tiptoe into the building and find an unlocked conference room. Once inside we each retreat to a separate corner in which to change clothes.

As I start to pull off my clothes I hear him mumble to himself, "My aunt's gonna kill me."

"Yeah, but I bet there are way more hot-to-trot ladies over in the main area than here in the VIP section."

"You have a point…" he says slowly.

"I _totally_ do and those women will _not_ be thinking about marriage, just about getting it on." An image of Becca pops in my mind. I bet there are lots of Beccas out there just waiting to meet a guy like him. I am _so_ doing him a favor right now. "Ditch your aunt and go find some chick who threw her panties at one of the members of Refuge. Because if you get laid-"

"I won't give a rat's ass what my aunt does," he says completely my thought.

"Thaz right," I nod setting my hoodie and t-shirt in the neutral zone between our corners. A few minutes later I turn around to the odd experience of seeing all my clothes on someone else.

"You want the shoes?" he asks pointing down at the pair of black wingtips he's holding in his hands.

"Naw, your feet are a lot bigger than mine and I'm gonna need my running shoes."

"Ok, then," he says uncertainly as though not sure if we're done or not. "I guess that's it." Then he snickers, "Good luck breaking up the wedding."

"Good luck gettin' laid," I say as I head out of the conference room. "Oh, and uh, don't tell anyone about this, ok?" He nods in agreement as I straighten what is now _my_ blue satin tie. I'm sure I don't look as sharp as when I'm in my own suit, but considering this one isn't specifically tailored to me it's not half bad. It's a little baggie in the waist and the coat is maybe a little short, but I can live with it.

Lydia appears from in the direction of the restroom wearing a black sequin mini skirt and a silver top accented with shiny black trim. She dashes up next to me assuming her role as my date.

"That was incredible. I can't believe you just told him the truth!"

I shrug. "He's a cool dude. We can smell our own." Really taking in her outfit for the first time, it's only now that I realize how skimpy it is. Her entire back is revealed and I don't know how she could sit without revealing her undergarments. "You pack clothes like that for a mission?!"

"Yeah. They don't take up much space," she says shrugging.

"What kind of missions does Lord Death send you and Erika on?" I have visions of the two young women infiltrating opium dens or exclusive dance clubs operated by shady characters.

"Nothing that exciting, believe me, but sometimes if we finish early we go clubbing."

"You and Erika go out _alone_ in strange cities dressed like _that_?!"

"We go together and we always have my gun. Besides, don't blame the victims! Women should get to dress however they want without men thinking it's an invitation."

"It _is_ an invitation! Look at you! You're jail bait and you're flaunting your body like-"

"I have a fake ID," she says quickly as though that makes it all better.

I continue to stare at her. This is simply unbelievable to me. "Are you even going to be able to fight in that thing without worrying about your boobs popping out? How does it even stay on? There's no back…" I say tugging at a side of the flowing fabric. Lydia rolls her eyes. To her I must look like a Neanderthal examining a computer.

"You are _so_ sheltered. Could you _please_ just tell me that I look very nice and concentrate on rescuing your prude of a girlfriend?"

"Maka is not a prude!"

"Then, I guess _you _must be the prude, 'cause _one_ of you is. That's for sure," she complains with a roll of her eyes.

"Because we don't go clubbing and wear outfits you have to _tape_ onto your body?!"

"See, you do know how it stays on."

"I was kidding! You actually _tape_ that on?"

"Unless I wanna give people a free show. It's really no big deal. I just carry this special tape with me."

I put up my hands to signal I want to end this conversation. I want to know no more about how women strategically apply fabric to their bodies in order to get male attention or feel more powerful or whatever the hell they do it for. All I know is it gives me one more reason to love Maka, when I undress her I don't have to peel tape off her tiny tits. That _seems_ to me like it would be a real mood killer.

"So, now that we blend in what's the plan?" Lydia asks me. I grumble that I think she doesn't exactly blend in in the get-up she's wearing and her eyebrows rise. "Is that, perhaps, your diplomatic way of saying I look hot?"

"We gotta split up," I say, completely ignoring her comment. It's really better that way. "I'm gonna try and get close enough to Maka determine what state of mind she's in. I can see if I get a sense she already has an escape plan, that sort of thing. Meanwhile, you're going to try to gather information about the wedding. We need to know stuff like when it's happening, where Maka's entering from… All of that will be helpful if we're going to make our move mid-ceremony."

"Soul, don't you think I could get closer to Maka than you? They probably aren't going to let some random dude in with the bride-"

"No, you need to be the one snooping around getting the skinny on the ceremony. It would be super weird for a guy to be asking a bunch of questions about the wedding, but you can tell them you have a sister getting married and you want to get ideas and I'm sure they'll tell you all kinds of stuff."

"I guess," Lydia says softly.

"What's wrong?" I ask impatiently. I really don't want to stand here analyzing every detail all day. I'm more than ready to take action. I can hardly wait to be back in Maka's hands slicing into enemies of freedom and humanity, but for some reason Lydia seems nervous.

She grips my arms and looks deep into my eyes, "Soul, can I trust you?"

My eyebrows furrow, my voice weighted with resentment. "What the fuck?! _Of course_, you can trust me! If you didn't you never should have gotten on the bike with me."

"No, I mean can I trust you not to do something stupid the moment you get near Maka? This isn't the time to be impulsive… no matter what you might feel in your heart… or your soul."

I swallow. She's right. I don't only have _my_ neck and Maka's on the line here. Lydia's safety is hanging in the balance, too. "I haven't forgotten how big a risk you've taken. I won't do anything stupid, I promise."

Lydia nods, "Ok, let's synchronize watches."

We set a rendezvous time and location and I'm walking away before I realize that there is something else I need to tell my temporary partner. "Lydia," I turn and call her name. Startled, she stops abruptly and does a one-eighty to head back my way.

"What?" she says anxiously.

"I just wanted to thank you… in case I don't get the chance later. I want you to know how much your help has… helped." I sound about as articulate as a duck, but she seems to get the point. "I don't know why you don't think you're a good friend, because you are." I don't wait for her protests, but turn around determined to achieve my mission's goal.

I make my way through the crowd trying to fit in by occasionally taking a moment to listen to the music the local band is playing or the sound bytes about Avian Flu that are periodically being shared by members of the organization, but I'm not sure any of it penetrates my psyche as my mind is filled with thoughts of Maka. Does she really not know I'm still alive? Have they hurt her? What evil have they done in order to get her to submit to their wishes while at the same time maintaining their outward appearance as a friendly, family-friendly organization?

I'm inside one of the canopies that border the garden when I hear women conversing and laughing on the other side of the tent's fabric wall. I don't hear my meister, but I can make out her name being said, so I'm guessing that what I'm hearing is the same group of women I saw from the roof. The voices are _so_ close. They must be right on the other side. I'm sure I'm within feet of my meister and I find myself reaching out for her both with my hand and my soul.

"You look just like a princess, about to start her new life with her prince charming!" says the voice of a young woman.

"It really is like a dream…" I hear Maka's voice for the first time since the attack on the train and my heart speeds up. I can't believe how relieved I am just to hear her speak. "It's all happened so fast."

"That's how love is," says someone with a deeper, more mature voice. "These days people draw out the whole courtship and dating thing for _far _too long. They think that if they can stay together for years prior to getting married that it'll mean they'll last once they do get married, but it just doesn't work that way. _Believe me_."

"Avian Flu is right. Time is a precious gift. It's not to be wasted," another voice unfamiliar to me is speaking and despite the fact the person is obviously a follower of my enemy I don't feel like the person is a threat. Somehow the timber of her voice signals to me she's well-meaning and not someone to be feared. "When you find 'the one' you need to go for it."

Maka is silent.

"You ok, darlin'?" says the lower voice. "You're awful quiet."

"I'm just so nervous. I never expected this…" Maka says. Her voice sounds odd. Is it the drugs? I close my eyes and try to reach out for her with my soul. _I'm here, Maka. Please, don't give up. I'm not giving up on you._

"The best things in life are the unexpected surprises," says a new voice, but unlike the others this one strikes me as being as icy cold as the arctic.

"We're just so young…" Maka says weakly, as though she has tried to use this excuse before.

"You do _love_ Justin don't you?" asks one of the sweeter voices.

"Oh, yes_, _of course, I _do. _How could I not?" Maka answers without debate and my chest aches as though the icy woman has clutched my heart in her hands. I feel as though I am literally being crushed by her words. How could she say that? _Doesn't she still love me? _ Because I love her so completely, I am _so utterly_ taken by her that I would be lost without her. I am lost; I _must_ get her back. I love her so very much; my devotion is without end, but what if she doesn't feel the same way? Am I a fool?

I remind myself that she's probably faking and that there is no reason for me to feel hurt or jealous by her remarks I hear by eavesdropping. Really, what do I expect her to do, shout that she most certainly doesn't love Justin because she has a perfectly wonderful boyfriend already? Actually, if I'm honest with myself I have to admit that I _would really _like that, though I suppose given the circumstances it wouldn't be the wisest thing for her to do.

"As long as you love Justin there's nothing to worry about," says the younger woman.

"But," my meister says. "He really wants us to have a baby right away…" Images of Justin forcing himself on her enter my head and I find my insecurities being replaced by rage. Justin's a douche, but he wouldn't do that… right? Cause if he even tries I will tear him apart, I swear.

"Of course, Justin wants that. _You_ should too," threatens the chilly voice. "That is if you're a smart girl and want to have all the benefits that Avian Flu will bring to you."

"Well," someone else interrupts. "Maka must not be _too_ nervous about it because I heard she was a naughty bride last night and snuck into Justin's room!"

"How do you know about that?" Maka asks sounding surprised. My stomach lurches. If Maka is only pretending to have feelings for him, why would she be sneaking into his room in the middle of the night? Is it just wishful thinking to tell myself they could have been hatching escape plans together rather than making out or making babies…oh, Shinigami, maybe Lydia was right. This may have been a bad idea…

"Sooo, what _were_ you and Justin doing?" One of the younger women asks. "Hhmm? Was it wrong to dress you in white today?" The group giggles while I struggle to breath.

"Oooohhhh, look at her blush! They're busy working on making that next generation right away, ain't they?"

I don't wait to listen to Maka's reply. I turn to leave never once feeling Maka's soul reaching out to me. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe we don't have a special bond. I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart. They got to her. This is not _my_ meister. _**My**__ meister_ would be ripping that dress off and trying to stuff it down their throats. She would be challenging Justin to a duel; she wouldn't be saying she loved him. Oh, Shinigami, no, no! I'm short of breath like that night on the train. I fear I may pass out and the harder I try to normalize my breathing the more panicked I become. Be thankful she's alive, I tell myself, but it's hard to celebrate that life when it isn't _her_.

All I can feel is a sense of replacement. She loves somebody else now… or at least this brainwashed version of her does. She is a diluted down version of her original self, but still I'm _horribly_ jealous and even though it isn't really my meister I still love her with every ounce of my being.

I bolt from this part of the ranch intending to get to the rendezvous point early. I stumble as I walk so absorbed by the negative thoughts in my brain, but everyone must assume I've dipped into the liquor early as no one asks me if I'm ok. I find Lydia listening to the band and sipping a tropical beverage that has a slice of pineapple hanging on the side of the glass. She excuses herself from the group of young people she is standing with in order to come check on me.

I take her hand leading her to a private corner where we can talk.

"Soul, are you ok?" For the first time I realize that I'm crying. I sit down putting my head in my hands trying to hide the tears, but she pulls my hands away. "What's wrong, Soul? Tell me."

"They got to her. She's not the same and she doesn't remember me."

"How do you know? Did she not recognize you?"

"No, she hasn't seen me, but I heard her. She was talking about Justin and she sounded _happy_."

"She's probably just pretending."

"They were teasing her about sneaking into his room last night."

Lydia sits down next to me staring into my agonized face. In a tiny voice she says how very sorry she is.

"I didn't get here in time. I let her down," I find myself tugging mercilessly at my white hair.

"Soul, there was only so much you could do."

"That isn't acceptable. There's no excuse. _I'm her weapon_. I'm her fucking _boyfriend_, for God's sake. I should have come up with a better plan." I wipe my nose and eyes with my sleeve and I find that the rough material of the suit jacket makes me feel even more out of sorts. But I remind myself that there is no time for self-pity. I give myself till the count of ten and then I stand up. Lydia remains sitting and looks up at me, obviously confused by my suddenly determination to take action.

"This doesn't change anything," I tell her. "We're still not leaving without her, even if I have to take her from him kicking and screaming."

She opens her mouth and slowly lets previously unspeakable words creep from it, "But, Soul why? If she's not hurt and she's happy, shouldn't we come back with more people?"

"You don't have to stay and help, I'll understand if you want to go. But it doesn't matter that Maka can't remember things, because _I do_. She left _no_ doubt in my mind that _this_ was _not_ what she wanted, so I don't care if she hates me for it. She's my meister and I'm her weapon, and I'm not going to let our enemy manipulate her like this."

Lydia stands up and hugs me. "I'm so sorry."

"Let's not talk about it, ok?" I say resting my chin on her head.

She murmurs her agreement and steps away from me, but now her eyes sparkle with tears. She looks embarrassed, so I don't say anything. "Soul, you want to get back at these bastards don't you?" I nod. "I've been thinking. We have an opportunity here. Avian Flu created this forum to gain recruits, but what if _we_ use it to tell our side of the story? There are hundreds of people here. We can tell them the truth. It could save lives. Lives like Maka's, Jule's, Jakob's-"

"I don't care about these people. If they're stupid enough to be sucked in by this crap, it's their own fault."

"But-"

"Lydia, all I want to do is get Maka back. _This isn't a DWMA mission._ I know I should probably want to convince all these people not to listen to Avian Flu's lies, but right now _I just don't care_. I have to get my meister back before they turn her into some damned baby making machine to serve their _twisted _image of the future."

"That's why you need to tell them. No one can fake the anger and the pain you're experiencing so _tell them._ Use this moment as a platform to let all these people know that Avian Flu isn't the benevolent organization they claim to be. Soul, you can do it."

"I'm sorry, Lydia. Maka is the hero, not me."

Lydia's nostrils flare. "You saved me. You saved Jerome and Jule."

"That was different. I was doing what I had to do-"

"As a DWMA student? I didn't see any other student in that rubble looking for me."

"I didn't find you by _talking_."

"But you convinced me to fight. You convinced me to live. We can show these people what Avian Flu _really_ is. We can do this _and_ save Maka. Please, Soul."

"What if we can't?" I ask her seriously. "I don't _want _to be the guy who chooses the girl he loves over saving the world, but… that's who I am. _I love her too much_."

"And what would that girl do if she could?"

I hang my head in shame. "She would be the hero."

"Then do it for her. Passing up this chance would be wrong and you know it."

I sigh and concede my defeat. "_**Fine**_," I grumble. "I'll do it, but what the fuck am I supposed to say?"


	69. Chapter 69: Nefarious Nuptials

**Risenfromash: **Once again, thank you for your support! If you can suggest a piece of fan art for the 'cover'/'avatar' for this story let me know as I'd like to have something nice, but haven't found just the right thing yet…though there is one really awesome one I found of Soul and Maka on Brunnie… Killing Brunnie was as hard as killing an actual character, I swear, I think I love that bike as much as Soul and Maka.

_**Chapter 69: Nefarious Nuptials; Always With the Best Intentions?**_

Lydia has done her job well. In a very short period of time she has managed to ascertain all sorts of information about the upcoming nuptials including when the ceremony is scheduled to begin and that the main stage will serve as the altar. She has also learned that a quartet of classically trained musicians will be providing music for the wedding.

But these tidbits are not enough to make me feel secure in creating a plan of action, not now that I've agreed to use the time of this rescue to highlight Avian Flu's lies. In theory, I agree with Lydia, but it's a pretty tall order to escape with our lives and Maka while embarrassing Avian Flu in front of their guests. There is no doubt in my mind that we'll be putting ourselves in greater jeopardy than were we to grab Maka and go, but were the roles reversed I'm sure my meister would not pass up this golden opportunity. She's always amazingly dedicated to doing the 'right thing' even when things get complicated…it's one of those things I admire or find annoying about her dependent on my mood.

As Lydia and I struggle to come up with a plan, we mill around the crowd pretending to be paying attention to the things Avian Flu members are sharing at the microphone. The anecdotes range from outlandish claims of how great Avian Flu is to self-congratulatory accolades for how fun the weekend is proving to be. Watching the listening crowd, I realize that the comments shared by these supposedly 'normal' people are probably going to have a greater impact on the attendees than Cornelius' pandering or the star power of Roadside Refuge, because the guests identify themselves with these average folks. As I watch one stocky, chunky 'average Joe' stuttering into the microphone about how liberating it was to give away the majority of his possessions I ponder this. "It felt so great to know that all those things were going to be given to people in need or sold so Avian Flu could spread the word about what is truly important."

"Thank you, Phil!" says Cornelius patting the nervous man on the back. "What a hero! Phil had the courage to enlighten himself, what about you?" Several whoops in the crowd indicate that the audience is buying into this and I frown. This is despicable. These people actually want to do something good for the world, but they're being grossly misled by these fuckheads. I glance at Lydia. Her eyes are pleading. We need to come up with something… anything.

"Come on, let's get some fresh air," I tell her and I lead her through the crowd to outside of the canopied area.

"Well…? What's the plan?" she asks.

"Remind me why it's my job to come up with the plan," I grumble. The truth is I'm afraid that I'm still too focused on Maka to think of anything else, but I don't really want to admit it.

"The best thing about Avian Flu," booms a young woman's voice from a nearby speaker. "Is that they are bringing optimism to millions of people worldwide! I think it's great that people in third world countries are being given the same opportunities as those of us here in the U.S. to make our future better by sharing our resources and a common vision of the future. Let's enlighten the next generation."

I glare up at the speaker and kick the pole and the thing falls over.

"Oh, shit!" I shout dashing away from it. So much for keeping a low profile! Lydia and I watch and to our surprise no Avian Flu minions come to scold the offending speaker tipper or run anyone off. They seem to have really crappy security around the sound system components…which are what is broadcasting all this bullshit… but it _could _be spreading the truth about Avian Flu's intentions and the war they are waging against the DWMA.

As we stand by the fallen speaker marveling at the incompetence of Avian Flu, I ask Lydia, "Any chance you got a tape recorder in that magic purse of yours?"

Her face scrunches up. "No and my purse is _not_ enchanted. Don't you dare spread rumors that a witch has done anything to _my purse_. I'd rather not have Joe confiscate it for decontamination."

"Sorry," I say with a laugh recalling a bonfire of enchanted crib notes Lord Death one held at an assembly. "Between the binoculars and the clubbing outfit I was beginning to think you might have a ladder and a canoe in there." She raises an eyebrow. I guess she doesn't play many video games. "You have any idea where I could get one?" I ask.

"Tell me why first," she orders.

"Cause we can tape record a message and then have it played back over the loud speaker."

"Oh! That's actually a really good idea!" I narrow my eyes at Lydia's back-handed compliment. "What? I just thought you were so upset that you wouldn't be able to come up with anything."

I frown at her. Nothin' quite like having a partner who has no faith in you. I'm about to tell her so, when Cornelius reclaims the microphone and says, "I have some exciting news, everyone. Today we are going to witness the joining together of _two_ very special hearts. Two of our _devout_ Avian Flu members are going to join together in the bonds of holy matrimony _right here_, _**today**_! What do you think of that?" The crowd cheers loudly, but as Lydia and I pretend to cheer I grouchily shout, "I think it's shit!" confident that no one will hear me. "Would you like to meet the groom?" The emcee pauses and then says, "Everybody please welcome Justin Law! How 'bout you say a little something today?"

"Hi, I'm Justin," the Deathscythe's loud voice blasts out of the speakers. He must still be wearing his headphones. It's his wedding day and he's wearing those stupid headphones of his. "I'm getting married today. I'm so blessed, and it's all thanks to Avian Flu."

"That's _great_ to hear," says Cornelius. Ugh, I want to punch that guy sooo badly. "Can you tell us about the lucky lady?"

"Her name is Maka and she's really smart. She likes to read and listen to music and she likes kids and she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." I roll my eyes. What a fucking moron. Yes, all those things are true, but those aren't the most _important _things about my meister… they aren't the things that make her special. _I_ would probably not say any of those things were I asked to describe her, that's just surface stuff you learn about her immediately. It isn't until you get to know her better that you begin to notice and appreciate other things… like how she'll do nice things for you without you even having to ask… and how she's super honest. If you piss her off, you'll know it. There is no guessing… she'll bonk ya in the head with a book if you step out of line. And how-

"Earth to Soul Eater. Come in, Soul Eater… you still with me there, bud?" Lydia asks nudging me and I realize I've been staring off into space.

"Yeah… sorry. It's just really weird to hear him talk about her like he knows her."

Lydia nods, "Well, you won't have to think about it for much longer. It's almost show time. I wouldn't be surprised if after this set by the Klondikes they start the wedding." Just the word '_wedding_' makes my heart ache. We're _way_ too young to be worrying about this crap… "You ready?" She asks me and all I know is that it doesn't matter whether I am or not because this is happening now and my duty to my meister is to do everything in my power to fight this injustice. Problem is I've only got one chance at it.

Thus far the bands and speakers have all performed on the main stage, but Lydia learned that the quartet that would be providing the music for the wedding would be performing on a smaller platform about a quarter of the audience back and to the left of the main stage and as luck would have it we discover that the security around their equipment is as lax as where I tipped over the speaker.

While Klondike's unique fusion of ska, bluegrass, and pop amuses the assembled crowd Lydia and I set to work fucking with the classical musician's cords. While their instruments don't require power, they will need amps and microphones to be heard in a venue like this and it's almost too easy to mess up their neatly arranged sound system and we discover that just like I'd hoped at the center of all the amps and cords is a main console with a tape deck perfect for recording a special message to Avian Flu's guests. I stumble a couple times over the words, unsure of how to express what needs to be said but each time I rewind and restart it's better, so by the fourth time it's golden which is great because we don't have even a second to spare. Lydia and I finish our havoc-making just in time to conceal ourselves before the musicians walk up to start tuning up before the wedding.

"How the hell'd this happen?" A tall, skinny man who is part of the quartet exclaims upon finding the tangle of cords we've created. From my hiding spot behind a large crate I get a great view of the four of them as they attempt to make sense of our handy work.

"We don't have time for this!" An especially short one says as he takes in the chaos with wide eyes. "They're about to start the ceremony!"

"Well, they can't very well start without the music. Come on an' help me," barks the first grouchily. The two men busily set to work tracing power cords back to their sources occasionally pausing to cuss into the air at whoever messed with their equipment.

"_This_ is why we need a roadie," one of the men says apparently rehashing an argument he has previously had with his comrades. "I was trained at Juliard! I shouldn't be having to mess around in the mud with a bunch of cords right before I play my instrument."

"Aw! Shut up. We know you didn't train at Julliard, you liar!"

"But I did! I swear!"

"Maybe Julliard, _Wisconsin_ or something!" One laughs. "You're such a pretentious-"

"Who you calling pretentious, you… you… wanna-be conductor!"

"You swine! That was a private dream of mine, not something for you to air in front of-"

I silently chuckle. People always make the mistake of thinking that orchestral musicians are such dignified, well-behaved individuals, but in my experience they're just like everyone else they just have a vocabulary that more closely resembles Maka's than mine.

While the tall, skinny one continues to hurl verbal assaults at the shorter, pudgy one the other two continue to struggle with rearranging the amplifier cords. "Shinneegame, it's like someone did this _intentionally_!" I signal Lydia that's it's time; I mean, if _that's_ not a cue for us to make our move, I've never heard one!

"That's a good observation," I say as I pop up and Lydia steps out from behind a nearby cart. She is holding her gun ready to shoot and I am already equipped with my scythe arm. "Because I _did_ do it intentionally."

The four freeze in their positions, the tall man's finger extended mid-wag at his companion.

"Now, don't make a sound!" Lydia warns them. In turn, she stares into the eyes of each of them with an extremely threatening look, but they still seem too startled to actually be fearful. I suspect they may think that they are being punked or something.

Not surprisingly, the skinny one is the first to find his voice. "What in _damnation_?" he says flabbergasted.

"Why would you do such a thing?!" One of the men bent over the cords asks. He sounds as though his brain cannot fathom any possible reason for such savagery.

"I have my reasons," I assure him. "Now hold still. I'm gonna tie you up." The four men are so flustered they are practically sputtering. "Don't worry, I won't harm your hands, ya damn prima donnas." We lucked out that these guys had plenty of extra cords, because it's these that I use to hogtie them.

One of them starts crying, begging for his life. "Oh, knock it off. We aren't going to hurt you. Our beef isn't with you. It's with Avian Flu. You aren't Avian Flu _supporters_, are you?" I say glaring at them with narrowed eyes. A chorus of 'nos' immediately springs from their mouths followed by excuses about how they were just doing it for the money, blah, blah, blah. I tell them that the next time they are offered a gig to do they might want to actually ask some questions, instead of simply whoring themselves out to anyone willing to play. They don't like this bit of unsolicited advice, but I don't care.

"You know, smartmouth, that they're gonna come looking for us. Ya gotta have musicians at a big wedding like this," one of the men says trying to bargain his way out of his restraints.

"Don't worry," Lydia says with a smile. "We got the music covered. Soul's a concert pianist." She says tipping her head in my direction.

"Sure, he is," scoffs one of the quartet members.

I drawback in fake surprise. "Way to judge a book by its cover, guys. I _am_ a concert pianist. Ever heard of Yugang Florantine? He was my teacher."

"You're kidding!" I think that this shocks the men more than being accosted.

"Yup, but since I'm a demon weapon I decided that instead of going pro, I'd become a demon hunter," I say as I straighten my tie one final time before stepping through a slit in the canopy to climb onto the stage. The musicians murmur amongst themselves. I suspect that they may know my brother and be realizing that I must be Wes' baby brother, but I don't give a rat's ass about them. It's show time.

I seat myself in front of the keyboard and tip my head right, then left, and stretch my fingers. They're no opportunity for a warm up. I just have to go for it, which is scary as hell considering that I _hate_ playing in public. My heart speeds up. I start with some love songs that I'm hoping are the type of sentimental stuff that gets played as people take their seats at weddings, but it's been years since I've been to a wedding so I'm not really sure. This feels nothing like playing the grand piano in the comfort of the red and black room. I grin realizing that even though I'm currently present in 'reality', I'm crazier at this moment than I've ever been when in the room with the Little Ogre. I close my eyes and try to pretend that the crappy plastic keys are the more heavily weighted ivories of my piano and that Maka is standing by my side ready to dance with me as soon as I'm done with my performance. I think about the way she looks when I play, how she doesn't smile or frown, but looks deep in thought as though she can feel the music touching some part of her deep inside. I think about how great I feel as we dance, even though she's always the one leading. Then again, that's probably perfect for us.

After a couple songs it becomes obvious to me that something needs to be done to get this show on the road because people are still wandering around instead of sitting down and shutting the fuck up. I'm sweating like crazy. There isn't any more time. Do I just start playing the wedding march or something?! I don't know what to do. I motion to an usher. "We needa get this show on the road. You think you could do somethin' to get everybody to take their seats?"

The usher clearly doesn't know much more than I do about what is supposed to be happening because he doesn't think twice about taking instructions from me. I guess since I'm in a suit and seated at the piano I appear to have some kind of authority which makes me _very_ happy.

The usher gathers a couple others around him and they start helping people to find their way to available seats and I find my hands trembling a little. Soon, I'm going to have to see her walking down the aisle toward someone else and I worry it could be enough to make me lose it, but I have to hold it together until whoever is beside her deposits her safely at the altar. I just have to remember that no matter what, she isn't lost to me. We'll always be best friends. I have faith in _that much_, everything else… well, I can't be sure of much else at this point, but Maka and I will _always_ be friends and she's my meister so I'm prepared to do anything I have to do to save her.

The usher walks up to the front and grabs a microphone. "Honored guests of Avian Flu. Please take your seats for the wedding of Maka Albarn and Justin Law. The ceremony will begin momentarily."

There is happy applause and then the assembled group falls into a hushed silence. I start to play that Canon in D everybody uses at weddings these days and I see Justin walk in. He appears more nervous than I've ever seen him, pale and maybe a little jumpy. For once he isn't wearing his headphones. Periodically, he smiles broadly but even that smile isn't big enough to satisfy me. He should be fucking _ecstatic_ at the thought of spending the rest of his life with her. Maka isn't a _picnic_ or anything, but she's so damn _**awesome**_. He doesn't have any idea how lucky he would be… if I weren't about to steal her back.

But I can't help fear seeing her walking down the aisle. I don't want to see the loving looks her and Justin will be giving one another. I know none of it's based on real feelings, but… I don't think it's going to make it easier. How could this happen to us? We're so perfect for one another! We deal with all the hard stuff head on and we don't hide crap from one another and… my eyes start to blur with tears, but I won't cry. If I start crying my cover will be blown, I'm supposed to be a professional musician who probably plays five wedding gigs each week. I feel like my chest is being ripped open.

The wedding party begins to rhythmically file in and I fear I may mess up the march when I see her and I almost do because I crane my neck to get a look at her. She's on the arm of a man I haven't seen before. He's a fairly young man with wavy, black hair that's so black it practically looks blue in the light. I had thought that it might be Cornelius walking her down the aisle, but this is someone I haven't seen on the stage yet.

Maka, to her credit, looks gorgeous despite the heavy eye makeup, the tightly pulled back hair, and the awful marshmallow dress. Only her bouquet looks like something she would have picked out herself. It has ivy and baby's breath and brings out the green of her eyes. At least they got one thing right.

Justin's eyes widen taking in her beauty, but her eyes aren't on him. They're slowly scanning the audience. Is it possible that she isn't _totally_ bewitched? I don't want to give myself false hope… but I know what she looks like when she's happy and that _isn't _a happy look… that's the searching look she does when accessing a location before battle. Does she know I'm here or is it just nerves before doing something important? Isn't that kind of what she looks like before a big test? She looks pretty pale…

She glances at Justin and smiles at him, but her eyes don't linger on him, instead they continue to scan the crowd. Could she be looking for some way out? If so she clearly didn't notice me as she walked past and now I can only see her back with its mile-long train decorated with white bows and patches of see-through lace. A vision of Maka in nothing but fancy white lacey panties with a garter on her leg dances through my brain and it's overpoweringly hot. Ugh! Focus, ya weirdo. I glare at Justin somehow convinced he's having the same image in his mind. _God, I hate that guy._

My meister comes to rest next to Justin and it doesn't matter that this whole wedding is an illusion created by Avian Flu's mindgames. I'm dying. I keep having to remind myself that this isn't going to happen. I'm getting her out of here. I just need to finish this song- that's the signal for Lydia to start broadcasting the tape we made, so I _have _to finish the song. I watch as Justin takes her hand in his, but I notice that their fingers don't interlace how hers and mine always do. See, they have nothin' on me and her…oh, my God, _I am so jealous!_ This is terrible. I can't believe how much I want to beat him to a pulp. Oh, Lord, is this what drives Maka to clobber me with a book anytime I seem too friendly with another girl? Oh, I need to apologize to her if this is how she feels because this is awful. All this time I thought she was just being weird, but I feel like crap. I'm not even sure if I'm playing right…

I conclude the song and all eyes in the place are on the 'happy' couple except for me. I can't look at them any longer. Instead, I close my eyes and count to one hundred. _One…two… three…_

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of two Avian Flu members…" _twenty…twenty-one…twenty-two… _ "Who have served to inspire others to give of themselves and work for peace by accepting their place in the enlightened world." _Sixty-four…sixty-five…sixty-six…_ "These two have been fated to be together-"

Close enough! That does it! I unleash all of my emotions onto the synthesizer. My arms rise and fall with all the drama of the phantom of the opera in all those old black and white movies. I pour all my fears, all my jealousy, and all the love and dedication I have for my meister into the song. It's the song I played for her the day she asked me to be her partner and as I pour my heart into it I feel something- a soul reaching out for mine. It's weak, very weak but it's her. She's reaching out for me. She's inviting me to resonant with her. Maybe they didn't convert her all the way or maybe her soul still knows what her brain can't at this point. All I know is that it's time for me to get off this platform before security drags me out.

I jump down as Maka whirls around calling my name. "Soul? Soul? Are you here?!" She wildly scans the crowd as I run to her.

"Maka!" I call her name as I run around the seats blocking my way to her.

"_My name is Soul Evans."_ Lydia has started the recording for me. It'd odd to hear your voice projected out like that, but I pay it no mind. I am now entirely focused on my original mission. If we're lucky the recording will serve as a diversion because security won't know what to address first, the crazy boyfriend breaking up the wedding, or his manifesto that's broadcasting Avian Flu's secrets over the loud speakers._ "They call me Soul Eater and I'm gonna tell you the truth about Avian Flu because everything else you've heard about them this weekend has been lies. Avian Flu is __**not **__trying to make the world a better place by helping people to work together. Avian Flu creates 'peace' by taking away people's freedoms to think and do as they please…"_

"Soul!" Maka uses her hand as a visor to block out the bright lights aimed at the altar. "Is it really you?" she calls as I manage to get myself to the main aisle. Her emerald eyes meet mine and I can see the recognition. While they lack the sparkle they usually have, it's clear that _she remembers me!_ Some part of her must still be _my_ meister! "Justin, _run_! They've come for us!" she shouts eagerly. The groom frowns, his face taking on the same befuddled expression I get when trying to do math in my head. I ignore him and run toward her extending my left hand to her while I transform my right into a scythe.

_Avian Flu would create order in this world by taking away personal freedoms and human rights. They would dictate to each of us who we marry, what we do for a living, if we can have children and even whether we live or die. They are hell-bent on world-domination. They are waging a war against the world's demon hunters because they know we are a powerful threat to them. Some of us are on the extermination list; we're to be killed on sight. I'm one of those, as is my friend, Patti._

"Come on, meister!" I shout with perhaps the widest smile I've ever had on my face… save maybe for after that _horrible _night in her mind library.

"Transform," she shouts as she runs toward me, but then she screams. Justin has lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist and is pulling her back.

"Maka, what are you doing?" Justin says loudly. "Soul's a part of your _past_. We're moving forward to a new world-"

"Not _together_ we aren't," she says as she flails all her limbs in an attempt to bust through his grasp, but he's damn strong. He picks her up and slings her over his shoulder. Hey, that's my job, asshole!

"Justin, put her down," I shout firmly. "She doesn't want this."

"Yes, she does. It's what's best for everyone." Justin says, and sadly he seems to actually _believe_ it. Whatever technique Maka used in order to retain some part of her true self, it appears like Justin didn't do it or was unsuccessful because he looks _very angry_ with me.

_Others, like Maka and Justin, are brainwashed and then paired with a partner of Avian Flu's choosing to create the 'enlightened generation' they talk about. To serve this purpose they have no qualms about kidnapping, abusing, and killing. They have stolen away my friends, my girlfriend, and our leader the headmaster of the DWMA, Lord Death. But, killing, bombing, and brainwashing are not the worst things that Avian Flu does._

"That makes _no_ sense," I say shaking my head. "You know better. Avian Flu has been messing with your head. We're on the same side, remember? Remember having the freedom to make your own choices-"

"Mistakes!" Justin hisses looking at me suspiciously.

"Sure, sometimes, but that's how we learn," I say. "Look, I really don't want to hurt you, Justin, but Maka's coming with me. _Now_." I say seeing out of the corner of my eye that a number of security people are running toward me though a few of them seem to be debating about whether to try to shut off the recording as they keep looking at the speakers.

"What makes you so sure she belongs with you?" the Death Scythe questions.

"Because she has the right to be where she _wants _to be and her soul is reaching out to _me_ and she's running to _me_."

"Soul's right," Maka says. "I'm sorry-"

He throws Maka down so suddenly she is unprepared for it and lands on her knees rather than her feet and she let's out a shout from the impact.

"You fucking asshole, you're hurting her!" I shout running toward him.

He glares at me the only emotion on his face one of hate. It's like he doesn't even register that Maka's in pain. He wraps his left hand around Maka's wrist so tightly she grimaces and lets out a wail as he sticks his right hand into his pocket. "Let go of her!" I shout as I continue to charge toward him until I see his right hand come back out of his pocket with a brass knuckle on.

"Shit!" I scream. "I'm not your enemy, _fuckhead_! Don't do this!"

He takes a swing at me and I duck just in time, but, unfortunately, Lydia doesn't. She had run up behind me in order to meister me and I had been so focused on Maka that I hadn't even realized it.

_Avian Flu doesn't want to partner with you. They want to order you to do as they want and if you don't do as they say they will not hesitate to maim or kill you. They have bombed our school, they have killed adults and teens, and, worst of all they have kidnapped kids and transformed them into demons to bolster their numbers._

Lydia has been knocked off her feet by the power of Justin's punch which was meant for my chin, but instead hit her in the forehead. "Oh, fuck, Llllliiiiiddddddeeeeea, are you Ok?!" I run to her and kneel by her side. The blow has left a nasty gash across her temple. "You're such an asshole!" I scream.

Lydia pulls herself up. Dirt and bits of gravel are stuck among the sequins on her miniskirt. She grabs me and I transform. She swings me with none of the finesse of Maka, but it's enough to freak out all the wedding guests who start standing up and making mad dashes to the exits.

"Let go of Maka!" Lydia shouts. "Or are you upset because you know as soon as you do she's going to run to Soul?"

"Why would she choose Soul Eater over me?" he growls.

I half pop out of scythe form to shout at him. "Cause she _loves_ me, ass hole. Can't you see what Avian Flu's done to you?"

A couple Avian Flu lackeys run up to Justin and he tosses Maka into them. Each one of them holds one of her arms. I know she's fighting, but I have to keep my eyes on Justin and his fists.

"Justin, quit being a dick," Lydia yells.

"Not unless Soul agrees to fight me like a man. One on one."

I shake my head. "This is not the middle ages. We don't need to fight, just let Maka choose. Either she stays here with you and Avian Flu or she comes back to the DWMA with me."

_Listen carefully to what they say. In a world ruled by Avian Flu there would be no other governments or religions. Any culture or person who dares to differ from their narrow viewpoint would prove themselves unworthy of life and be eliminated. The peace Avian Flu offers is nothing more than a dictatorship. Do not allow yourself to be indoctrinated by their lies and manipulation. If you value personal freedoms and believe you should have the right to love who and how you want to, if you believe that diversity strengthens our world __**do not join or support Avian Flu.**__ They are dangerous! Learn the truth! Support the Demon Weapon Meister Academy in our fight against Avian Flu's subversive tactics."_

Maka manages to kick her foot backwards into one of the guys' balls, but she can't seem to free herself from the other. Lydia throws me in her direction and I run toward my meister. "Let her go or I will slice you. No one should have to get married by force."

"Well, aren't you a regular Yankee Doodle," an ice cold chill runs down my spine as I hear the voice that had seemed to be threatening Maka in the garden when she was there with the other women.

"Soul!" Maka shouts and I duck just in time to dodge some kind of soul-wave based attack.

"And what proof do you have to offer that what you say is true?" she says obviously thinking herself quite clever. "I believe we have a clear case of 'he said, she said' here."

"No, we don't. You're outnumbered," Maka yells. "Soul speaks the truth!"

"Words are cheap! Where is your proof?" she says with a chuckle. She's trying to discredit us in front of all these people by acting as though we're just your run of the mill crackpots. It's going to take something dramatic to get everyone to believe that we aren't conspiracy theorists.

Lydia turns to face the remaining audience and yanks on the side of her sexy top. "Proof like this incision I have from where I was impaled by a part of the train _you_ derailed before capturing all my comrades including Maka?" Gasps fill the tent.

"Or do you want to see the photos of flying bird men dropping egg bombs on our school and the rest of Death City?" continues Maka.

The man holding my meister shouts to the woman blocking our way. "This sounds like pretty outlandish stuff. Uh, where are they getting it from?"

The woman laughs. "Comic books, probably. I know Soul Eater is a big fan of _Skeletoxin_ and we all know that all that _manga_ the kids are into these days, warps their impressionable minds beyond recognition."

I grin. "I've never met you before. So, how do you know I love _Skeletoxin_? Could it be that you learned that from listening in on us through the _bugs you planted all over our school_? Or was it in my _private _student file that you _stole_ from the school during the bombing? The one that you studied to determine whether I was to be exterminated or not?"

"Perhaps," she answers with disinterest, flipping her wrist in our general direction. "But I'm beginning to think all of you are too much trouble. Let her go," she orders the man holding Maka. "Justin, do as you wish to the lot of them."

"There is no reason to panic!" The voice of a member of Avian Flu comes over the loud speaker, but it's too late. The place is in chaos.

Maka runs to my side. "Take stance," I shout to her as she wraps her hot hands around me. We've got this!

Wait… something's wrong. Maka's not swinging me right. She's not even _holding_ me right. I'm always either in front of her at waist height or at shoulder height so she can rest me on the back of her neck… What the fuck is going on?

"Meister, what's wrong?" I ask panicking a little.

"I'm sorry, Soul… I'm really weak…" and I realize the paleness I noticed earlier must not be nerves. There's something wrong with her. She's sick or something.

"LLlllllliiiiidddddeeeea!" I wail and the younger meister runs toward me, taking me from Maka's hands and swinging me wildly.

"You're gonna let us leave here," she says.

"Fine, but I don't guarantee it'll be in one piece," the evil woman cackles as she shoots some sort of energy beams from her fingertips. It sends us all flying backwards through the back of the stage. My meister and Lydia, with me still in her grasp in weapon form, are thrown about ten yards behind the stage and still our recorded message plays on.

"_And to the leaders of Avian Flu, know that you may think you are winning this war, but the more you attack the defenseless, the more friends you injure or kill, the more you tear apart happy communities and loving couples, the more the demon hunters of the DWMA will fight you because we are determined to preserve freedom and rid this world of evil."_

Justin leaps off the back of the stage and Lydia swings me, but Justin is not recovering from major surgery and he is easily able to slip past her and grab Maka. He pulls her close to him and plants a very wet kiss on her lips as she beats his chest with her weakened fists. "Get off me, Justin! Stop!"

"You liked it last night," he says smirking suggestively and my heart does that funky beat it does whenever I think of my meister with someone else.

I feel Lydia release her grip on me, but I'm not sure why. "Justin, give Maka to Soul now or I will blow your brains out." She's talking to our opponent, but I freeze for a moment, too, because Lydia's really fucking scary.

"Hey, that's not a demon weapon!" Justin shouts angrily pointing at Lydia's pistol. "That breaks the rules of engagement!"

"This wedding broke many rules of engagement," Maka grumbles at him.

I charge at Justin with my scythe arm.

"Just let me shoot him!" Lydia shouts.

"No, help Maka get out of here! I'll take care of Justin."

"I won't leave without you," Maka says.

"Me neither," Lydia says and for a brief second I am aware that the two of them are standing across from one another seeming to size each other up. Great, can Maka not wait to have her jealous fit until after I take out her fake fiancée? Women!

"Come on, Soul. Let's get out of her," Maka cries and I realize she's right. There's no point in continuing to fight with Justin. I'm only doing it because I'm pissed at him and I want to smash him into the pavement for hurting Maka and Lydia, but I force myself to start running toward the fence on the perimeter of the ranch. We're being pursued by a number of security, but it's hard to tell now because we've also caused a stampede of spectators. Freaked out people are running as if their lives depended on it, which they might- you can never know what to expect with Avian Flu.

Lydia was right. It would have been a crime for me to thrash this wedding and not create a major PR problem for Avian Flu. I wish I could sit back with a soda and a big ole tub of buttery popcorn and watch their big event fall apart. It's beautiful!

As we run I find that Maka is having a hard time keeping up and normally she's the leader of the pack with those long legs of hers. Oh, God, those legs! Oh, Lord Death, I need to focus. If this is what being away from Maka for a few days is gonna do to me we better never get sent on separate assignments… Maka is also getting slowed down by that horrible dress of hers. It keeps getting caught on shit and it's a huge encumbrance as it's like hauling a set of curtains along with us.

"Stop for a sec," I shout and I whirl her around so she's facing me. "Hold still," I say sticking my hand down her cleavage. I transform my arm into a blade and in one forward swipe slice the gown in half down the front. In the blink of an eye, she is free of the gown and is left only wearing a weird bra type thing and some kind of slip. She blushes a little and it's so adorable I want to kiss her right there, but there are people only a few paces behind us so we just start running again as fast as we can. Fortunately, without the dress Maka's speed is increased. Lydia is still behind us, wildly swinging her gun and threatening anyone she fears may be after us.

"Ly….deee…a! Come on!"

"I'm coming!"

We run up to the fence and I slice a huge arch into it, creating a hole for us to exit through

"Come on, Lydia. Hurry up!" I scream.

"I'm comin'. Keep your pants on!" she shouts back.

The plan has been for Lydia to sit on Maka's lap on the back of the bike, but my meister and I are pulling ahead. I start to slow down. "We gotta wait for Lydia," I tell Maka, but Lydia protests.

"Just go Soul, mission accomplished."

"I'm not leaving you," I let go of Maka's hand and run toward Lydia. She's grimacing. "Are you ok? Come on, we gotta get to the bike."

She shakes her head. "I'm not gonna make it." She doubles over as though she might throw up. I stare at her. Oh, crap. What have I done? Did I sacrifice one girl for another? Am I _that_ selfish?

"Help me get on that horse over there." She waves her hand in the direction of what looks like a palomino. I give her a boost not paying any attention to where my hands are touching. "Now, _go_," she orders.

"Do you know how to ride?" I ask her concerned.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have had you put me on a horse, ya _idiot_." I don't want to leave her. I know she's on the horse, but a motorcycle is way faster than a horse and Avian Flu has horses and motorbikes, too, and- "_Go, asshole!_" She yells right in my face. "You can switch out of 'hero mode' now. I have a gun. _I'll be fine._"

"No, we're in this together-"

"You and Maka need to get out of here. It's important… for all of us…" I don't know what she means, but I'm startled by feeling a hand in mine. It's my meister. She speaks softly into my ear, "Come on, Soul. _She's right; _we need to go. _Trust her._"

"I'll be fine," Lydia assures me. "Just get to the rendezvous point before Justin comes after you with those knuckles."

"Fine!" I cry as Maka and I run hand in hand through the mass of parked wagons, carts, and other conveyances until we reach the motorcycle area. "That shiny blue one is ours," I tell her.

We get there and she hops on behind me just like old times and I rev up the engine.

"Oh, Shinigami! Does it always sound like this?!" she shouts over the ear-blaring purr of the engine.

I nod.

"Soul, could you define 'ours' for me…?"

I laugh, "Don't worry, I'm only borrowing it."

"Good! I'd hate to think you spent all our mission money on a bike that sounds like this."

"About that… ah…you don't happen to have any money do you?" I ask as I gun it away from the compound scanning the sky for any flyers they may decide to send after us.

"No. Why?" My meister asks me suspiciously.

"Well, I don't exactly _have_ any mission money."

"_Soul…_" I can tell that Maka is putting the pieces together. Like I've always said my meister's sharp. "Are you telling me this is an unauthorized mission?"

"Rescuing my meister is never unauthorized."

"Don't dodge the question, Soul. Did you come after me without the blessing of Kid and the DWMA?"

I pretend not to hear her.

"Soul?" I can feel her gaze piercing into the back of my skull.

"Yeah, ok, I'm kind of rouge right now," I admit.

"Soul!" she whacks me in the back. "Are you and Lydia the only ones on this mission, then?"

"Yeah-"

"That's incredibly dangerous! Why on earth would you-"

"It's a long story. Would it be ok if I wait to tell it to you?"

"Is it going to make me mad?"

"Honestly?" I ask as I glance over my shoulder at her.

"Honestly," she says flatly.

"Parts of it maybe…"

"Like the part where you risked your life and Lydia's life to come rescue me without the assistance of any of our comrades."

"Yeah, and the part where I acted like a total dick to Kid…"

Maka sighs. "Soul, you shouldn't have." I hang my head a little. I know her better than to expect a thank you. She's too much of a rule follower to- "But I'm really happy you did."

Letting go of the handlebars with one hand I bring one of her hands from my waist to my lips, kissing it. "I love you."

"Love you, too," she says and returns her hand to my middle giving me a playful squeeze. "But I am a little self-conscious about the fact I'm in my underwear. You got a plan to get me some clothes or you gonna keep me half naked?"

I grin. "Meister, I'm sorry, but that's for me to know and you to find out."


	70. Chapter 70: The Privilege of Privacy

_**Chapter 70: The Privilege of Privacy; What Aren't You Saying?**_

We sail across the ranch lands in silence, or more correctly without _talking_, as this motorbike eliminates all quiet within a ten mile radius around it. I may very well be deaf by the time I get back to DC.

Maka leans forward, "Are we getting close to the rendezvous point?"

"Urm, I think we got another hour or so… you need a break?"

Maka is slow to respond at first and then says that she's ok and doesn't need a rest stop, but I'm not convinced. Once I feel confident Avian Flu isn't tailing us, I'm gonna try and figure out what's wrong with her. I've never seen her so weak that she can't wield me, even that one time when she was sick and in bed for an entire week she would have still been able to heft me were we in a pinch, but what troubles me more than her mysterious lack of strength is that she hasn't offered an explanation. She's gotta know that I'm worried about her, so why doesn't she just tell me what's going on?

"Do you have any water?" she asks me.

"Uhhh, yeah… ummm…" I try to recall exactly where the water bottles are and realize that I've no idea. Lydia was probably the last person to fill them.

"Don't tell me you lost _another_ canteen," my meister teases.

"No, I'll have you know that I've managed to hold onto one for like three whole days now. I just don't where Lydia shoved it. Just dig around in the bags and you should find it." She sets to work and a minute or two Iater I hear what sounds like a startled yelp.

I strain my eyeballs in their sockets trying to see what's happened. "Somethin' wrong?" I ask, immediately concerned.

"Oh… uh… nothing. Nevermind."

"You find the water?"

"Not yet." My meister replies wearily.

"I think it'd be safe for us to pull over and I can find it for you."

Normally, my meister would insist that we keep going and that rest stops aren't for the serious demon hunter, but today to my surprise she says, "Yeah, let's take a break when you find a safe spot."

It isn't long before I find a small grove of fruit trees that looks inviting. I park the bike by one of the trees and hop off it, happy to get out of the direct sun for a little while. Maka dismounts, but instead of using this as an opportunity to stretch her legs, my meister immediately walks over to the base of the tree and sits down. I watch her for a moment before it dawns on me that I should be trying to locate the water. It takes a few minutes, but, eventually, I discover the elusive water bottle in the side pocket of my backpack. I take a sip as I head over to offer it to my meister.

"Here you go," I tell her, handing her the canteen. "Anything else ya need?"

"No, I'll be fine," she says with a weak smile. "But thank you." Her manner seems too formal and overly polite, as though we aren't best friends, roommates, partners, and lovers. I frown. Something isn't right, but is it just because she's been in Avian Flu's care for several days or is there more to it? I sit down beside her contemplating her odd behavior and trying hard not to freak out about how things feel a little 'off'. She takes the water and sips it as she stares off into the distance, but she gets carried away with her next sip and ends up guzzling it down.

"Hey, hey slow down," I tell her pulling the bottle from her lips. She closes her eyes and smiles for a moment her thirst apparently sated, at least, for the moment. "Don't worry. There's another one, so drink as much as you want, just go slow. This bike isn't a very smooth ride. I'd hate for you to get motion sick-" As if I jinxed her, my meister's eyes suddenly grow wide, her face assuming a look of panic as she twists away from me, a fountain of water spouting from her mouth.

"Maka!" I say rising from my seated position to lean over her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, my stomach's just a little upset."

"A little?! You just threw up _water_. They have been _feeding_ you, right?" At this point nothing Avian Flu could do would surprise me, but you would think they'd be wanting to keep one of their breeding stock healthy. Immediately, I am ashamed to have seen the world from Avian Flu's warped perspective.

"Yeah, they gave me food."

"Good, just checking." I take her hand in mine. "I'm worried about you." She turns toward me and light from between the tree branches illuminates her arms and for the first time I notice strange marks on them. There are several scars that look like little cuts or punctures surrounded by bruising.

"Maka? What are these?" I gently touch them and they become more easily visible. I look down at my hand and see that my touch has made them more obvious. I've smudged something that was helping to cover them up, like some kind of makeup or something. Maka says nothing as I wipe away the concealer. There's five or six of the marks some near the inside of her elbow and some closer to her wrist. I grab her opposite arm and swipe it with my sweaty hand and find the same thing going on with her other arm. "My god, what did they do to you?"

"It's alright. It's over now. I'm so happy to be with you again. Let's focus on what's to come."

I frown. "That's a real nice sentiment, meister, but that doesn't answer my question. What did they do to you?" I try to say it gently, though inside I'm feeling a rage swelling. What happened that is so bad that she's trying to hide it from me?

She shakes off my grip on her right arm and brings her hand to my face, lightly touching my cheek. "It's not important. All that matters is we're together again. It looks like you got badly sunburnt. We'll need to get you some aloe-"

"_Meister! _Why are you not telling me what those marks are? You're my partner! I deserve to know the truth about what they did to you."

"Why? Because it's over now."

"Meister, do you really think I'm going to let this go?"

She looks unhappy. "I wish that you would. I don't feel comfortable telling you."

My heart hurts. Since when doesn't she feel ok telling me stuff? When did we start keeping secrets from one another? "Maka, this is exactly what Avian Flu wants. They'll do anything to stop us from trusting one another. So, if you're trying to stop me from feeling guilty that I wasn't there to protect you, just knock it off and tell me the truth. I can handle it. There shouldn't be secrets between partners, especially not between us."

"Does that mean that I don't get the right to keep something private that embarrasses me?"

Embarrasses her? Oh, this must have something to do with Justin. Only stuff like that would embarrass her. "Did Justin do this to you?" I ask softly.

"No," she says exasperated. "Justin, did not do this to my arms."

I wrap my arm around her and hold her for a few minutes. "I know I'm pushing… I just want to know that you're really ok and just cause you're free now doesn't automatically mean that you're all right." She nods before resting her head on my shoulder. "The whole time I was in the hospital I kept imagining all these horrible things happening to you. I guess I just want to know what really happened so I don't imagine it was even worse than it was."

"You were in the hospital?" She looks up at me with concern and I realize I haven't updated her on anything that's happened to me or with the DWMA since she was taken.

"Yeah, I got really dehydrated. It was no big. I'm fine, not like Lydia. She got really messed up in the derailment."

"About that-"

"Hey, no changing the subject, meister," I say with a sly half-smile. "Right now, you're telling me what happened to you so I can make all those fuckers get their just desserts."

Her finger traces circles on the bulgy veins on the back of my hand. "Soul, Avian Flu didn't _exactly _do this to me."

I sit there puzzled. If Avian Flu didn't hurt her… was it the train wreck? No, it couldn't be. Those aren't the kind of abrasions you get from an accident. Their placement is too precise. They're too neat, far too systematic. Then the unthinkable hits me like one of Justin's Head Butts of Love.

"Did you cut yourself?" I don't mean to yell, but I do because I'm angry, _very_ angry.

Her brow lowers and she glares at me. "This is exactly why I didn't want to have to talk to you about this. I knew you'd over react."

"Over react? I'm overreacting? Well, too _fuckin'_ _bad_ because you owe me an explanation. Because it kind of seems like my meister just morphed into some anorexic, neurotic head case so, I'm gonna ask again. Who did this to your arms, Maka?" She bites her lip and looks into my eyes. "Maka." I harden my jaw. "_Tell me who did this to you. Right now,_ before I get even angrier."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, fine, Mr. Nosey. I did it to myself."

"What the hell?! You can't be serious!" I yell this so loud that I'm surprised I don't inadvertently blow her hair right out of that ridiculously tight bun it's currently in. None of this makes any sense. Why would my meister, who isn't a self-destructive person, be cutting herself? She puts her anger and fear into kicking demon ass or into yelling at me to get my butt off the couch. Is this what she would resort to if we started losing our battles? "Maka, what the fuck?" I ask staring at her. I feel like I don't even know her.

"Hear me out!" she shouts back at me, as though there could be some excuse that would make this ok in my eyes. "I thought you were dead!"

"So?!" Oh, my god. This is my fault. I've encouraged this… we've talked about going out of this world together so when she thought that I was gone, she tried to take matters into her own hands… I just never thought she would be the type to do something like this. "Maka, I can't believe-"

"Soul, I wasn't trying to kill myself," she says unemotionally before awkwardly continuing. "I was trying to preserve my memories of you."

"Huh?"

She sighs. "The last thing I saw of you was when you were fighting to get that little boy away from one of the flyers. We had defeated their leader, but the car was still in chaos and before I even landed I was set upon by demons. It was _bad _and that was before the crash. When I finally had a moment to attempt to detect your soul I couldn't find it. I was so upset. We were a ways apart by that point, but it shouldn't have mattered. Of all people I should be able to find you the easiest, but I couldn't feel even a _trace_ of you and I'd seen you thrown from the train with my own eyes. I wanted so hard to believe it wasn't so, but what was I to think?"

"It doesn't matter. You live! You fucking live, Maka!"

"I told you I wasn't trying to kill myself. Would I lie?"

"I'm not sure if I know anymore," I grunt.

She presses her lips tightly together so they blanch to white before continuing. "Let me finish, Soul! Well, Avian Flu had this brilliant idea to have some kind of rally complete with a wedding. Only problem was their bride and groom were _supposed _to be Sandra and Black*Star. So, since that didn't work out how they'd hoped and they had just captured Justin Law they decided to have it be the two of us, but the date of the rally had already been set so they wanted to indoctrinate me as quickly as possible and that meant not just adding substances to my food, but injecting me with something, too. Every day, sometimes more than once they'd give me these shots in my veins. I had been working on trying to find a way to escape, but after a few days it became obvious that I wasn't going to be able to do it on my own, at least not anytime soon, and I started to feel the effects of the drugs… my memories were starting to get foggy, especially of you and since I thought you were gone forever, my memories of you were all I had and I couldn't lose you… so I started bloodletting after the injections hoping I might be able to eliminate some of the substance from my bloodstream before it fully circulated. I know that Dr. Stein said that his experiments haven't proved it to be an effective technique, but-"

Suddenly, I understand. Once in class we were talking about ways to counteract being drugged by the enemy and one of our classmates had said that they had heard if you tourniqueted your limb and withdrew the blood contaminated by the substance that it _might_ be a way to prevent it from going systemic. Stein had been impressed that the student knew of the technique, but he said that his hands-on-experiments had shown that it was less effective than other techniques.

"You were bloodletting?"

She offers me a weak smile. "I just couldn't stand thinking that I'd be like Black*Star."

"But Black*Star has come around."

"But Tsubaki's alive and right by his side and they had Kid's help. I wasn't confident that it would be the same for me and I couldn't take that risk."

"So, you thought the _best _alternative was to _inflict yourself with wounds_ to maybe lessen the toxin," I criticize. "Exactly how much blood are we talking about, because a few teaspoons shouldn't make you this weak. Please don't tell me you were dumping pints onto the floor or something."

"No, but they were also putting stuff in my food so I couldn't eat much-"

"Oh, my God! No wonder you've got no energy. What in the hell were you thinking!" I scream at her.

"I didn't want to forget you!"

"Even if it meant hurting yourself? If I had one of your books I'd chop _you_ on the head, Maka."

"You shouldbe flattered that I love you so much."

"Well, I'm not. I don't like thinking that anytime I'm not around you could be doing something crazy like this."

"That's not fair. I thought you were dead. I didn't do this when you _ran away_."

"Ugh! Are you going to hold that over my head forever? You know what your problem is? You read too much damn love poetry and it builds up this unhealthy romanticism in your head."

"Oh, give me a break. It's not like I shot myself or something. I'm just a little anemic. That's all."

"_You can't even lift me in scythe form!_ You can't meister me."

"Well, that doesn't seem to matter, does it? It seems like you found a very capable replacement for me." There's a definite edge to her voice.

"Are you accusing me of cheating?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but Lydia would _love _if I wasn't in the picture. You can't honestly claim that you don't know that she has the hots for you. Have you _seen_ the way she looks at you?"

I blush. I didn't think it was that obvious and I was hoping Lydia had snapped out of her infatuation with me by now, but I guess I was wrong. "Lydia knows I'm in love with you. I've made that _really_ clear all along. We're just friends, I swear."

"Then why is her bag full of thong underwear?"

"It is?" I drawback a bit. Did Lydia seriously think…? There's no way. I shrug. "Maybe that's what she wears all the time. How the hell should I know? I didn't pack her bag and she doesn't exactly have a very practical fashion sense. You saw what she wore to battle this afternoon."

"I guess, but I'm not convinced she got the message that-"

I wrap my arms around her. "Maka, before I left DC I told Lydia that I wasn't coming to get you back because you're my meister, but because you're my girlfriend and you're everything to me. She's just sad because she's not as lucky as you and I. Erika pressured her to go out with some real shitheads. And why are _you_ acting all distrustful? I'm not the one who was about to _marry_ someone else!"

"But you know I'm not into Justin!"

"Then what the hell are ya doin' sneaking into his room in the middle of the night?!" Oh, shit. I wasn't going to ever ask her about that. I decided I didn't want to know what that was about, but now I've gone and spilled the beans and I might learn something I really, really don't want to know.

Maka turns beat red. "How do you know about that?"

"I heard you and a bunch of the bridesmaids talking about it."

"And you were… what? Just going to pretend that you didn't hear about it?"

"I hadn't decided! I mean it hurt like hell when I heard it but I figured they'd brainwashed you so you didn't really have a choice, but now I don't know what to think. And, yeah, I came to rescue you with a chick who might sort-of be attracted to me, but I didn't have a lot of choices. Everyone else went on a big mission where they were _supposed_ to bring you and everybody else from the train back with them… but _everybody_ else MIA from the train was there except _you_. I had limited options and Lydia owed me one and she deserves to have the chance to work with someone else besides that bitch, Erika. And _yes_, I guess she packed sexy panties, not that I knew that, but, honestly it doesn't matter because even if she'd paraded around in them in front of me I probably wouldn't have even noticed, because this whole time since I got tossed off that cursed train I've been working my way back to you because I love you and I'm your partner and I belong with you. And I trust you."

"You trust that I wouldn't cheat?" Her green eyes stare deep into mine.

"I trust that you would do whatever you thought was necessary at the time and you wouldn't do anything that you thought would hurt me unless you couldn't help it… but since you thought I was dead…"

Maka gasps. "You think I slept with him, don't you?"

"Given the circumstances I guess it's not really my business," I mumble. "Except, what a shitty guy! Didn't he notice how skinny you've gotten? You look like some god-damned supermodel. It isn't at all attractive."

"Soul, all I did was kiss him."

"I don't need to know," I grumble miserably. "You thought I was dead. You get a free pass, but… Maka, do you really think I'd be able to get over you so quickly?"

"I'm sorry. It's just so hard seeing her wielding you…" Maka looks incredibly sad and my anger melts away.

"I know. It wasn't easy for me, either… you know I only like being partnered with you, but everyone else was off on the mission and I couldn't wait…"

"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble and I'm sorry if it seems like I don't trust you."

I pull her close to me in a hug. "Ssshhh. You don't need to say anything else. We're back together and you're right we should just be looking forward."

I mash my lips into hers and the kiss draws her entire body closer to mine and that's right where I want her to be. Our lips part and I smile. "Meister, I love you. Please, don't forget that."

"Ditto," she says sweetly. "I'd kiss you again, but I guess being kissed by someone who just threw up isn't all that appealing."

I give her a tender squeeze. "It's fine," I say kissing her. "Tell me that Justin's a bad kisser," I whisper to her as I make a trail of kisses from her lips down her neck.

"The worst. He's like a slobbery dog." I smile. That's what I want to hear. She's mine and I'm hers. The world is right once again. "And he doesn't have sharp little teeth to do that little vampire biting thing you do."

"Oh, you mean this?" I suck on her neck and gently prick her with my teeth and she lets out a moan.

"Yeeessss that," she hisses as she grows limp in my arms, but there's no doubt in my mind that this is not from anemia. It's 'cause she trusts me. "Oh, Soul, I love you so much."

"I love you too, meister. You've got nothing to worry about with Lydia. I promise. She's just jealous of how good we are together. I've actually been thinking that you and I should set her up with someone. Someone nice."

"Would we ever set someone up with someone who _wasn't _nice?" she asks me seriously.

"Maybe Erika… or Ox… or _Justin_," I growl when saying the name of her almost-husband before nipping at her neck again.

"Or Excalibur," she adds.

"Definitely Excalibur. We should set him up with Ms. Leech."

I reach up and touch the back of her head. "You want this thing out don't you?" I ask as I start removing hair pins. Some of her hair comes cascading out of the bun, but some remains in place stiffly adhered in an abnormal shape from enormous amounts of hair spray or gel. Maka reaches back and jiggles it some to loosen it up.

"I'm sorry I gave you a hard time," she says and as she does I think that even though I just called her as unattractive as a supermodel just a moment ago I am definitely attracted to her, v_ery_ attracted to her, maybe pathologically attracted to her.

"But, Maka, if you were faking your affection for Justin what were you going to do after you were married?"

She covers her face with her hands. I look at her suspiciously. "Meister, what exactly _was_ your plan?!" She grins a nervous little smile and says nothing.

"Oh, _**gross!**_" I exclaim.

"I was going to do my best to pretend he was you, until I found my opportunity to escape."

I shake my head. "That was a _crappy_ plan, Meister. I'm happy I got there in time to veto it."

"Not as happy as I am," she says kissing me again. "Can I just glue you to me?" she giggles and I realize it's the first time I've heard her laugh. Everything is going to be just fine.

"Come on, we better go if we want to get back to DC tomorrow."

She nods and stands up weakly.

"I'm taking you out to dinner tonight. A big steak dinner."

"Oh, God, no. I need to start out light. Rice, toast, maybe a banana."

As we walk up to the bike my eyes fall on Lydia's lipstick printed bag and her metallic pink backpack. "Does she really have a bunch of thongs in there?"

"Yes."

"Who packs something like that for a mission? Wouldn't you get dirt and sand in your crack when you camp out?"

Maka shrugs. "I dunno. We've been undressed outdoors and it hasn't been too bad."

I moan. As if I weren't horny enough she has to bring up hot, camping sex.

I point to the blue beast. "Get on the bike, Meister, or I'm liable to drag you off and have my way with you." She smiles, gathers her slip in her hand, and seats herself on the bike while I put the water away and check the time.

As I mount the bike, she whispers in my ear, "Would you rather _I_ wear sexy underwear?"

A naughty smirk on my lips, I answer, "To tell you the truth, I don't much care _what_ your panties look like, as long as you let me take 'em off you, once in a while." She turns as red as a strawberry and I laugh. "Alright! You must not be too anemic, if you can turn red like _that_. I think you're gonna live, meister. So, next stop is our rendezvous at Lydia's mom's house."


	71. Chapter 71: Home Sweet Home

_**Chapter 71: Home Sweet Home; What Good Are You?**_

When Lydia had first suggested her mother's house as our next stop after the Avian Flu rally I had been skeptical. It seemed to me like it would be easy for our enemy to suspect that we would go there, but I had been unable to offer a better idea. However, I hadn't considered the possibility that I might end up at the house without Lydia and as I park our ear-blaring transport in front of the house I can't help but feel awkward.

I double check that the house looks the way Lydia described it, because the street signs around here are shit and there's no obvious house number, but this has to be the place. I mean, how many pink houses with white picket fences also have a front yard with a willow tree that has bird feeders in it?

Maka and I cautiously approach the house watching for enemies hidden in the shadows despite the relatively benign appearance of the house and the front yard. It never hurts to be cautious. When we reach the house we walk up the five steps to the porch and Maka pushes the doorbell button. We hear a chime ring in the house followed by the sounds of footsteps and rustling as someone approaches the door from the other side.

When the door opens it reveals a brunette woman probably in her mid-to-late thirties. There can be no doubt that this woman is a relative of Lydia as they bear the same heart shaped face and the same stout build.

"Uh… hi. Can I do somethin' to help you?" She asks. She is being amazingly polite considering that a couple random teenagers, one of whom is dressed only in undergarments, have appeared on her porch.

"Yeah, we're friends of Lydia's and we're on a mission and she's supposed to meet us here," I tell the woman. "You're Lydia's mom, right?" I ask cringing slightly as I realize this could be a sister or cousin or something, instead of her mom. I don't think I know if Lydia has siblings…

"Yes! I'm Lydia's mom, the name's Cheryl! I didn't even know she was in the area. She's not the best about keeping me in the loop. I can't think of the last time I got a telegram from her and the last letter… that must have been two months ago, now, but I'm sure you're all really busy. Come on in…" She steps back to allow us entry into her house, but then she suddenly steps back in front of us. "Oh, wait… ah, crap… isn't there something I'm supposed to ask? Some kind of code word…" She contemplates this for a moment. "Oh, _shit_. Lyd's gonna kill me if she finds out I didn't remember the special code word. Can I trust you not to mention it to her?"

"No problem," Maka says kindly. "I've always thought it a little silly. It's far too hard to work the word 'camel' into conversation without being conspicuous about it."

"Oh, that's right. 'Camel' that's right. Lydia told me to remember that secret agents are sexy and good at humping and camels have humps… or something like that, anyway," Cheryl says with an embarrassed laugh.

Cheryl is a gracious host and offers us a beverage and a seat on an overstuffed sofa in the living room. When Cheryl steps into the kitchen to get our drinks she continues to talk to us through shutters in the wall that divide the living area from the kitchen.

"Should I be worried that my baby isn't here yet?"

"No," I respond, perhaps a little too quickly. "I don't think so. She's on a horse and we were on a motorcycle so I figured we would beat her here."

"Oh, good. I can't help being concerned. Did you know that a student was killed recently?"

"Yeah, it's really sad," Maka says.

"I'm friends with Mira's sister so I hear little tidbits sometimes, but that's still more than I hear from Lydia," the woman laughs. "It's amazing how quickly your own child can decide they have no use for you any longer."

An awkward feeling hangs in the air and it's Maka who has the courage to break it. "Sorry, I just realized we failed to introduce ourselves. I'm Maka Albarn and this is my partner, Soul Evans." Maka smiles politely before adding, "And I don't normally dress like this."

"It's ok. I expect the unexpected from my daughter's friends. Even before I learned she had the aptitude to become a meister she ran with an odd sort, so no worries, but if you need a change of clothes I'd be happy to lend ya something."

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, that'd be great," Maka says, greatly relieved at the thought of ridding herself of her wedding dress undergarments. "I'd really like to get out of this. It's not very comfortable."

"I bet. Come on." Maka follows Lydia's mom upstairs and I peer out the window. I didn't lie to Cheryl. I'm **not** surprised we got here before Lydia, but that doesn't stop me from worrying. Especially since, Lydia didn't look all that great when we left her and she's out there by herself. I can't believe we left her alone. What were we thinking? I find myself pacing back and forth in front of the window.

"You're worried about Lydia aren't you?" I jump when Maka speaks to me.

"Yeah," I mumble. My meister has traded in her worse-for-the-wear bridal attire for a pair of gray leggings and an oversize lavender sweatshirt that exposes one shoulder. She looks _incredibly_ hot, either that or I'm just really horny, it's probably both. I glance toward the stairs. I wonder how long we're going to be alone… I'd hate for Cheryl to hear me worrying about her daughter and I wouldn't mind a few minutes of-

"Soul," Maka scolds me. "I know what you're thinking. She'll be down in just a minute. She wanted to see if she could find some shoes that might work for me but she's not sure where they are." I look at Maka's feet and realize that she's been wearing high heels this whole time. Pretty impressive considering how much running we did back at the ranch.

"What do we do if Lydia doesn't turn up? It's not like we can retrace her route; there's no decent roads between here and the ranch. She could be anywhere."

"It's early yet," my meister reminds me.

"But she wasn't looking so great."

Maka wraps her arms around me. "I feel really bad, too. I hardly know her and there she was risking her life for me and you."

I give her a squeeze. "She knows you better than you think. I talk about you a lot."

Maka laughs. "You know that you don't actually talk very much, right? I'm sure there's always a lot going on in your head, but you're more of the silent observer type."

"Really?"

"Yup. You sit back and watch and occasionally say, 'that's cool' or 'so uncool, man'."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Maybe," my meister says mischievously.

"That's so uncool, Meister." I say leaning over and kissing her. I wish I could let my lips linger on hers, but I pull away reminding myself this is neither the time nor the place.

"Soul, do you regret it?" my meister's tone is no longer playful. She's looking for an honest answer.

"Regret what?"

"Coming for me."

I shake my head. "No. I realize that probably makes me super selfish, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat." I pull back the curtain, once again hoping to see a sign of my temporary partner. "But I'm gonna feel a lot better about the whole thing once Lydia turns up." I pause. "How long you think we should give her?"

"How fast were you going?" Maka asks trying to tabulate in her head when we should expect our comrade to arrive.

"Seventy, sometimes. Sometimes less. Over that really bumpy area a lot less."

"Maybe another hour or two, then."

"What the hell are we gonna do for a couple hours?" I grumble, the misery of waiting making me grouchy. "Oh, wait! I can think of something we can do." I lean in close to my meister.

"Not _here_, hornball."

"Tsk, tsk, Meister Maka, I have nothing but pure thoughts," I say tapping her nose as she mumbles, "yeah, right," under her breath.

"I was _actually_ thinking that my meister needs to try to eat something." Her grumbling increases. "Come on, I'm sure there is something Cheryl could give you." She glares at me and I drop the joking tone and get bossy. "Maka, the longer you go without eating the harder it's gonna be when you start. I'll sit on you and spoon feed ya if I have to." She rolls her eyes. "You know I'll do it. Empty threats aren't cool."

I can almost see the gears in her head turning, as she attempts to find some way of countering my pro-eating argument, but she doesn't seem to come up with anything. "Fine," she concedes. "When Cheryl comes back down, I'll ask her for some crackers or something."

I release my meister from my hug and lift the curtain once again, but the gravel road in front of the house is just the same as the last time I checked it. I sigh. It could be a _very_ long afternoon at this rate.

"I found them!" The exuberant shout comes from somewhere upstairs and is followed shortly by the reappearance of Lydia's mother holding a pair of black leather boots.

"They're a bit too large for me," she says on her way down the staircase, "but I keep forgetting to get rid of them. I hope they fit."

Maka takes a seat on the couch and pulls off the filthy 'white' satin high heels she is wearing and slides her foot into the boot. "It's a little snug, but I think it'll do."

"Good deal," Cheryl says before pouring herself a cup of tea. "So which of you is the meister and which is the weapon?"

"I'm Soul's meister. He's a scythe."

Lydia's mother nods politely. "Oh, I see you must be a bit more of a traditionalist, huh? Lydia always said she wanted her weapon to be a gun. I guess it worked out good that she and Erika hit it off. Didn't you guys have a meister retreat a couple months back? How'd it go?"

"Oh, we're not part of the Laughing Sun class. We're Crescent Moon."

"Oh. Wow. Your class is pretty prestigious what with Death the Kid and all that work some of you did with that kishin. How'd Lydia and Erika end up working with you two?"

I don't want to worry her, but I also don't think it's right to lie to her.

"Things at the DWMA are really intense right now. We're fighting an organization called Avian Flu," Maka explains.

"Avian Flu? The _service_ organization? Why, _on earth,_ would Lord Death be picking on them?"

"Lord Death isn't. The academy suffered an unprovoked attack a couple weeks ago. The organization just uses good works as a cover for their dark agenda."

Cheryl looks as though she doesn't believe us, but she doesn't argue.

"Actually, it would be helpful if we contacted the academy," Maka says thinking aloud. "Could we borrow your bathroom for a few minutes?"

Cheryl must know about the method DWMA students use to communicate to our headmaster as she doesn't seem surprised by this otherwise odd sounding request. Instead, she leads us down the hall to a long, narrow bathroom, trimmed in aquamarine tiles and decorated with a seashell motif.

Maka starts to fog up the mirror, but I shake my head and indicate for her to step back. _I_ need to initiate this communication. I don't need my girlfriend to apologize for my behavior for me. I dial Lord Death's death room.

The image appears and instead of Kid, it's Patti, her arm in a sling. I had totally forgotten she got hurt.

"What happened?" Maka asks before I can get a word out.

"_MAKA!_" Patti's squeal reaches a decibel level that I hitherto thought was impossible for the human vocal range. She bounces in front of the two way mirror. "It's Soul and he's got Maka! Kid wake up." The young weapon disappears from view for a moment as she bends over and pulls into view a very disheveled looking Kid.

"Patti, I needa sleep…" he mutters and clings to something that appears to be Liz's arm.

"But it's Soul and _Maka_. _Wake up_. I know you're exhausted, but this is important, Kid!"

Kid's torso reappears in view. He blinks sleepily a couple times and then opens his eyes wide and stands up running a hand through his hair and giving it a little shake to get it out of his eyes. "Patti, remember no one is supposed to know that Lord Kid is napping on the job."

"Oh, right, sorry! I was just so excited. Look!" Patti points at the screen and Kid seems for the first time to comprehend what his partner is so excited about.

"Maka, are you alright?" Liz's voice is heard off screen, before she appears from beneath the view of the mirror. Evidently, the three have been sleeping on the floor of the death room for some reason.

Liz looks at me and smirks, "Good job, Asswipe." I nod. I expected that. The girls tend to get a little touchy when you go against their meister's wishes, not like they follow his instructions to the letter or anything.

"I'm ok," Maka says. "Just a little shook up."

"Where are you? What can we do to help?" Kid asks.

I interrupt before my meister can answer. "We're at Lydia's mom's house outside El Paso"

"Is Lydia with you?" I can read the concern on his face.

"No, she should be rendezvousing with us here in the next few hours."

He nods and looks at me and it's a hard look. "Soul-"

"I'm not gonna say I'm sorry," I tell him.

Maka gasps, "He doesn't mean that! Don't listen to him, Kid. He didn't mean-"

"Oh, he meant it," Kid says never once taking his gaze from my eyes. His yellow eyes are like a cat's before launching upon prey, but I don't flinch. "However, he did get results. Do you have _any_ idea how much danger you put yourself and Lydia in?"

"Oh, come on, Kid. You sound like your father!" Patti whispers to him. "Give Soul a break."

"We didn't encounter any flyers-"

"I don't mean from the enemy. Lydia was not healed enough to take a trip of this nature. Mira's been worried sick that her incision is going to dehisce."

"That means open up," Liz explains. "You know, Dr. Kid, over here likes to make himself seem important with-"

Kid's shoulders sag and he turns to face his taller partner. "Liz, for the last time, there is nothing wrong with using medical terminology if one knows it. I'm not showing off. I'm talking to two of my best friends-"

He says that and I know everything's going to be just fine between us. "Thanks, dude," I say.

"You're welcome," he says with a smile, before suddenly remembering his duty and continuing. "But you're not off the hook. When you get back here I have to make an example of you. I can't have students doing whatever the hell they feel like-"

"Even if it is the most romantic thing ever," Patti says smiling from ear to ear. Kid rolls his eyes and turns to face her.

"He" he points his finger at me. "Put Lydia in danger by asking her-"

"I didn't pressure her."

"Not _technically_, but you used… how do I put this?"

"You knew Lydia would love to get in your pants so you knew it'd be hard for her to say no to you," Liz says and Kid nods.

"I would have put it more poetically," the reaper says. "But, essentially, yes."

"But, I didn't know she-"

The threesome all raise eyebrows and look at me like I asked if they were born yesterday.

"Ok, I thought she might have a crush on me, but I _swear _I didn't think that would have any effect-"

"Soul," Liz interrupts. "A girl in love will do a lot of stupid and unhealthy things."

My eyes almost pop from their sockets. "Let's get something straight. I'm not into Lydia! Hello!" I grab Maka by the arm. "My Meister, hello?!"

Liz smiles a little. "Soul, just because something is one-sided doesn't mean it isn't love and love's mighty powerful stuff."

"Wait! Do all of you think she came with me because she has a crush on me?"

Kid and his ladies nod, which I expect, but when Maka nods I curse loudly.

"What's done is done," Kid says. "But you've got a lot to answer to. You and Lydia stole medications-"

"I did all that."

"Sure, you did," he says clearly not buying that Lydia had no part in it. "You humiliated Hiro-"

At this Liz gives a thumbs up and Patti winks. I'm sure Kid would be on board with this one were he not in headmaster mode.

"And you _obviously _had some lead on Maka's location that you neglected to share with me or her father. Spirit is going to be thrilled that you're ok, Maka, but you should know that he is not going to be pleased that Soul didn't share his lead with the rest of us. This is _not_ going to help his relationship with your father."

Maka rolls her eyes. "I don't care about that, but what does Soul need to do to set things right?"

"First and foremost?" The reaper asks her. "He needs to get Lydia back here in one piece, he needs to accept demerits on his record, and he'll need to volunteer at the dispensary two days a week until further notice."

"What about apologizing to you?" My meister questions. "He told me he acted like a dick to you."

Kid half closes his eyes and smiles, "No apology is needed between friends, but a public one will be required… to keep up appearances."

I nod.

"We'll debrief when you get back to DC," Kid mutters mid-yawn.

"We could do it now," Maka offers and Kid starts to respond, but the girls cover his mouth with their hands.

"You can tell Kid everything when you're back," Patti says. "He needs his rest. He's been up for more than thirty-six hours straight. It wouldn't be good for him to take in too much intelligence right now." Then whispering to us, Patti adds, "Because he's not too intelligent himself right now."

"I'm fine, Patti," Kid says annoyed. Only trouble is he's talking to _Liz_, not Patti. The older Thompson inhales deeply.

"Quit your lying, Brat Boy. You lie back down or I'll hold ya down," Liz threatens.

"Oh, you can't do that, Liz! That'll excite him too much and then he won't get any sleep at all. You know how he gets whenever you're super close."

"Excuse me? Exactly what are you insinuating?" Kid says grouchily trying to push the girls away.

"I'm not _insinuating _anything, _Lord_ Kid," Patti says as though talking to a child. "You and I both know you fantasize about Liz pinning you down and-"

"Patti!" Kid shouts looking mortified. "This is _not_ how we conduct professional communications!"

"I know. But it's only Soul and Maka," Patti says carelessly waving her hand in our general direction. "You don't need to pretend to be anything you're not, on their account. They already know you're a pervert." Kid stands there sputtering from irritation in between wide-mouthed yawns.

"Patti, leave the poor man alone," Liz says seriously. "The only pervert here is _you_, and we all know it. I'll make sure he gets some rest. Come on Kid, you can lean on me." Kid's eyelids droop as she wraps her arms around him and gently eases his head onto her boobs. Already half asleep he reaches up and pats her chest as though fluffing a pillow.

"Thank you for the pillow. It's so soft and warm. You're so good to me. "

To my surprise Liz smiles despite his groping, "That's a good reaper, now we're just gonna lay back down and I'll rub your head, ok?"

"Mmmm. That'd be nice, Patti," he mumbles.

"Are you sure he's all right?" Maka asks while shouting me a look of concern. Kid's often a little off-kilter, but this is the worst I've seen him in a while.

"Yeah, it's ok. It's really no different than when we have to baby Kid after one of his OCD meltdowns, but it'll be great when you're back. We're still not entirely sure who can be trusted around here. That's why we're having him try to get some shuteye here in the Death Room. Sister and I figure it's the most secure place for him to let his guard down a little. Only problem is a yoga mat isn't terribly comfortable."

"We'll get there as soon as we can," Maka assures her.

"Don't worry. Lord Kid's in good hands. Another couple minutes and he'll be out like a light. He's just like a wittle baby," Patti says smiling. "He's so cute." From off screen Liz can be heard encouraging her sister to come snuggle with the two of them.

"Take care of yourselves and don't hesitate to contact us if anything comes up. We'll be here." Patti gives us a salute and then the mirror returns to its normal reflectiveness.

"Kid's a good guy," Maka says smiling at me. "He doesn't hold grudges."

"He does, sometimes, but as he says I was lucky enough to get results. I hate to think what he'd do to me if I returned to DC without you."

"You wouldn't do that."

"No, I wouldn't." As though attracted to me by a gravitational pull she's back in my arms before I consciously realize it.

"Maka, did I do a really bad thing with Lydia?"

"She made the choice, but you should have realized that her choice was colored by a lot of powerful emotions."

"_Girl_ emotions," I mumble, not entirely sure what to think.

She nods. "Hormones and insecurity and such. Tis the life of a teenage girl."

I shake my head. I thought that because I was upfront with Lydia about the fact I wasn't interested in her in _that way_ that made everything ok, but it seems like my friends think differently. I frown. I haven't had many girls like me… and I guess I didn't realize that it could still have an effect on your decision –making. But I probably should have known that; my actions around Maka have often not been entirely based on logic. "I don't get it. You're a teenage girl and you're not like that at all. You sure you're a chick?"

"You should know… I would think," she says, the slightest hint of a blush coloring her cheeks. It's all she says before her lips are smothering mine and when they part she tells me, "Don't worry about it. Ok? We'll make sure Lydia is fine and I'm sure this whole experience will help her to grow as a meister."

"That's good, right?" I ask grasping at straws. "Because she's gonna need a new weapon. There is _no way_ I'm letting her pair back up with Erika."

"The protective big brother routine is very sexy, you know," she comments averting her eyes form mine sheepishly. "Just promise me you'll be careful, because believe it or not I'm not the only girl who might be attracted to those blood red eyes of yours."

"I didn't want to use her. I didn't-"

"She made a choice and I believe you were perfectly clear, but sometimes our hearts can be funny. They have a way of making things more complicated than we'd like them to be. I mean, look at Kid. What the hell's he going to do about Liz and Patti's feelings for him? I don't want to see _any _of them get hurt and I know he doesn't either, yet at this point it seems inevitable."

The thought of Kid and his partners trapped in a painful love triangle disturbs me, too. It seems far too daytime soapish for our friends and I want all of them to be happy. I wonder if Kid is like I am with Lydia, madly wishing that he could somehow turn off any romantic, lustful flutters they might have.

Maka takes me by the hand and leads me out of the bathroom telling me not to be glum and to cheer me up she promises she'll try to eat some crackers.

The next couple hours pass slowly as we anxiously await the arrival of Lydia. Cheryl, Maka, and I occupy ourselves with small talk, munching on snacks, and watching some television, though I don't think any of us are actually paying attention to the program, my thoughts are far too busy drifting to a dark place, a dark place where I have to decide between my meister's wellbeing and that of my temporary partner who has risked so much to help us. My responsibility for their welfare makes me feel torn in two. If this is how Kid feels all the time because he's a dual wielding meister, I feel really sorry for him.

I'm starting to go a little bonkers from worry when I hear the doorbell ring and Lydia's mom, Maka, and I all leap from our seats in the living room and fly to the front door.

"Oh, thank, Shinigami!" Maka says running over to hug the girl, but Lydia backs away.

"I'm real sore," she explains as her mother takes in Lydia's condition. The short meister is slightly stooped, favoring the side where she was impaled, and the gash on her forehead from Justin's blow looks worse than it did earlier because it's had time to form a nice size goose egg in addition to the obvious tear to the skin.

"Baby, what happened to-" Cheryl's words are cut off by her daughter who grabs me by the hands and shouts emphatically, "We've got a problem. There's someone tailing me. That's why I'm so late. I tried to lose him, but I couldn't."

"Shit! Is it a flyer?" I ask looking up to the sky.

"No, it's a young dude on some kind of motor scooter thing," she explains as we hurriedly enter the house and bolt the front door.

"What does he look like? Maybe I'll know who he is," Maka says.

Lydia shrugs. "He's really pretty average looking. Young, probably early twenties, if that, glasses, brown hair." She walks into the living room and pulls back the curtain ever so slightly. "Fuck, he's here!"

"Lydia," Cheryl begins. "Your language sweethea-"

"Mother, I'm not your little baby anymore and if there was ever a time for the f-word it's now. God dammit! I tried so hard to lose him, but he's a persistent little bastard."

I gently grab Lydia's shoulders. "Is he alone?" She nods. "I can take care of this," I say heading for the door. Maka runs after me, but she's still too weak to meister me so I figure I'll just take this guy on solo.

"Wait, I can help," Cheryl says pulling a nearby bookcase so that it swings away from the wall, revealing a hidden wall safe. She quickly types in a code on the keypad and the safe pops open to reveal a cache of fire arms including what looks like some kind of semi-automatic. My eyes get wide and I nervously eye my meister. She knows I don't like guns.

"Nobody messes with my baby. Nobody," Cheryl says flatly grabbing the biggest BFG she owns.

"Oh, Mother, please!" Lydia whines. "You're embarrassing me. Soul's got this. He's a professional."

Maka raises an eyebrow and smirks at me. I know she's thinking that only a girl with a crush on me would say something like that. Shit! I stroll out of the house ready to challenge the operative from afar, but to my surprise he comes running up to me.

"Hey! Hey there! You're Soul, right? Oh, this is awesome!"

His flattery throws me completely off guard. I'm not sure whether I should stab him or hug him. Therefore, I do the next best thing I can think of; I punch him in the face and he falls backward. Startled, I grab him, and start dragging him back in the house, while Cheryl brandishes her enormous gun threateningly at the otherwise vacant gravel road.

"Soul!" Maka shouts with wide eyes as I heave the man up the front steps to the porch.

"It's not _my_ fault he's a push over. It was just one punch," I say defensively. Once we have our John Doe inside, Lydia sets to work duct taping him to one of her mom's dining chairs while Maka and I rummage around in his pockets for any clues as to his identity. The guy starts to come to, but doesn't put up much of a fight. For Avian Flu, he sure seems weak.

"Shinigami!" he moans. "You're supposed to be the good guys, right? I'm on your side, I swear-" Lydia moves to place a length of tape over his mouth but Maka shakes her head.

"Hold on, Lydia. Let's hear what he's got to say," my meister instructs as I lean over him menacingly, my scythe arm near his throat. "Who the hell are you? And why the fuck are you following Lydia?"

"I'm Christopher Ganglehoff. I'm a reporter."

"A _reporter_?" We all say in unison.

"Where's your press pass? It's not in your pants," Maka says and for some reason hearing Maka say the word 'pants' gets me excited. I let out a little sigh. Why can't _that_ part of me communicate with my brain occasionally? This is _clearly_ not the time to be having some sexual fantasy about my meister exploring the inside of my pants or me being tied to a chair with her-

"What do you think, Soul?" Maka whispers to me. I frown. I have no idea whether to believe his story or not, but he _does_ appear to be unarmed, featherless, wingless, and he does not walk like a duck which are all in his favor. Still, Avian Flu can be awful crafty…

"No, really!" The dude shouts. "Look in any recent copy of U.P. I'm listed under 'intern' on the page of editors. They sent me to cover the Avian Flu rally 'cause they thought nothin' newsworthy was going to happen, but boy were they wrong! If half of what you guys claim is true than this is the story of the century. Kids being turned into demons, dictatorships on the rise, socialism, celebrities, sex! This could earn me my Pulitzer before I even graduate!" He's beaming as though the war is the most thrilling entertainment he's ever partaken in.

"So, you're an opportunistic bastard… tape his mouth, I know his type," I order Lydia.

Lydia steps forward, but he appeals to her directly. "No, _please_. I want to help you. If you can prove what you say is true I'll get it published for you. You need that, right? Everybody thinks Avian Flu are just a bunch of harmless do-gooders, but they aren't. They're calculating, manipulative. They're causing harm _worldwide_, right? We can highlight that in the media. If Urban Prerogative covers the story, other news agencies will be _forced_ to take note and start reporting on it, too. And I'll make sure to show the _human_ side of the war. Lydia, I want to hear how you got sucked into this. I see why Soul would risk so much… Maka's his girlfriend, right? But where do you fit in? What drives you guys to fight a war no one even knows is going on?"

Lydia answers as though the reason should be obvious. "I'm a DWMA Student. I'm sworn to eliminate demons and kishins from the world and to help achieve a balance between the forces of good and evil. It's only through balance that we can all have sound souls."

"See! That there! That's _great_ stuff! People want to know about this kind of thing and I want to be the one to help you spread the word. I swear; _I'm not your enemy_." The young man pauses for a moment. , his eyes travelling to Cheryl and her BFG that she has never stopped pointing at him. "Look, I can't hurt her. _I'm taped to a chair._ So, do you _really_ need to keep me in your sight? What if you slip and push the trigger? Won't you feel bad about shouting an unarmed man?"

"Not an unarmed man who's stalking my daughter," Lydia's mom says flatly.

Christopher smiles. "Ma'am, your daughter is gorgeous, I'll admit that, but I'm not some kind of sex criminal. All I've been trying to do is get a chance to interview her. I was only following her because she's a DMWS student… or whatever… and her bravery intrigues me."

Lydia's eyes flick toward his, but Cheryl simply mumbles, "Bullshit."

"No really," the young man continues earnestly. "Soul and Lydia risked life and limb to bring to light at that rally that Avian Flu is a political organization with an agenda. I believe people deserve to learn the truth."

"Why didn't you tail Soul and Maka?" Lydia's mom inquires, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"I lost them. He took off like a bat out of hell on that motorcycle of his, but I figured it was ok, because it's really Lydia I wanted an opportunity to talk to… not just about the war, but about her personal story. I want to hear about the train accident that left her with all those stitches."

"Stitches?" Lydia's mom asks.

"She was in some kind of train wreck or something. Right, that's what you said when you ripped off your shirt, isn't it?"

"You did what?!" Lydia's mother whips her head in the direction of her daughter, yet still somehow managing to keep the gun motionless and pointed at the reporter.

"She flashed her wound at all of us-" The man continues. Cheryl looks like she's about to scream, but I'm not sure whether it's going to be directed at him or her daughter.

"Oh, shit, Mom, _calm down_."

"How bout you tell me a little bit more about this assignment, Lydia. Because, I heard recently that a student got killed and I'm concerned-"

"Jakob. It wasn't '_a student_'. _It was Jakob_."

"Isn't he that boy that was tutoring you?"

"Yeah," Lydia her head hanging low with grief.

"So, you're in some kind of war with Avian Flu and there was a rally and you stripped?"

"No, Mom," Lydia says annoyed. "I just showed the crowd my scar."

"That you got in a train wreck?"

"Right?"

"And where is Erika?"

Without emotion Lydia answers, "Erika isn't my partner anymore."

"So… you've become partners with these two?" Cheryl asks confused.

"Not exactly. I came with Soul to free Maka. She was a P.O.W." I notice that Lydia doesn't mention that she too was taken prisoner at one point and I think that omitting that is probably for the best.

"Wait!" Cheryl says never lowering her weapon from our captive. "Let me get this straight. You went on a mission _alone _with a boy you barely know!"

"Mom, he's one of Lord Kid's inner circle-"

"Kid? The headmaster's son? The one Erika has the hots for? Since when is he in charge? What happened to his father? _What is going on at that school of yours_?"

"See," the journalistic intern says. "People want to know."

"Mom," Lydia begins. "Avian Flu killed Jakob, they brainwashed Black*Star, they bombed our school, they paralyzed freakin' Hiro, for Shinigami's sake, and _you're _worried because I didn't have a chaperone on a mission?! _I'm trying to save the world from a demonic dictatorship!_"

"I'm proud of you, baby, but there are limits. You are _not_ invincible and running alone with some guy-"

I interrupt awkwardly. "Uh, I'm _right _here… in case you forgot, and nothing happened… well nothing like the kind of thing you're worried about, Cheryl."

"Call me, Mrs. York!" She says glaring at me.

"You need to understand, young lady, at Parent's Day there was nothing said about _war games_-"

"I don't think they're games, ma'am," the taped man says. "I believe that your daughter is fighting a real war to ensure the safety of the world. She's a hero."

"Don't you dare presume to tell me about my own daughter!"

Maka opens her mouth as though she is going to try to be the voice of reason in this sea of chaos, but if she says anything I can't hear it over the sounds of mother and daughter yelling at one another.

"Mother, shut up!"

"Did you just?" Cheryl gasps. "I raised you better than this!"

"No, Mom, just _please_… I think I need you to take me to the hospital…" Lydia says as she begins to clutch the nearby couch for support. She wobbles a little before managing to flop face first onto it making a very guttural moaning sound into the pillow.

My meister is closest to Lydia and leans over her. "It's her incision. I think something's wrong."

With those words all anger evaporates from the face of Lydia's mother and she sets down her gun and runs to her daughter's side. "Oh, baby, hang in there! I'll run next door and see if Lana is home." Cheryl runs out of the room shouting over her shoulder that her neighbor is a nurse and that she'll be right back.

I go over to the couch and sit down next to Maka. Lydia has curled up in a fetal position on the couch with her head resting on Maka's lap. She has her head turned so we can't see her tears, but I can hear them. It's horrible to hear and every sniffle makes me feel more and more guilty.

A moment later Cheryl returns with a woman who is maybe ten years her senior and sports a ton of bright red hair and freckles across the bridge of her nose. The woman freezes as she entering the room and she takes in the sight of our captive still securely duct taped to the chair and the semiautomatic rifle resting on the coffee table.

"It's a long story," Mrs. York says. "Don't worry it's just part of a special project for Lydia's school." The nurse's face does not relax, but she turns her attention to the balled up meister on the couch. Kneeling beside her the nurse asks Lydia a series of questions about what hurts and what it feels like and how bad the pain is. Then she helps Lydia to roll onto her back so she can access the incision.

"This is gonna hurt, sweetheart," she says. "But I gotta take a look."

"Is it opening up?" I say and I realize that I sound completely panicked, which is probably because I am. The nurse ignores my question, but asks, "Lydia, when did you last take pain medication?"

"This morning," she sobs. "I forgot to take it at lunchtime… and then it was with Soul." Shit! She's right. Maka and I had all of our stuff on the bike and not just the thong underwear, we had all her medications.

"Well, the good news is your incision isn't pulling apart, but honey you need to take your medications. It's so inflamed right now that I'm surprised you're not screaming. What have you been doing, because whatever it is, stop. You need a couple days bed rest and lots of anti-inflammatories. Let me see what you have and if you need something stronger I'll get you something. I have a few things at my house."

I get up and go outside to the bike and find the cosmetic bag where Lydia keeps the bottles of pills we stole from the dispensary along with eyeliner, lipstick, and a shit ton of other girl stuff. I take it to the nurse and she looks at it all and deems it not strong enough and leaves to get something better from her own medicine cabinet.

"Lydia, I'm really sorry," and as I say it two ginormous tears fall from my eyes.

She chokes out the words, "It happens."

Cheryl makes a grunting noise. "You're _not_ going back to the academy."

"What?! Mom, no! I've got to-"

"I don't mean _never_, just not right now. You are in no shape to travel. Soul and Maka can head back, but _you're_ gonna stay here in bed for a couple of days and let me take proper care of you."

"Mom!" Lydia protests. "Lord Kid needs us."

"If I could say something," cuts in the restrained reporter. "Lydia, you need to heal before you can fight Avian Flu. If it would make you feel better in the meantime I'll go to DC and get to work on the story. You've done more than enough. It's time you take care of yourself."

"Yeah, you need to rest," Maka says.

"Meister." I nudge Maka's arm. "I needa talk to you in for a second, in private."

We walk all the way down the hall and then I whisper, "Maka, we can't leave Lydia here! It's totally unsecured. I know she needs to rest but…"

"Soul, I don't think Cheryl will let anyone hurt her daughter. I think _we're _going to be lucky if we get out of here without her throttling the both of us for Lydia getting so bad."

"Are you sure? She's got guns…_lots_ of guns," I say recalling in terror the arsenal in the wall safe. "But she's still just_ one_ person."

"One person is plenty, when it's the right person. It didn't take an army to protect me from Ragnarok or to awaken me from my coma. It just took the right person. Lydia's lucky; her mom rocks."

"But she's not a demon weapon." I'm nervous.

"But that's her daughter. She'd do anything…" Maka's voice trails off. She has never said an ill word to me about her own mother, but I would in a heartbeat. Spirit may be an embarrassment with his sleeping around and his affinity for cabaret girls, but Maka's mom just split on her. But in all this time I've never had the guts to tell my meister that I think her mother is as shitty a parent as her dad. For some reason, Maka seems to put her mother on a pedestal.

I nod. "Ok, maybe you're right. The whole mother tiger protecting her cubs thing…"

"Of course I'm right."

"If you're right and we should take off, what do we do with Clark Kent?"

"Mmmmm. Good question."

Her lips form a thin line as she thinks. "Riding on the bike with us is out of the question. He could stay here with Lydia and Cheryl or we could let him go, I guess."

"Let him go?!"

She shrugs. "We don't have a lot of options, Soul."

"But what if he's lying and he _is_ Avian Flu? He'll lead them right back here."

"I don't know." My meister shakes her head. "Maybe we let Cheryl and Lydia decide?"

We walk back into the living room and to our surprise we find Cheryl kneeling next to Christopher cutting the duct tape off of him using a pair of kitchen shears or, at least, she's working at it. We more or less wallpapered him with the stuff so it's gonna take a while to get him free.

"I'm letting this idiot go," she says. "I don't have time to deal with him and he seems harmless to me."

"But I'm not going anywhere. Not 'till I get a full exclusive from Lydia."

Cheryl stops cutting and looks up at him quirking an eyebrow. "You want I should leave you taped up till you rot?"

"I meant an _interview_, Ms. York."

"Of course you do. I'm on to you," Lydia's mom says. "You think my daughter is hot."

"Yes, I do," he says with a goofy smile. "But tragically I was born about five years too early, I fear."

"How old are you?" Lydia's voice is strained from pain but jumps in there amazingly quickly when he discounts his chances with her.

"Twenty-two next week," the intern answers.

"Oh… that's… not… _that _bad," Lydia says slowly every word requiring a great deal of effort. "I've dated older."

"You've what?!" Mrs. York turns to her daughter.

"It's ok, mom. It didn't last long. He was twenty-four and into some really freaky stuff."

"What kinds of freaky stuff?" Christopher asks. "You mean like freaky sex stuff or just weird shit?"

"Both. You should have seen his apartment. He had all these pictures of girls in bondage on the walls."

"You _dated _someone like that?" her mother asks aghast. I'm too stunned to say anything. I knew she had dated some real winners, but this guy sounds genuinely creepy.

"Erika was dating his roommate…" Lydia says as though this is all the explanation needed as to why she would have been dating someone like that. I keep thinking that there is nothing that could make my opinion of Erika sink lower, but I am continually finding myself mistaken.

"I assure you, I'm not into bondage," Christopher comments.

"Really? I think… it can be kind of a turn on… you look pretty cute all taped up like that," Lydia grunts.

"You do?" he asks turning a little pink in the face.

"Lydia!" This time it's me scolding her. Of all the times to be flirting! What is she thinking?! I'm beginning to wonder if these two even remember that the rest of us are here.

Cheryl's neighbor returns with a handful of pills and a glass of water. "You need to take these blue ones every four hours like clockwork-"

"I'll set an alarm," Cheryl says.

"I will, too," says the reporter who is still partially adhered to the chair.

Our heads swivel to face him.

"What? I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here until I get what I want."

Cheryl frowns. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"Hell, no," he says smiling. "I'm for gun control myself."

"Oh, Shinigami," Lydia moans from the couch. "Making gun ownership illegal doesn't lower crime-"

"But it is currently far too easy for guns to get into the hands of any drunk, angry moron! Not every gun owner is as responsible as your mother-"

"If citizens can't own guns, what would happen if there weren't demon weapons and meisters and there was an organization like Avian Flu that marched into town with guns-"

I clear my throat and the gun control debate between the young adults ceases. "My meister and I have talked about it and we think that we should head back to DC. Lydia, I really don't want to leave you. I know I got you into this mess…"

"It's ok. I'll be fine. Mom's here."

"And I'm here," the reporter says persistently.

"And how exactly is that going to help," Mrs. York challenges him.

"Just 'cause I don't know how to use a gun doesn't mean I'm worthless. I'm a decent cook and I once made a radio out of a potato-" Cheryl groans. "You're staying in the guest bedroom and no funny business or I will shoot your ass."

"Yes, ma'am," he says and then smiles at Lydia. "Your mom's cool."

Lydia grunts in agreement.

"You got this, Mrs. York?" Maka asks. "From our conversation with Kid it sounds like he could use our help."

The woman nods and goes back to the tedious task of untapping the young reporter.

"Yeah, I got it covered."

As I stand in the hallway waiting for Maka to use the bathroom one last time before we go, Cheryl appears with a bag full of snacks. "Here, take these."

"Thanks, Mrs. York."

"Oh, it's ok, you can call me Cheryl. I was just a little worked up. She just thinks she's all grown up doesn't she?"

"Yeah, but I think things might be getting better for her. I'm going to help her find a new partner, one that respects her more than Erika ever did."

"What happened to Erika?" Cheryl asks tentatively.

"I think it'd be better if Lydia tells you herself, but let's put it this way. We're not going to be letting Lydia meister her anymore."

Maka appears from the bathroom. "Thank you for the clothes. I can mail them back to you if-"

"Keep them. They look cute on you, much better than dirty undergarments."

"You sure you'll be ok if Avian Flu shows up," Maka asks. "We could contact Kid and request a protective unit be dispatched-"

"No, I'm less worried about Avian Flu than I am about that," she points in the direction of the living room where Lydia and the reporter can be heard conversing as though they've been friends for years.

"Yeah, ah… good luck with that," I say, and as I walk away from the pink house with the white picket fence I grin. I think that my Lydia problem is over.


	72. Chapter 72: Anger and Flirtation

_**Chapter 72: Anger and Flirtation; Time to be institutionalized?**_

Determined to get back to DC as quickly as possible we keep riding till well after dark and then with the help of the Thompsons are able to locate a hotel run by friends of the academy and call it a night. When we enter the room both of us make a beeline for the bed with as much gusto as if we had been walking the entire way from El Paso.

"Oh, Shinigami, I'm tired," Maka says crawling across the bed to give me the spot closest to the door. "Oh, a real bed. Avian Flu's idea of what constitutes a bed differs from mine."

"Hhhhmmm," I purr as I dive into the bed next to her. "I thought when we got on the train after getting Black*Star back that there was no way I could be more tired and then I got thrown from the train…but, dude, I am really tired now and all we've been doing is riding on that bike."

Maka makes a noise to indicate her agreement. "She's no Brunnie, but maybe she was the best Daryl had that was good to go."

"Daryl?"

She rolls over to face me. "Yeah, the guy who runs the Screaming Eagle. Didn't you say that's where you got the bike?"

"His name's 'Daryl'?" I just call him the Biker Bar Dude.

"Yeah, you didn't know that?" she asks yawning.

"He never introduced himself."

"Yes, he did."

"He did?"

She nods. "Yes, but you were probably too worried he was going to hit on me."

"I'm not that bad," I mutter defending myself. "He's got a thing for meisters and you know that biker guys would love to corrupt a brainy nerd girl."

Maka laughs and slinks on top of me, a leg resting on either side. "Yes, those dudes on motorcycles. They're always looking for some trophy brainiac for the back of their bike."

"Yup, they're the most fun to corrupt," I say pulling her close to me and kissing her.

"Then there's those chicks in the short skirts that are always tempting those concert pianists to use those long, slender fingers for other nefarious purposes."

My lips part from hers as my jaw drops a little in pleasant surprise at her friskiness. "Oh, meister, I missed you so much."

"Soul, I love you. I'm so sorry about everything. I'm sorry I didn't come for you. I'm sorry about Justin and-"

"Don't worry. I'm already over it," I lie.

"Sure you are," Maka smirks. "You've been traumatized. What do you say when we get back to DC we do something fun?"

Quizzically, I stare into her eyes. It's not like Maka to suggest fun when there is work to be done. "I think Kid will probably have a plan for us… or at least for me."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose you're right," Maka says sadly. "I'm just so happy." Her smiling face is so close. I eliminate the space between us.

"We could do something fun right now," I whisper in her ear huskily and I can practically feel the heat of her blush. "Oh, Lord, you are so damn cute," I proclaim as I'm overtaken by a wave of energy driven by lustful desire. I've got her on her back and under me in a minute. I'm kissing her neck, running my hands up under that big sweatshirt. I'd almost forgotten how soft that skin of hers is. She moans, her head leaning back. She groans out my name and it sounds lovelier than my favorite concerto. I pull her sweatshirt off over her head and toss it aside. She pulls off my t-shirt, her hands drifting down my back to the waistband of my pants. I kiss her arm, starting at the inside of her elbows, slowly making my way toward her shoulder before progressing up her neck and eventually mashing my lips into hers as our bodies press into one another as though trying to meld into one. I don't let her escape the kiss until I must and then as soon as I can I return to my task of kissing every inch of her. I suck on her neck before pricking it with my needle teeth causing an involuntary moan to force its way past my meister's lips.

"Oh, Soul, we… we… can't…"

I hear her words, but they don't register with me, and I don't stop. I don't think I _could_ stop. I wasn't sure we'd ever get to be like this again. And here we are and I'm not going to let this opportunity slip by. Our life is too crazy and I'm too insanely in love with her to-

"Soul!" She puts the palm of her hand on my chest, shoving herself away from me. I freeze. I've screwed up. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but Maka does not look happy and it's obvious that she has intentionally put space between us. _Shit! What the fuck did I do wrong?_

"Maka?" I sound more pathetic than I intended.

She leans over the side of the bed and retrieves her sweatshirt from the floor, pulling it on before turning back to me. Oh, _crap_. I must have _really_ screwed up.

I shift over to give her some space as I think it's probably best to play it cool at this point, because if I say the wrong thing I might dig myself an even deeper hole. I truly have no idea what I did wrong. I must have crossed some line I didn't know existed because she's never told me… I thought everything I was doing was ok.

"Soul, you don't have to sulk at the other side of the bed," she says matter-of-factly.

"I'm not sulking."

"Then what would _you_ call it?"

"I don't know," I say grouchily. "My vocabulary isn't as big as yours, as you often point out."

She grabs my arm and yanks me in her direction so that I have to face her. "Soul, don't be an asshole."

Shit. I'm making things worse. I knew I shouldn't have said anything, opening my trap was like taking a step when you're surrounded by landmines. Now she's probably thinking I'm gonna turn into a jerk anytime she's not in the mood. _Wonderful._

"I'm sorry, we just can't right now."

"Sure, of course, no big deal." The words sound unconvincing even to me.

Maka glares at me her face forming an expression my grandmother would describe as 'looking irked.' "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

She rolls her eyes as though she is completely exasperated with me and I lose my patience with her. "What?! What am I doing…or not doing? Cause _I don't know!_ That's the whole problem. I did something that made you mad and I don't know what and I can't stand it when I don't know what you're thinking because then I-"

Maka hangs her head a little. "Soul, you didn't do anything wrong. _I_ did. I got carried away. Do you seriously think I don't want this?"

"Er…" Now I'm more confused.

Maka grumbles and then curses Avian Flu with some very un-Maka like verbiage. "Soul, they made me quit taking the pill. You know that whole making a baby thing that they're so obsessed with?"

"Oh!" Unconsciously, I slide an inch further from her.

"Nice," she says sarcastically. "I'm not _contagious._"

"I thought you were mad at me."

"Soul, has there _ever_ been a time I've been mad at you and you didn't know it?"

I roll my eyes skyward in thought. "Not often, I guess."

"I promise that when I'm pissed at you I will make it abundantly clear to you."

"Thanks," I say smiling and then I reconsider this. "Or maybe not…"

She laughs and crawls next to me.

"Maka, you know that's not all I want, right?"

"Of course," Maka says smiling. "It's just hard 'cause that's what we both want right now."

"Ok, 'cause I don't want you to think I'm one of those guys who-"

"Oh, Lord, Soul, shut up."

"Ok," I say obediently.

"You know, we could do other stuff." Her tone is intentionally mischievous and her fingers are dancing across my chest.

"It's ok. I'm tired, anyway."

"You weren't tired a minute ago." Her voice still has the lilt and timber of flirtation to it.

"That was before this conversation," I say with a sigh.

"You sure?" my meister asks in her normal voice.

I nod and lift up my arm. "How 'bout we just snuggle tonight?" She looks uncertain. "What? You don't think I can take it? Need I remind you that we've been sleeping together for many years without any 'other stuff' occurring."

"You've always said you never thought about that kind of stuff when we were-"

I raise an eyebrow. "That's what _you_ said, too. So, did _you never_-"

"No comment," she answers quickly.

"I thought so," I say smugly.

She snuggles into the crook of my arm and gently kisses my bare chest. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. It just gives me another reason to hate Avian Flu. Besides, we've both had a very long day, we need our rest."

Maka closes her eyes and I do, too, but sleep doesn't come to me. Normally, I'll fall right to sleep, but tonight I'm struggling. I feel wound up and kind of agitated, and not _only_ cause I've been blue balled. Today, I've been bombarded by intense emotions and I haven't had a lot of time to process anything that's happened. I tell myself that I should be happy and I am, but I find myself haunted by the sight of my meister walking down the aisle toward Justin. The image keeps repeating in my mind the way I replay a stanza on the piano over and over again until I get it right.

Even though my blood boils thinking of the douchebag she almost married, I'm not only angry. I'm jealous of him, too. I had always figured marriage didn't matter much. Like Maka, I had seen far too many people get married and then divorce, seeming to have conveniently forgotten the 'till death do us part' portion of their vows. It led me to agree with her assessment that marriage was a pointless institution in this day and age.

But now I realize there's something to be said for publicly declaring how you feel. You can whisper in the dark a million 'I love you's, but it probably doesn't count as much as the one time you say it in front of the whole world. No wonder my grandma always cries at weddings, they are, I guess, kind of beautiful in their own silly way. They give a chance for two people to say that despite all the crap in this world they still believe it's worth trying to do the seemingly impossible… to be there for each other through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, and all that other stuff.

That's what I want for Maka and me… I wiggle a little in bed, as though trying to shake the thought out of my brain. I _didn't_ just think that. _We're in high school._ Sure, I want to always be with her, I've known that for a long time, but…

So, if I know that I feel that way, why am I embarrassed to imagine marrying her? I can't believe it. I think I want to marry her. No, I didn't just think that… ugh, yes, I did. Oh, Shinigami, has the horrors of war made me turn sentimental? That's not cool, but didn't Lydia say that me and Maka already _act_ like we're married? And I love her and she loves me and we want to be together forever, so why shouldn't I think about it? Hell, if Maka didn't _abhor_ the concept of marriage cause of those fucked up parents of hers, I'd propose to her right now. _I did _not_ just think that_. Nope, I did _not_ just think that I want to propose to my meister, the same meister who thinks marriage is a sham, because that would be a _really_ good way to piss her off. But isn't marriage only a sham if you _make_ it one by breaking the vows you make to one another? She's starting to realize that not all men are cheaters like her dad… so, would she ever come around to wanting to get married? And if she did how the hell would I know? Because, I don't want to get married _right_ now, but _eventually_… it would be nice, right?

I can't help editing today's ceremony in my mind. Maka would be in a dress more fitting her style and her hair would be down the way it is when we're home and it's just the two of us. Spirit would be sobbing as he walked her down the aisle. He'd begrudgingly give me her hand my meister while giving me one final threatening glare before retreating to his seat in the front row. Our friends would be there, and knowing them they'd probably be making goofy faces trying to get Maka or me to crack up mid-ceremony, but we'd be too focused on one another to be distracted by them. We'd write our own vows; Maka's would be like poetry, mine would be short and sweet and my hands would shake as I read it off a piece of wadded up notebook paper…

Oh, Shinigami, I need to stop. This fantasy is entirely the fault of Avian Flu and I need to halt it, _immediately_. It isn't right for me to be daydreaming about this when I know it's not something Maka wants, but I told myself that same thing when I used to fantasize about being her boyfriend and here we are…

But what if Maka never comes around to this way of thinking? What if she's even more opposed to a wedding's crazy traditions after having been forcefully stuffed into an appallingly poufy, bow-festooned gown and having her hair pulled back till her eyes almost popped out of their sockets? My stomach feels tight. There's only one way to know, but a part of me doesn't want to know the answer. What if it's, "Yeah, of course, I want to be with you till the day I die, but I'm not _marrying_ you!" Ugh! My brain is going to obsess over this if I don't do something. Dammit!

"Maka?" I whisper. She murmurs back to indicate that she's awake. "Can you do something for me?"

She raises her head a little, sensing that I'm unusually serious. "Anything." The response comes without a moment's hesitation.

My heart is beating extremely fast and my insides are all fluttery. I'd say that I've got butterflies, but 'butterflies' is far too girly a word to describe the nervousness I'm feeling, because I'm a _guy_ and I'm about to expose my most fragile, deeply buried desire, even though there are probably about a million and one very good reasons for keeping the truth under lock and key. "Maka, will you let me know if you ever change your mind about the whole institution of marriage?"

I cringe expecting the usual anti-marriage/anti-male tirade or even worse a karate chop to the head for being stupid enough to have mentioned the cursed tradition that ensnared her mother in a relationship with a philanderer, but my meister is silent. She doesn't ask me why I'm asking. She's not an idiot. She knows, and I have never been so glad to be in the dark with her, because there is _no way_ I could stand this moment if I had to see the expression on her face right now.

She still hasn't said anything. Dammit! Why couldn't I just bury these thoughts? I know how she feels about marriage! _What was I thinking?!_ Just 'cause I'm imagining some romanticized way of hanging that 'Property of Soul Eater' sign around her neck doesn't mean she's tossed all her opinions out the window. Oh, shit, what have I done? I want to sink through the bed and hide underneath it…perhaps for the rest of my life.

"Soul." As she says my name I sense the strength of her soul wavelength. It's rapid but its ebbs and flows remain even and steady as it reaches out to mine. "I promise you'll be the first to know," she says as she gives me a chaste kiss on the lips and snuggles even closer to me.

I exhale. I'm still alive. Thank you, Lord Death.

"I love you, Maka," I tell her and I smile. I never thought the words, 'You'll be the first to know,' could be romantic, but I think they are one of the sweetest things she has ever said to me. I give her a little squeeze and close my eyes Ietting the warmth of her body and the steady pace of her soul wavelength lull me to sleep. The last thing I hear before I fall completely asleep is her saying she loves me in the slow drawl of a person not entirely awake and I'm sure that I fall asleep still wearing a smile.


	73. Chapter 73: Distractions and Delirium

**Risenfromash: **For some reason it took me a really long time to write this chapter, which is funny since admittedly not all that much happens in it… but a ton of stuff will be happening real so maybe this was that hump I had to get over before the next big rush of action or maybe I've just been too busy Christmas shopping and sleeping to be writing as much as I'd like. Oh, and there is _adult content_ in here so proceed with caution…

_**Chapter 73: Distractions and Delirium; Is Three a Magic Number?**_

The next morning we rise with the sun with the plan to ride hard till we get to DC. Maka is noticeably more energetic, but is still eating far less than normal. Every time we take a break from riding she tries to wield me and each time she is able to better handle me than the time before, so with a little luck we will be ready to kick some Avian Flu ass again real soon.

Across the desert, I begin to see the distinctive shape of Lord Death's city and let out a whoop. "Maka, we're almost there!"

"Thank you, Lord Death," she says hugging my waist.

"Holy hell, we made great time!"

"Hey, we aren't there yet, bonehead!" My meister reminds me with a gentle whack on the arm. "Don't jinx us."

"Aw, don't worry! Worst case scenario if the bike gives out, I'll carry ya! Another fifteen minutes and we'll be home, promise."

"Hhhmm. I don't think the bike breaking down is the worst possible thing that could happen," she says warily as she scans the air. "Don't you think our getaway was a little too easy?"

"Maybe, but we were due for something to go our way… we've had a string of pretty rotten luck lately."

"I guess," my meister sighs. "I'm gonna feel a lot better after we check in with Kid. We've got a lot to discuss." I nod. She hasn't told me much about her time with the enemy and I haven't asked trusting that when the time was right she'd talk about it and if she never did it didn't really matter because we managed to get through it and find our way back to one another… just like we always do, but if she learned anything that could put us at a tactical advantage we must make sure it gets exploited to the fullest. "Can't you make this thing go any faster?" she questions.

"Patience, Meister." I've been pushing the bike to its max speed all day and she knows it.

Maka lets go of me for a moment and stretches. "I can hardly wait to have a nice hot shower and put on some of my own clothes."

"We could make a quick pit stop at our place before meeting with Kid," I suggest.

"No," she says begrudgingly. "I wish we could, but we gotta see Kid ASAP. I keep thinking of things I need to tell him."

"You sure you don't want to rest a little before?" Okay, it's not exactly _rest _I'm hoping for but it _does_ involve being in bed, or at the very least being horizontal… though, technically, I suppose, there are other possibilities. My mind runs through every possible angle and location for love making in our little apartment.

As if reading my mind Maka repeats, "_No_. We gotta do our duty first and check on Kid and the girls. I'm worried about them."

"You think you got some intel that will help Kid out?" I ask her as I admire the sunset.

"Yeah, I learned a lot about Avian Flu being 'behind the scenes'. I can't believe I haven't told you!"

"You were under a lot of stress," I say. "But I hear that's normal for brides."

"Too soon," she says grouchily and I throw my head back laughing my ass off.

"If not now, then when, meister? We could die tomorrow, ya know?"

"Hmph," she grunts.

"You know that doesn't help. I think you're just as cute when you're pissed off."

"You can't even see me."

"Sure I can. If I lean down like this and kinda squint, I can totally see you in the mirror," I demonstrate the ease with which I can spy on her and it causes the bike to swerve erratically.

"Soul! Don't do that! You're gonna crash, you idiot!"

I don't even need to look in the mirror to know that she is glaring at the back of my head. She's right, of course. It would be a shame to wipe out with DC within our sight.

"I know, I know, you owe me a Maka-chop."

"Only if you keep goofing around instead of driving. I want off this thing! My ass hurts!" She pauses for a split second before continuing. "Hey, don't you dare make any gross innuendo!" She knows me so well; I was just about to ask her if Justin's aim was that bad, but perhaps it's better I don't push my luck. It _would_ be a shame to wipe out with DC within our sight.

A little while later, we pull into town under the arch that proudly proclaims, "Death City, Founded by Lord Death, Home of the World-famous Demon Weapon Meister Academy Charged with Maintaining the Balance of Good and Evil Worldwide," but unlike when I left, the arch and the rest of town are draped in banners and bunting of silver, burgundy, and black, the customary colors of a state funeral.

"I guess they must have had a big memorial service for Jakob," I comment as my heart regains the heavy feeling it's often burdened with these days; it's as though all the grief and tension has actual weight. Maka hugs me tighter as she takes in the sight of our hometown bathed in the colors of the academy's grief.

"That's assuming that there haven't been more losses," my meister murmurs and a chill creeps down my spine. She's right, we don't know if more of our allies have died; the Thompsons and Kid would shield us from bad news till they could tell us in person. Suddenly, I find myself gripped with terror. Could something have happened to Black*Star or Tsubaki or Professor Stein or Freddy or… shit! Before I left DC, Kid said something about Robin being seriously hurt. I totally forgot! I haven't asked anyone how he's doing, some friend I am.

An ear-blaring squeal interrupts my fearful thoughts. I instinctively reach up to cover my ears with my hands as Maka does the same. I curse as the bike swerves, managing to grab the handlebars before we capsize. I overcorrect, making us do a strange little zigzag in the middle of the street, but it doesn't seem to matter as the street appears to be being abandoned by everyone else. The people seem to all be rushing indoors and shutting their doors and windows tight. What the hell?

A woman in the process of shuttering an upper window shouts, "What are you kids doin' in the street? Didn't ya hear the air raid siren or has that bike made ya both deaf?"

"Sorry," Maka shouts. "We've been out of town on a mission. We didn't know."

"Oh, you're academy students! Sorry! Don't worry. It's only a drill. Lord Kid is trying to limit collateral damage if the bird brains bomb us again."

I nod. "Do we need to go in somewhere?"

"Nah, just get yourselves to the academy. I'm sure they're worried about you. There's been big losses in Africa, I hear."

Maka waves goodbye to the woman as I shout 'thanks' over my shoulder. We wind our way through the city toward the academy and find that everyone seems to be participating in the air raid exercise as the road is totally abandoned. Even carts of merchandise are left unattended. Seeing the southeastern quadrant that's famous for its marketplace, devoid of activity gives me the same creepy feeling as those horror videogames I refuse to play in the dark.

We get to the base of the main staircase where Brunnie was parked during the bombing. It's hard to believe that it's been less than a month since I made that crazed run up the steps searching for my meister in the midst of the chaos. I'm thankful that this time I'm making the climb with her by my side, but as we jog up the steps I find myself wondering why Lord Death insisted on building the academy at the highest point in town and why he's never had any damn elevators installed. How is Hiro going to get around when all there is are a bunch of stupid staircases to climb?

When we get to the top we see that there are two underclassmen standing by the door. One is holding a megaphone and the other appears to be equipped with a clipboard.

"Alright, on the count of ten, cast out the shield. Ten… nine… eight…" counts down the shorter one, his megaphone pointed toward the balcony above us. On the two balconies above them, are a number of students that appear to be trying to do some kind of group resonation that would allow their demon weapons to act as a shield against attacks from above.

"Dude, I don't think this is working," a discouraged student shouts from one of the upper levels. "We're not casting it far enough out and Trudy and Ramses have to be perfectly parallel for us to even have a chance of this working." This comment causes an eruption of bickering between the students on all three levels, but the two young men on our level fall silent as we approach.

"Identification please," demands the kid with the clipboard.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"Yup," he nods as his partner comes to stand beside him. "We're supposed to check all student and faculty ID."

In all my years at the academy I have _never_ been asked to show my student ID except on those rare occasions when I check a book out of the library. I pat myself down and am relieved to find that my wallet is where it belongs in my butt pocket. I pull it out and flop it open.

The student gives it a once over. He's acting pretty anal, but then again if this were the job assigned to me in the war effort I'd probably be like that, too. Either that or I'd just shoot myself, because this has got to be one of the boringest, crappiest jobs possible! "Welcome back, Soul Eater," the young man says with a smile after examining my card.

"Thanks," I say walking forward with Maka close behind me.

"Identification is required," he says stepping between Maka and me. It's a challenge.

"I don't have mine," Maka explains. "Avian Flu got everything I had on me, but I'm Soul's meister."

The youth on door duty shakes his head. "I can't let you in without your student i.d." Ok, this kid is acting a little self-important.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," I say impatiently. "Do you know who this is?" I point at my meister and the boy shakes his head. "This is _Maka Albarn_, the greatest meister of Crescent Moon."

"I wouldn't go that far," my meister says humbly, but I continue.

"She's one of Kid's inner circle-"

"_Lord_ Kid," the anal-retentive bastard says, correcting me as though it's presumptuous of me to call one of my best friends by his first name! Ok, this punk is being more than self-important. He's being a dick.

"Whatever, _Lord_ Kid is our friend and we need to see him. We just got back from assignment." The boys eye me suspiciously. This is really ridiculous. I could just beat the shit out of him, but I'd hate to do that to another student who's trying to follow orders. Then again, Maka can't possibly be the first student to have lost her student body card. They must have some kind of contingency plan for when this happens.

"Come on," I whine. I can't believe this; normally, the security at the academy is less than that of some toy stores. "Isn't there anyone here from Crescent Moon that could vouch for her? Is Stein around? Or Spirit?"

"You mean the Professor and DeathScythe?"

"Yeah," she sighs. "Spirit's my father." They gasp in shock but I can't tell if it's cause they're impressed or disgusted. The reaction Maka gets when people learn who her dad is usually falls into one of those two categories. Sadly, there is rarely any in-between.

"Sorry, I don't know where he or Marie or Professor Stein are right now."

My nostrils flare in agitation. It's time for drastic measures. "Have you heard of a badass with a scythe arm who is like an _inch away_ from becoming a DeathScythe?" The two boys scrunch their faces in thought and then shake their heads. "Well, that's _me _and _you're pissing me off_!" I growl at them bringing out my scythe arm and the boys back up several steps but continue to block the door. "Hold on a sec!" The one with the clipboard runs over to a nearby duffle bag and pulls out a walkie-talkie and begins to speak into it. "Gallows, come in. Gallows, do you read me?"

"Guilletine, I hear ya. Whazzup man?" responds a voice on the other end.

"I got a couple Crescent Moon here. Soul Eater and some girl"_(some girl?!) _"he claims is a high level meister… Maya-"

"Maka!" My meister and I yell in unison. This is fucking ridiculous. How can these kids not know us? We practically rule this school!

The voice dubbed 'Gallows' speaks again. "You mean Soul, the weapon who went AWOL? He's to be delivered directly to Lord Kid."

"Ok, but what about the other one? She's got no i.d."

"Let me check," Gallows answers. "It'll be a minute." Maka crosses her arms, taps her foot impatiently and mutters a slew of curse words while they do their checking.

"You want me to cut our way in?" I growl to my meister.

"Gallows, the AWOL one is making threatening statements," reports the one with the walkie-talkie. I glare at him. I'm going to tell Kid that this particular student is taking his job a little _too_ seriously.

"He could be dangerous," replies whoever is on the receiving end of the communication. "They say he's a loose cannon-"

A squeal from above drowns out his next comment and Maka and I look up to see Tsubaki leaning over the balcony railing waving at us. "Maka! Soul! You're back!"

"Yeah, but Maka doesn't have her i.d. and they won't let her in," I shout back, frustration obvious in my tone.

"Don't worry. I'll be right down. Black*Star's gonna be so relieved!" Well, at least, I know her and Black*Star are all right.

A few minutes later Tsubaki bursts through the two stooges blocking the door as though they were bowling pins and throws her arms around Maka.

"You know these two?" the kid on guard duty asks her.

"Of course I do! And you should, too, they're some of the best fighters we have!" The two young men look embarrassed for a moment before turning back to their tasks of ordering around the students on the balconies. To my great shock, Tsubaki then lets go of Maka and throws her arms around me, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Soul, we're all so proud of you for finding Maka!" I blush a little and mumble something about how it isn't that big a deal as she takes Maka's hand leading us into the school.

The corridors of the school are crammed with construction materials, items I'm guessing are needed for the memorial service, and miscellaneous junk that must have been displaced as the DWMA team attempt to repair the physical damage the academy sustained during the bombing.

As we walk through the halls, I hear the occasional hoot or holler as students and friends of the academy see us. I grin. That's more like it. After all, we are one of the DWMA's powerhouse teams home from a mission… of course, I didn't exactly get _sent_ on this mission, but still… my stomach flops a little at the thought of having to face Kid. He seemed fine when we spoke to him yesterday, but he was also half asleep at the time.

When we reach the doorway to the Death Room, Tsubaki asks if we'd like her to accompany us inside but Maka and I shake our heads.

"Ok, we'll catch up later," says the demon weapon giving us each a hug before hurrying back in the direction we came from. We type our student codes into the keypad to the right of the entryway and the door slides upward revealing the guillotine hallway. As we enter the Death Room, Kid's back is to us. He's standing in front of a table with a lot of what appear to be paper dolls standing up on it. Liz and Patti are orbiting around the table moving the dolls as he orchestrates the models' movements.

"How many do we have in Iceland right now?" he asks pointing to the far side of the table.

"Six with two on loan from Scandinavia," Liz answers.

"They need to go back. Things are heating up in Amsterdam," Kid says thinking aloud.

"You could use the Canadian forces, instead," suggests Patti as she repositions a couple of the cutouts.

"Or we could just go there and Death Cannon the hell out of the bastards," Liz says wiggling her fingers over the northern landmass.

The reaper turns toward us and his face lights up at the sight Maka. "Maka! Welcome back! The girls told me you were with Justin in Texas. I'm so sorry-"

"No worries. It may have been good that I was taken as I have gained some new intelligence to share with you."

Kid smiles. "Excellent. We'd love to hear it. The last few days have been…" He frowns. "_Discouraging."_

"We're getting our butts kicked in Africa and losing villages in Asia," Patti elaborates as she plops herself down on a pillow at Kid's feet and reaches up for his hand. "Come on, Kid, sit down for a while."

"Well…" he looks at the pillows on the ground and with his foot adjusts the positioning of one of the cushions. Then, finding its new position still not to his liking begins to nudge it back the other way trying in vain to get it to precisely line up with the one Patti has planted herself on.

"Kid, sit down," Liz barks at him. He obediently sits down. "Patti needs to make more models, anyhow."

Patti reaches under the table and grabs a pile of stiff paper and a metal lunch pail full of crayons. From on top of the pile of paper she picks up a rather mean looking doll labeled, "Meister Vo" who appears to be armed with throwing stars.

"What do you think, Kid?" Patti says holding the vicious doll up for him to approve.

He arches an eyebrow. "I think you've made Hugo Paskowski look too much like the stars from the _Land of the Huggabugs_," he says likening her art to the popular animated children's television program.

Delighted, she throws her arms around her partner, giving him a kiss that hits him on the edge of his lip. "I _knew_ you'd recognize them!"

"It's not surprising," the reaper says with a shrug as he attempts to extract himself from her embrace. "You do watch _Huggabugs_ a lot… or at least you did before the war."

"Yes, but the inexperienced eye might mistake them for the stars from _Princess Pony Paradise_."

"No, they're far too pointy for that," comments the young reaper. He has been successful in removing her arms from around his neck, but is holding her hands with a hint of a smile on his face. He sits there gazing at her and then suddenly seems to remember that he has an audience and lets go of her hands and turns his attention back to Maka and me. "I'm sorry. I seem to be easily distracted these days. You'll have to forgive me. Are _you_ all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maka answers smiling at our friend.

"I heard you were barely eating. Are you-"

My meister shakes her head. "Don't worry about me. I'll go to the doctor if I need to. What's important is that I've learned who established Avian Flu and is overseeing all their operations."

Kid's eyebrows arch. "Ah? The many headed hydra-"

"Uggh! Kid, let Maka talk and quit throwing around your dumb metaphors. You don't have to impress any of us," Liz grumps as Kid tips his head slightly and stares at her with a befuddled look.

"I don't think there is anything wrong with being poetic-" he begins.

"Your damn romanticism does the war effort no good!" Liz shouts at him.

"I don't know," offers Patti as she busily snips the excess paper off of the sides of Meister Vo's effigy. "I think Kid's romantic nature is one of the coolest things about him."

"Thank you, Patti." Kid smiles and bows his head in acknowledgement of the compliment while Liz mutters to herself.

"Oh, my _God_," she grumbles impatiently. "Could you two quit flirting for like _five_ minutes? Please? We have _work_ to do, right, Kid?"

Kid draws his head back a little, narrowing his yellow eyes as he takes in the irritation of his elder partner. "I'm sorry, Liz. Do you need to take a moment to talk to me and Patti about something?"

"_No_, I don't want to talk! That's the whole problem, I'm _sick_ of talking. I want to take action! We're wasting time! I want to _smoke_ Avian Flu and be done with this stupid war so things can go back to normal!"

Kid hops up from his seat beside Patti and takes Liz's hand. "Liiizzz, maybe you ought to sit down and relax, too. We're all under a great deal of strain, right now, and you're always so focused on caring for me and Patti-"

"I don't need to be taken care of," she says shrugging off his touch. Now, everybody knows that Liz never has the sunny, happy-go-lucky attitude of her younger sister, but this level of grouchiness is unlike her. Normally, she's incredibly patient with her partners, despite them possessing eccentricities that would surely drive the rest of us batshit crazy. It's disappointing to me to learn that even Liz, who usually seems so untouchable by the crap that gets to the rest of us, is starting to lose it. She's always struck me as so cool. Maka glances at me out of the corner of her eye. She better not expect me to do something to get them to quit arguing because I never know what the fuck to do when it comes to these three.

"Sister, Kid isn't doing anything wrong," Patti says matter-of-factly never raising her head from her craft project. "What are you so upset about?"

"_Nothing!_" Liz snaps. "I just want this damn war to be over."

"And you think I don't?!" Kid shakes his head in disbelief. "Do you think I like leading people, _kids_ even, to their deaths?"

"Of course not," she says, before mumbling, "Oh, nevermind."

"No," Kid says earnestly. "You obviously have a complaint with my meistering or my actions as the acting Lord Death-"

"Don't worry, Kid. She's really mad at me and taking it out on you," Patti says still not looking up from her work. "I told her that she can't go out on a date until the war is over."

Kid blinks a few times, but never once takes his lemon-colored eyes off of Liz. "Liz, do you want an evening off?"

Liz glares at her younger sister. "No, not unless the two of you are taking a night off, too."

"Unfortunately, I don't think it would really be appropriate at this time for _me_ to," Kid says kindly. "But if the two of you would like-"

"No," the two girls say sharply.

"Kid, I'm not leaving you to go on some stupid _date_. I just think we need to find a way to focus you because you're getting 'distracted' by everything. One minute you're giving orders to Sid, the next you're rebalancing the flower arrangements for the memorial service, or flirting with Patti" At these words, Kid opens his mouth to say something, but Liz continues without pausing. "And I _know_ you got up in the middle of the night last night to use a level to make sure the paintings in the main hallway were all perfectly symmetrical-"

From her spot on the floor, Patti sets aside her paper and scissors and raises her hand as a child would in school. "Um, guys, I think we should talk more about all this later. Maybe when it's just the three of us… because I'm betting Maka and Soul are _really_ tired and would like to get some rest. I think we can better hash things out at the kitchen table over some hot cocoa. Don't you?"

Kid's shoulders slump. He appears more wounded by Liz's words than I've ever seen him after dueling. "There's nothing to talk about. Your sister is right. I'm simply not strong enough to win this conflict," his voice begins to waver and turns into a whine. Then he throws himself down on his knees and begins to beat the floor relentlessly with his fists. "All those people… how many more will we have to mourn? I can't do this. I'm garbage! A worthless piece of garbage-"

The younger of his two partners crawls over to him at top speed and wraps an arm around him. "Kid, you're just one person. You're a reaper, but there's still only _one_ of you. Please, don't forget that. Liz just wants you to take care of yourself, because we _all_ need you now. You're plenty strong… and smart… and good looking, too… but you can get a little wacky sometimes… she just wants you to be ok, because she cares about you."

Kid lifts his head to look at Patti and smiles. "You can always make me feel better."

"Thanks," she says her face dangerously close to his, even for a weapon with their meister. He reaches up to brush a strand of hair from her face and I _know_ they're going to kiss. I can feel it. He's finally gonna go for it, he's not going to care that we're here! The days of wimpy, little pecks are over. Today's the day the reaper makes his move! Come on, Kid, you can do it!

"Princess," he says softly. Her eyes grow wide expectantly. "Your hair needs to get cut. It's asymmetrical again."

"Ugh!" Liz groans. "_This_ is what I'm talking about, Kid."

"What? What'd I do?" Kid says frowning. "I'm sorry; I have a medical condition. I only have so much control, and I've got a lot on my mind."

"I think all _three _of you need a day off," Maka says. "And the sooner the better, but first we need to come up with a plan to take out Harold Blitzengard." In turn, my meister makes eye contact with each of the trio daring them to off track the conversation one more time and they each nod clearly acknowledging her nonverbal threat. Confident that she has their attention, at least for the moment, she launches into a speedy, but thorough summary of what she learned about the man and how he communicates his orders to Avian Flu chapters around the world. Seems that in each country or sector of the world he identifies organizations of influence and determines whether it is best to overthrow them or infiltrate and indoctrinate them and no group is safe. He has Avian Flu operatives in many of the world's strongest governments and religious sects and those he can't manage to seed with his people he vows to annihilate.

"Blitzengard?" I mutter to myself. The name is familiar, but I can't place it, and it's bugging me.

"Is Harold Sandra's father?" Kid asks. The name must have sounded familiar to him, too.

"Yes," Maka says. "Sandra was at the ranch with me for a while and she filled me in on a lot of her father's methods."

"What? You never said _anything_ about running into Sandra," I tell her.

"I know, sorry. I haven't exactly been functioning on all cylinders the last couple days and there was no way I was going to try to explain all this over the noise of the bike. I just didn't have the energy. Anyway, Sandra was at the ranch because her father wanted her to attend the wedding as he was doing everything he could to rub in her face how she screwed up. She and Black*Star were supposed to be the ones getting married. Her father was very disappointed that she had failed to completely indoctrinate Black*Star. He believes she intentionally failed because she didn't want to marry a man he selected, when in reality she's so terrified of her father she was willing to do just about anything to make it work."

I frown. I'm not thrilled that the chick that attacked my meister without provocation is now playing the victim card to get on her good side. "How do you know we can trust her?"

"We don't," Maka says simply. "I realize that an abusive dad sounds like a convenient excuse for the problems she's caused in the past, but I witnessed it myself. Harold is very twisted, and all those freedoms he aims to take away from others he took away from _her_ years ago. It's so bad that she started transforming when she was _four_."

"Four?" I gape. I have never heard of anyone having their initial transformation at such a young age. Usually, it's accompanied by puberty and even Brian didn't start transforming until he was seven.

Maka nods. "He's obsessed with ruling the world and constant experimentation with toxins and all kinds of forbidden magiks have left his soul mutilated to the point where it doesn't look like a normal human soul _or_ a kishin one. I think he's some kind of hybrid… the body of a man, the mind of a kishin, and a soul so twisted that… he's pure evil."

"Where is he now?" Kid asks.

"I'm not sure. The last time I saw him was when he was walking me down the aisle during the wedding."

"_That_ guy's Blitzengard?" I exclaim. "He looked so normal."

"Yes. That's part of his plan. He wants to look extremely normal compared to the other members of Avian Flu who have obviously committed forbidden soul transformations. All the changes he has done have been done directly to his soul, but not his physical body. He wants the power of a god, but to have the ability to blend in with man."

Kid continues to stroke his chin while Patti grabs a piece of paper and writes 'Harold Blitzengard' on it and begins to draw the form of a man. "Do you know where Sandra is now?"

Maka shakes her head. "The evening before the wedding she took off. I was actually really pissed off she didn't invite me to come with her, but she must have seen her opportunity and just gone for it."

My eyes narrow as I recall the bows all over Maka's wedding gown. "Sandra picked that wedding dress didn't she?"

Maka frowns at me, "Really?! That's what you're concerned with?"

I shrug. "I was just curious. It would explain why I hated it so much."

Maka shakes her head and smiles at Liz. "See, it isn't just Kid. It must be a guy thing. Soul's all over the place, too. Sometimes, I think he's _fantasizing_ while we're in battle."

"He probably is," Patti says grinning. "You look amazing spinning him around. It's _really_ sexy."

I nod and she shakes her head at me.

"Hey, I can multitask," I assure her.

"Not that well," she says factually.

"How do you know? For all you know I could've been having X-rated fantasies while functioning as your weapon for years."

Maka turns beet red and I bust up laughing and pat her on the shoulder. "I was kidding. Sort of."

"You better be kidding, because next time we can't pull off Genie Hunter, I'm going to put the blame _entirely_ on you. Got that?"

"That's fair," I say smugly.

Kid grins. "I'll remind you that you said that. In the meantime, I think we better try to locate Sandra. Her input could be invaluable. She could offer the inside scoop that we've been needing."

This decision seems to cause the Thompsons to become agitated. They're probably thinking the same thing I am, which is can we _really _trust someone who was poisoning our friend? Either that or they're remembering that thank you kiss Sandra gave Kid. I suspect they're not eager to have her become an ally if it means she'll be working closely with their meister.

"Maka, don't you think the chances that Sandra is another Crona are awfully slim?" I ask.

"Crona?" My meister appears thoughtful. "Funny, I hadn't even noticed the similarities… but now that you mention it their stories do sound really alike, but they're such different people. Truth is I always kind of felt sorry for Crona. From the get-go, I wanted to be Crona's friend. I don't feel that way about Sandra, but I think she can be an ally even if she doesn't know the first thing about friendship."

"We'll try to make contact with her and see if we can come to some kind of understanding. I agree with Maka. She could be an invaluable ally… but she could also be a cleverly disguised mole, so we'll need to be extra cautious," says Kid.

"Well, then it shouldn't be any problem for you," Liz says pointedly to her male partner.

Kid's nostrils flare. "You and I will talk after this meeting."

"With me there, of course," Patti adds. "You two can't be trusted alone together."

Liz rolls her eyes. "I'm not gonna hurt him."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Patti says winking at her sister and this seems only to serve to _incite _the older sister.

"_Fine_," Kid grumbles. "We will have a team meeting this evening and you can list for me everything I am doing wrong and I will try to put your constructive criticism to good use. But it needs to be _constructive_. Foolish complaints like accusing me of flirting or that I didn't need to do that railslide yesterday when we were training will fall on deaf ears because I am most certainly not _flirting_ with either one of you and every opportunity for perfecting my skateboarding _must_ be optimized regardless of your thoughts on the subject."

"Kid, you are _so_ weird," Liz says shaking her head.

"I know," Patti muses aloud. "Like, I totally wonder are all reapers like this or just Kid? I mean, are all Shinigami this bizarre combination of anal-retentiveness, charm and overwhelming sex-"

Kid clears his throat loudly to block the rest of Patti's words from reaching our ears. "Maka, Soul, apparently I need to have a meeting with the girls, so if there isn't anything pressing that you need to report-"

"I'm sorry, but there is one more thing, and Soul and I think it's pretty important. Though, you may not agree," Maka says.

"Well then, go right ahead. If it's important to _you guys_ I'm sure it's at least _mildly_ important to me, unlike the entirely unfounded concerns of my partners," Kid directs with a wink. At this comment, Patti sticks her tongue out at him and he chuckles.

I relay to Kid what Lydia and I learned about Avian Flu's public image in the Midwest and how they seem to be courting potential converts with promises of a brighter future, a more peaceful world, and enlightenment. "People there actually call Avian Flu a 'service organization.'"

Maka nods. "Yeah, Lydia's own mom told us she couldn't understand why Lord Death would be picking a fight with a group like that."

"Good grief." Kid's eyes roll as he shakes his head out of annoyance. "You're right if people think Avian Flu are the good guys that could be a big problem for us."

"Exactly," says Maka. "Which is why Soul and I think that you should deviate from the DWMA's normal approach of shying away from the media. Instead, we think you should allow a reporter to be embedded with us. There could be great benefit to having our own PR campaign. Think about the impact that interviews with students and coverage of the days battles and duels could bring to this conflict."

"Hhhhmmm," murmurs the acting Lord Death. "Well, you know that even though I love my father very much, I often disagree with his handling of things… and given the scope and nature of Avian Flu's covert operations I think that talking to the press _would_ make sense. What do you think, Liz? Patti? Do we break from our policy of staying in the shadows?"

"I think it's about time the DWMA gets the limelight," Liz says firmly. "I think it could help us to gain allies if more people understood what we do and why we are giving our all to fight Avian Flu."

Patti's lips twitch back and forth as she debates. "I'll run out of paper for all the good guys… but that's ok."

"Ok, then," Kid says. "Tomorrow we can send out some press releases."

"You _could_ do that," acknowledges Maka. "But, there's actually a reporter already headed here for that very reason." Kid's eyebrows rise. "It just kind of happened. He witnessed the chaos at the ranch and he followed us to try to get an exclusive on the story."

Maka and I tell Kid a little more about Ganglehoff and he seems eager to meet the intern until I let it slip that Christopher seems to have a thing for Lydia.

"How old is he?" Kid asks his brows knit together with disapproval.

"I think he said he's twenty-two or something," I tell him. "But he acts like he's about twelve."

"Oh, he does not," Maka says. "I actually think he might be good for Lydia."

"But he's _twenty-two_!" I wail at her in disbelief. Where is Maka's brain?!

Liz groans, "Ok, we'll investigate his lecherous intentions when he gets here and make sure he's not a total creeper. You say you think he'll be coming with Lydia and her mom?" Maka and I nod. "Well, if Lydia's mom doesn't blow him away before they reach DC, I would guess he's on the level," Liz says as she gently pats Kid on the knee.

Kid grumbles, "He's too old to be dating a high school student."

"I think that _perhaps_ _you_, of all people, shouldn't judge," Liz remarks to Kid as she tips her head toward him and her sister a half-smile on her lips. Kid follows Liz's gaze and blushes when he realizes that her comment is about his relationship with the girl sitting next to him doodling a picture with a yellow crayon as contentedly as if she were a kindergartener. "There's a reason DC doesn't have a statutory rape law on the books. Lord Death believes people should be forced to develop their own moral compasses."

"Well, you know Father. He prides himself on progressive thinking-"

"While you're an old stick in the mud," Patti says giggling as she nudges the reaper's shoulder with her own.

"I am _not_ a stick in the mud." Kid sounds genuinely hurt.

"Sure, that's why you like _so_ much music that's come out in the last ten years," Liz says sarcastically.

"There is nothing wrong with having an appreciation of the classics," the reaper says holding his head high. "And besides, when I karaoke with you I sing newer songs."

"Only because we make you," Liz says.

"I think few people perform karaoke without aggressive persuasion tactics coming into play," the young man comments.

"Maybe," Liz admits. "But all we have to do to you is get you drunk."

"Then you'll sing _anything_," Patti says. "And you'll kiss us for _real_. How come you won't-"

"_Well_," Kid says _incredibly_ loudly. "Maka, Soul, you have both done very well. I will need some time to decide our next move and Maka has to be quarantined for at least a day per our protocol for dealing with returning POWs-" I start to interrupt but he holds his hand up to indicate I am to remain silent. "I've made arrangements for you to be with her. I wouldn't dream of splitting you up after everything you've been through. Come with me. I'll personally escort you to your quarters for the evening. Ladies, I'll meet back up with you at home. You remember your duties?"

"Course. See you in a bit. Be safe, Kid," says Liz. "I'll make sure Bartholomew has a snack ready for you." Then she leans in closer and whispers an apology to him.

Kid shakes his head. "No, _I'm_ sorry. You're probably right. Much as I'd like to do everything I can to end this war, it's probably best for me to take a break once in a while so I don't lose perspective. Maka's right. All three of us should take some time off. How 'bout tomorrow evening? Liz, you could go on a date and I could have an evening with the guys. Stein and Spirit should be back by then and they can hold down the fort."

"What will I do?" Patti asks looking a little sad.

"You can hang out with me," Maka says smiling.

"Ok!" Patti says happily. "I'd like that."

"Thank you," the reaper says to Maka. Before giving one last smile to his weapon partners and then ushering us out of the Death Room.

Maka and I have been in the basement of the school plenty of times, so there doesn't seem to be any good reason for Kid to be walking with us to our cell for the evening, but maybe protocol dictates that we not be allowed to wander around unsupervised until after our quarantine. Whatever the reason, Kid leads us through the labyrinth of the academy's sub ground levels with the ease of one who has walked these halls his whole life.

When we reach the part of the basement with the guest dormitories, otherwise known as dungeons he leads us to the one at the end of the hall. Maka and I stand in front of the door expecting him to open it, but instead, he touches the wall of the hallway opposite the door and to our surprise the cobblestone blocks slide as though there is a pocket door there. A long, dark hallway is revealed and Kid steps into the hall a mischievous grin upon his lips as he tells us to continue to follow him, not in any way addressing our shock at having the secret passage revealed to us.

The three of us walk in silence down the passageway which is illuminated here and there with wall-mounted torches. After a few minutes, a hazy light becomes visible in front of us and unlike the torches it seems to be moving. It isn't until I hear Patti's familiar giggle that I realize that we must be seeing a flashlight.

"Everything clear?" Kid asks when she gets near.

"Yes, sir. Wren is busy in the kitchen making a meal to Liz's impossibly high standards."

"And students?" he asks.

"All sent out on assignment," Patti answers.

"Excellent!" Kid says happily.

"Would you expect any less from me and sister?" she says throwing herself at the reaper and his smile erupts into a wide grin.

"No, but you know I am a terribly spoiled young man."

"That is true, but we love to spoil you. That's why Bartholomew is making you licorice ice cream from _scratch,_ as we speak."

"Good thinking, that should keep the grouch busy for a while," the reaper says a sly smile on his face. Bartholomew, the Death Family's butler is about as pleasant to deal with as Ms. Leech. I go out of my way to avoid him, if at all possible, and he drives Kid crazy, but then again so does almost everything. "All right, you go ahead. Make sure no one else gets the bright idea of bugging us."

"Ok!" She salutes, turns to run off, then spins back around and gives him a chaste kiss on the lips and then scampers to the end of the tunnel.

"I have the Thompsons running a bit of interference for us," explains Kid, clearly embarrassed that his face has turned a rosy pink from Patti's attention.

At the end of the hall we reach a wall with a keypad by it. Kid enters a code and the wall slides upward and we step out into what I immediately recognize as a hallway in Lord Death's mansion.

"Your home and the school?" I whisper.

"How do you think Father always manages to be in the Death Room when we call? He doesn't sleep in the school and even my father has enough dignity to not want to walk outside in his pajamas." While it makes perfect sense, I've never before considered much about Lord Death's life. It makes me wonder what other secrets our headmaster has been hiding from us.

"Follow me, quickly. I'd rather not have to acknowledge that I'm playing favorites," Kid says as he leads us through the house. "Maka you will be enduring your evening of quarantine in one of the mansion's guest rooms." He opens the door in front of us to reveal a luxury suite complete with a hearth with a fire going in it. "If you need anything use the walky-talky on the coffee table to contact the girls or me, not the bell on the wall. Bartholomew will be of _no_ help, believe me. I have to go. Maka, I am so happy that you are ok," Kid says hugging my meister.

"Kid," I start awkwardly. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't-"

We hear a squeal from down the hall. Kid places a hand on my chest and shoves me into the room as he says distractedly, "Don't worry. I would have done the same thing. Someone's coming. Even Joe doesn't know you're here. If anything's said you slept in the guest quarters in the school basement. Got it?" Maka and I nod and step into the room. "There's some toiletries in the bedside table. Good night," and then he's gone.

It isn't until he shuts the door behind us that we fully understand how kind Kid is being to us. In addition to the fireplace, we have a private bathroom with a huge Jacuzzi tub, a basket of snacks and drinks and an extremely large, comfy looking bed.

"Kid's too good a guy to be the commander of an army," Maka says flopping on the bed. "He's so lucky he has the Thompsons to help him. Otherwise, I fear the job would break him."

"Seems like it already is," I say yanking my shoes off and tossing them aside.

"I think that has more to do with the fact he still hasn't told the girls how he feels about them. It's obvious Liz's little temper tantrum was because she's jealous of the attention Kids been giving Patti lately."

"Yeah," I say glumly. I hate the thought of him having to choose between the two sisters when I know he cares for them both. "I'm gonna take a shower," I say turning toward the bathroom. A moment later my meister is behind me hugging me, apparently, too embarrassed to say anything. I wrap my arm around her waist. "Or maybe I'll just soak in the tub with my meister." She smiles sweetly and I whisper in her ear. "Because she has been a very dirty minded meister lately and needs to get clean." She says nothing, but continues to smile.

The bathroom is at least three times the size of the one at the apartment. A portion of the room is carpeted and has a big mirror with a counter you can sit at. It looks like the kind of thing I imagine celebrities sit at to have their makeup and hair done. The floor around the tub is tiled with something that looks like marble and on little ledges around the tub are candles.

I plug the tub, turn on the water and begin to undress leaving my clothes in a heap by the tub and turn to my meister who is looking shyly at me.

"It's ok, Maka," I say amused by her sheepishness.

"I'm embarrassed."

"Why?" I ask taking her hands in mine. "It's just me."

"I get embarrassed when it isn't dark… and everybody knows what we're doing."

I laugh. "Not everybody, only Kid and the girls, and you know they're cool."

"I guess," she says nervously and I can feel her gaze roaming over my naked body.

"Meister, you goin' all shy on me?" I lean forward and pull her next to me. "Don't be embarrassed. I love you."

"I know… I just…" I silence her fears with my lips.

"Maka, we don't have to do anything. Just take a bath with me." She blinks as though in some state of internal confusion. "Come on. I'm naked here. This isn't fair."

"Can we dim the lights?"

"Sure, and I'll see if there are matches somewhere for the candles." While Maka undresses, I go into the other room and discover that there is a box of matches resting on the mantle above the fireplace.

As I light them, I study Maka's silhouette. It's so sexy. She's still too skinny, but she's starting to move the way my meister should and before long she'll be completely back to normal. Which means that we are both very, very lucky.

I climb in the tub. The water is hot and feels good on my muscles that are sore from riding on the bike all day. My meister slips into the tub and lets out a little moan as the warm water touches her body. She creeps over to be near me. I'd spoon her, but I don't want her to know just how turned on I am. I fear that if she knew how much I'd _love_ to bend her over the edge of the tub and fuck her like some kind of wild animal she'd accuse me of being a pervert. But, I can't help wanting her. I _always_ want her; the only question is to what degree she's driving me crazy at this time.

I watch her transfixed. Shinigami, she's beautiful. I think she's even sexier all shy and nervous like this. It's so adorable.

"You want to get married, don't you?" she asks. I didn't see the words coming. I must look like a deer in the headlights of a motorcycle. She giggles. "Don't panic, Soul. I'm just asking you about what you said yesterday."

"Aaaa," I stammer a bit. I consider making excuses, but I'm never very good at lying to my meister; she can always see right through me. "It's not like something I've… a… been… wanting… I didn't really think there was much of a point… but… but I aaa… I thought it might… be nice… for you and me… someday…a long time from now." I sound like an idiot. I've never stuttered this much in my life. "But if you don't want to, I understand." I rush through the words trying to cover my ass before she draws any incorrect assumptions. "I mean, I'm asking you or anything… that would be crazy. Ha, ha. We're in high school! But… aa… if you don't think you're gonna change your mind I'm not gonna cry or anything. Lydia just said that you and I already act married and then I saw you… and Justin… and..." Ugh! This is painful. I shut my eyes so I don't have to look at her. Maybe I can close them tightly enough I can pretend this conversation isn't taking place.

She climbs into my lap wrapping her legs around my torso, pressing her unclothed body into me enticingly.

"I think I would like that _someday_," she whispers. I open one eye and look at her, attempting to assess whether or not she's joking.

"Really?" Maybe it's some kind of trick… best to still keep one eye tightly shut.

"Really. If it would mean something to you, I could _probably_ be persuaded… _someday_." My other eye pops open, while the rest of me sits there frozen. Holy shit! Did Miss Marriage-is-a-Form-of-Female Enslavement just say that she would consider getting married someday? To me? I should say something, but I don't know the right words to express what I'm feeling at this moment. Excitement? Relief? Amazement? Luckily, Maka isn't in a talking mood. She's in a make-out mood as I soon discover when her lips crash into mine and she slips her hot tongue into my mouth in an incredibly sensual manner. Oh, Lord Death! How can a freakin' bookworm be this amazingly sexy?

Her lips are all over my face and neck. I'm panting like crazy and then she grips me in her hand. Her touch is tender, but just like when she holds me in battle there is no trepidation. She knows _exactly _what she's doing as her hand slides up and down my length making me groan with pleasure.

"Oh, God, Soul, I want you," she moans as my right hand finds her hip. I quickly orient myself to the curves of her body. She let's go of me and allows me to lean her back against the edge of the tub so I can more easily position myself between those gorgeous legs of hers. I brush my fingers across her entrance and she throws her head back. It's an invitation if there ever was one. I dive inside her with my fingers and she lets out a wild moan that makes me get even harder.

I gently massage her insides and eventually she's begging me to focus my attention on a certain spot that with repeated caresses makes her scream with pleasure.

"Oh, meister, you are _so_ hot," I whisper huskily in her ear.

"That feels really good…" she says biting her lip ever so slightly.

Her hand once again glides toward me, easily finding what she's seeking. Her fingers do a little dance up and down my arousal that feels _incredible_ and I close my eyes and all thoughts other than giving and receiving pleasure disappear from my head. I lay there loving her touch as we simultaneously create feelings I'm sure neither one of us want to ever end, but then she does something that simulates the sensations I get as I plunge myself into her, and, _oh my God_! I find myself having to fight to not climax. I open my eyes in an attempt to not entirely lose myself to the pleasure, but with my eyes open I can see her silhouette and her face contorted by the sensations of passion coursing through her. Shit! _That_ isn't helping!

"Maaaakaaaa…" I groan out her name and she plays with me more vigorously. She's clearly a woman on a mission. She's got me completely undone and then it happens. I cum, my entire body shuddering as though I've suddenly stepped into a freezer from a tropical beach. She kisses me as my now lazy fingers slip from her core. I'm panting as though I just ran a marathon. I'd be embarrassed if I could think straight, but my mind's too blown right now. There are simply too many sensations: flashes of light and colors, her lips on mine, her voice saying some sweet nothings I can't quite comprehend, and her hands touching me all over. Dizzy from my orgasmic euphoria I croak out the words, "Thank you, meister."

I hold her in my arms for what feels like an immeasurable amount of time. When I regain the control of my body, I get out of the tub and invite her to come with me. I take her hand helping her out of the tub, careful not to let her slip on the wet tile before I scoop her up and carry her to the bed. I gently set her down, hovering over her as I suck on her fingertips and kiss her wrists until she reflexively spreads her legs. Seeing her like this excites me and makes me all the more determined to make her feel as great as she made me feel. Still holding her hands in mine, I slide my head between her thighs and lap at her entrance before I slide my tongue inside her. I relentlessly attack the special spot my fingers played with earlier and she begins thrashing. I move my hands from hers to her hips, trying desperately to keep her from rolling us both off the bed. Damn, I already want her again. Having a sexy girlfriend is a curse, man, I tell ya. It seems like I'm always rock hard these days, but now is not the time to concern myself with me. I want to make her go crazy.

I read the pants and movements of her body in response to mine, trying to find the magic rhythm that will be the tipping point for her. I hear her breathing become more rapid, her squirming even more erratic as though she's trying to shake me loose and I'd grin if my lips and tongue weren't busy. Then in a tiny voice she says my name and stammers out that she's cumming. All of her composure lost, she howls and yelps like an animal. I used to think that there could be no sound sexier than my favorite piano concertos when well played, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. This is wild and hot and… oh, my god.

I climb up her, my hands taking her wrists and planting them firmly on either side of her head as I lock lips with her. I love her. I love being like this with her, but I love it all. I want it all- the arguments, the eye rolls, the handholding, the hugs. I want to meld myself into her until we become one big two-toned soul.

I find myself rubbing dangerously close to her entrance, but I force myself to behave. I love her too much to screw up what we have; I'm not an idiot. _I_ can't totally lose control, because at this point she's helpless, crazy, and delusional from her peak, and I'm honored that she trusts me enough to allow herself to be like this with me. I kiss her neck leaving a trail of marks from her chin to her breast. One of her hands escapes my hold and begins to run through my unruly hair and she smiles.

"You're… so… sexy!" she pants. It's official, I'm one lucky man.

I roll over onto my back. "I love you, Maka."

She nods ever so slightly. I don't think she can talk yet. I grin; I did good.

A few minutes later, I stand up and head to the bathroom. While I'm taking a leak, I hear a squeal and I pop out of the bathroom panicked that something is wrong, but I find my meister sitting on the edge of the bed laughing.

"What?" I ask.

She beckons for me to come next to her and I do. She's opened the drawer of the bedside table and she's giggling too hard to say anything. She just points. Looking inside, I see that there are a couple toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste, a nail clipper and nail file, dental floss, and three condoms. On a piece of stationary with kittens printed on it is written, "We trust you will put these items to good use. Your pals, Liz, Patti, and Kid." Toward the bottom of the page there is another note in Kid's distinctive print, "I disavow all knowledge of this. I had nothing to do with it. Don't believe them. Kid." And beneath that scrawled in red crayon is a smiley face with the words, "Yes, he did. He's thoughtful like that all the time."

"We have wonderful friends," Maka says wrapping her arm around my waist.

"We _really_ do," I say cracking up so completely that the kiss I'm trying to plant on her neck becomes more of a slobbery raspberry than a kiss.

"You know, it'd be a shame to disappoint them, when they've been so thoughtful," she says as she picks up one of the condoms and tosses it to me.

"Meister!"

She giggles and hops onto the bed. "What else is there to do? We're forbidden to leave, we can't defeat Blitzengard from here, and there aren't any books to read."

I frown at her. "I'm your third choice. _Nice_, Maka. Real nice."

She laughs at my frown. "You know saving the world comes first."

"Of course," I say easing myself down on top of her. "But books, really?"

"I like to read," she says shrugging.

"I know. _Believe me,_ I know," I groan. " But, I _guess_, since there isn't a piano here or a GameBox, I'll settle for doing my _third_ most favorite activity, too," and with that my meister and I are making out once again.


	74. Chapter 74: A New Normal

**Risenfromash:** Merry Christmas! I wish you all the best in the coming year.

_**Chapter 74: A New Normal; Are You Telling Me…?!**_

The next morning I'm woken up by a blast of static from the walkie-talkie. The sun is just starting to creep up into the sky making it officially too god-damned early to be getting up when not on assignment.

"Come in, Maka and Soul. Come in, please." The voice is distorted by the crappy sound quality of the walkie but it _has_ to be Patti. She's the only one who could be bubbly at this early hour. I grumble that I'm coming as I slide out of bed and trek across the room to the coffee table where the two-way radio has sat unused all night. Maka still half asleep mutters something about how the other person will only hear me if I hold the button while I talk. I roll my eyes. She's practically unconscious yet she is still meistering me. I don't think I require _that_ much guidance, but whatever.

I pick up the radio, push the button and say, "Yeah, yeah, we're here. What is it?" I sound more surly than I intended.

"Oh, good. It's Patti."

"And Liz," another voice shouts in the background.

"We," Patti continues. "Need to smuggle you out of here unseen."

"Sure," I say yawning.

"You sound tired," Patti comments in a tone that is clearly insinuating something.

"Why didn't you and Maka get a good night's rest, I wonder?" Liz ponders sarcastically. "What _could _you have been doing all night?"

"I'm yawning cause you woke me up," I grumble. "For your information, Maka and I slept quite well."

"I bet you did," Patti giggles as though the thought of Maka and I doing it is the funniest thing on the planet. She even snorts a little. I roll my eyes. Why must our friends be like this? "So, you gonna let us out of here or just yak?" I bark.

"We'll give you a few minutes to get dressed," teases Patti.

"We are dressed!" I shout despite the fact I'm standing there in only my boxers. It's only when I look over at Maka and see that she is entirely naked that I relent. "Yeah, I guess, we'll need a minute," I grunt trying not to sound as though I'm admitting our guilt, but it probably wouldn't matter what I said as the sisters giggle wildly on the other end.

"No prob, Romeo," Patti answers. "One of us'll be down in a few."

I walk back over to the bed and a drowsy-eyed Maka, her hair badly in need of a combing, sits up and smiles at me. One look at her and I'm reminded of all the things we did last night and it gets me all hot again. I wish we didn't have to go. I could happily lie in that bed with her for days not even doing anything. Just lying there under the fluffy blankets, snuggling, talking, sleeping, and hanging out.

I climb back in bed wishing her good morning with what I _intend_ to be a quick kiss… it isn't. Her lips linger enticingly on mine and her eyes stare at me with a level of contentment that I'm confident I could turn to longing in about thirty seconds. I kiss her again and she lays back pulling me down on top of her. "Maka," I say grinning. "Patti and Liz are gonna be here any minute. We don't want to cause Kid any trouble." She nods, but refuses to let go of me. "Don't worry, Maka. I'm not going anywhere," I assure her.

"Neither am I," she says glancing down at my arms and I realize that I'm clutching her tightly as well. "Right," I grunt releasing her from my grasp. She takes a moment to whisper, "I love you," in my ear before beginning to scurry around the room to find our clothes.

I'm hanging the robes back up in the bathroom when there's a knock on the door. We open it to find Liz fully-dressed and bright eyed. Maybe being a morning person is in the girls' genetics.

"Kid had an early morning call from the Oceanic division, but he wanted to make sure you were out of here before Stein and Spirit show up. There's supposed to be back some time this morning. Supposedly, those two have been driving Marie nuts with their way of taking the scenic route back from every assignment. Come on."

Liz takes us through the house at a brisk pace and back through the secret passage. When we get back to the depressing basement rooms, we find Patti tousling the bed coverings in one of the cells and sprinkling it with a little bit of water. "It needs to look authentic you know." I don't ask what bodily fluid she thinks she's simulating. I simply look away and do my best to not turn beet red.

"Now, what?" Maka asks. I'm sure she's also eager to get away from Patti's creativity.

"Up the stairs, rule breaker," Liz says.

We emerge from the downstairs labyrinth into the hall near the auditorium just in time to see the lumbering backside of what can only be Jule.

"Hey, Jule!" I shout.

The lump turns around and begins bouncing from one foot to another. Honestly, it looks like when a kid does the pee-pee dance, but I interpret it as one of his signs of excitement or happiness. Either that or he really does need to take a piss. All I know is he starts running toward me at a fast duck-waddle, his one hand flapping back and forth wildly weirdly reminiscent of a propeller. He then does the closest thing to a hug he is capable of doing with those short arms and his rotund stature. It's more like a full body bump than anything. Though, thankfully, he doesn't do it as forcefully as a Sumo wrestler would.

"Hey, Big Guy, they treating you ok?" I ask patting the demon on the shoulder as his eyes fall on my meister. Oh! I haven't told anything about Jule to Maka. Oops. I guess it _might_ have been helpful to debrief one another rather than simply making out the entire night. Nah. Maka's smart. She'll roll with it.

"Jule, this is my meister, Maka. Maka, this is a friend of mine, Jule. He defected from Avian Flu after the attack on the train. We think he's-"

"Soul!" From behind Jule's large girth comes Jerome's voice and a second later the little boy peers around the lump. He is wearing a smile that extends from ear to ear and his face is messy as though he has recently been eating some kind of snack.

"Hey, buddy! How's it going?" I ask him.

"Good! My parents are on their way! And you found Maka! Awesome!" I nod and the little boy turns to Maka and says, "I gots to be Soul's partner. We ate cactus and went to the bathroom _outside_. It was great. And the best part was meeting Jule and when Soul found us cookies. Did you know that you can use the staircase in the west wing as a slide? Jule's really good at it. He just sails down it, and we got to talk to the baby in Mre's tummy. It's daddy's Fressor Steim. He's funny, but he's gone. He'll be back, though, and me and Jule have been staying at his house with Mre. We've been helping decorate the baby's room. It's yellow. Fressor Steim's lab is super cool. It's not yellow. It's white and the desk is blue. It's got weird things in jars and a really-"

"_Wow_, that's awesome," I say interrupting. If I don't jump in, he'll take up the entirety of our free time telling us all about his adventures since coming to Death City. "But, me and Maka have some stuff we gotta get done. You think you could tell us all about it later?"

"Oh, yeah. Me an Jule got stuff we gotta do, too. We're supposed to be putting these papers on each of the chairs in the audience for the Jakob thing," he holds up the pamphlets he has been clutching. It must be some kind of program.

"The Jakob thing?" Maka asks, but before Jerome launches into an explanation Marie appears looking frazzled. "Oh, there you are. Thank goodness. Boys, how many times do I have to tell you to _please_ not wander off? I get so scared something might happen to you!" She grabs Jerome pulling the little boy close to her with one arm while wrapping her other around the amorphous demon. "_Oh_, hi!" she says just now realizing it's us and before I know it Maka and I are also squished in the large group hug.

"I've been so worried about you. Soul, what you did was _terrible_, just terrible. You're just a little boy and it's the adult's responsibility to-"

"Marie, we're not newbs, anymore. I knew what I was doing," I say flatly.

As though I haven't spoken, she continues, "I heard that Lydia's in terrible shape-"

"She assessed the risks before going with Soul," Maka says. I'm thankful for the back-up. I have a feeling that every single person I see today is going to weigh in on whether or not I made the right decision taking off on my own to get my meister back and, frankly, I don't give a fuck what any of them think and I really don't want to have to listen to it.

"Well, all I'm saying is that I'm glad that Kid intends to make an example of Soul because we can't have every lovesick teenager running out after-"

Marie can get on my nerves sometimes and this is one of those times. My meister can tell that I'm about to lose it as she is giving me that pleading expression she gives me when she fears I might do something rude. Marie, on the other hand, is completely oblivious and keeps blathering on about duties and responsibility and how we are too young to know what we want as well as a host of other bull crap. To my great relief, her ranting is interrupted by Kid.

"Excuse me for breaking up the reunion here," he says politely. "But I need to speak with Soul in private about a couple of things. It's rather urgent."

Maka nods her approval and Kid and I step out onto one of the balconies which, thanks to the bombing, no longer has a functional railing.

"What's up?" I ask concerned.

"Oh, it's not really that important, but it was a convenient excuse to get you away from Marie. It looked like you were getting an earful."

I shake my head. "Did you _hear_ her? Does she actually think she can treat us like little kids when we're at war? It's fucked up. We aren't kids anymore."

"You know how Marie is. She wants to shelter everyone, which is no doubt why Stein and Spirit have been taking their time returning to headquarters. They wanted to follow up on some leads before she argued that they were too dangerous for just the pair of them." Kid stares off into space for a moment before continuing. "I presume that you had a pleasant evening." Unlike his partners, his expression appears serious. I suspect that for him affairs of the heart are no laughing matter, otherwise, he would probably have a slew of girlfriends. It's not like there aren't a million chicks lining up to get with him.

"Yeah, it was nice. Thanks," I say a little awkwardly.

"Good, because now I need you to do something for me. I need your help getting the ball rolling on PR for our war effort."

"No problem. What can I do to help?"

"I have an important meeting this afternoon and I need _you_ to serve as my weapon during it."

I draw back in surprise. Kid doesn't fight without the Thompsons unless there's a very good reason. "Did your talk with the girls not go well?"

"Huh?"

"Yesterday, you and the girls… Liz, mainly… you were fighting. More than usual."

"Oh, _that_," he says dismissively. "I won't deny that things have been a little rockier than usual, but everything's fine. Liz is just… Liz…" He shrugs. "She can get like that sometimes."

"PMS?" I offer.

"No, it's too soon for that. I keep a calendar." My face must betray that I think the fact he would do something like track their monthly cycles is more than a little weird.

"Don't you?" he asks and I laugh thinking he's kidding. In earnest he continues, "Not my girls… I mean Maka. Surely you must-"

"No," I say firmly, and he frowns.

"Hhhmm. I thought for sure you would… maybe not on _paper _but… for me it's essential." He pauses and then realizes I'm gawking at him. "Don't give me that look! I'm not some kind of pervert. It just lets me know when not to approach the girls with especially sensitive topics… or when it's not a good idea to enter their wing of the mansion." An image of Kid in his full reaper get-up, complete with Lord Death mask, cowering in his bedroom in fear of the Thompsons' monthly bitchiness pops into my head, and I can't help myself. I bust up.

Clutching my side because I'm laughing so hard, I ask, "Do they _know_ you do this?"

"Oh, _God_, no. They'd kill me if they knew… or Patti would claim I'm monitoring it for breeding purposes or some other bizarre thing. She seems to jump at any chance to insinuate that I have a thing for her."

"Yah think?" I say grinning at him.

"You know Patti; she's very imaginative."

I smirk. "You're not _seriously_ gonna stand here and pretend that you don't have the hots for her are you? Because you are _not_ gonna be able to play hard to get much longer. She's getting more determined, _aggressive_, even. Her sister, too." He says nothing and his face betrays nothing. "Come on, man. You can tell me the truth. I won't make fun of ya. _You like Patti_. It's ok. You can say it. I won't accuse you of havin' a Lolita complex."

His neck turns red and the color spreads up his body like something out of a cartoon. "I will admit to having a certain level of affection for her."

"And that level of affection is…?"

"Uh…" His composure flounders, his eyes darting around as though looking for something, _anything_ else to distract from my pointed question. "Uh…" he pats himself down and pulls out a pack of smokes and a lighter. He lights a cigarette and inhales deeply. "We can discuss me and the Thompsons later. I need to know that you will act as my weapon this afternoon." Exhaling a thick fog of smoke, he adds, "And, _no_, you cannot say you'll only do it on the condition that I spill my guts to you about the girls. This is a _professional_ request."

"Then it's my duty to say yes, not a choice," I tell him. Though I am disappointed that he predicted a possible tactic I could use to get him to open up. "But, why aren't you taking the girls? You suck at fighting without the Twin Pistols."

"I do not _suck _without them," he says annoyed. "I'm just a less skilled. They help keep me focused and balanced."

"So, why aren't they going with you or at least one of them?"

His response is fast. "It's not a job for a lady."

"You better not say that in front of Maka," I warn him.

"Oh, I won't. I'm not _stupid_. But you'll agree with me once it's all said and done. Tell Maka that you're meeting me at 3pm for our guys night out."

"Wait! I have to lie to Maka?"

"I would prefer it, for now. The girls talk and I would really rather not have to explain to Patti and Liz why I'm choosing you over them for a mission. They _hate_ when I go off on my own. They seem to think I'm incapable of caring for myself."

"Ok, but…" It sounds really lame to admit, but the thought of lying to my meister makes me feel really uncomfortable. Partnerships are built on trust, after all… but it's Kid. I know he wouldn't be asking unless he considered it to be necessary.

"We'll meet up with Black*Star afterwards. You can meet me at the skate park in the northwest sector. Wear a hoodie." And with that the enigmatic young man puts out his cigarette, carefully returns the butt to the pack, and makes his exit leaving me to wonder what the fuck I've gotten myself into.

Before returning home, Maka and I pick up the bike and ride it to the Screaming Eagle. As we walk in I notice that the bar has a new feature, a display case containing pop culture collectibles including _Skeletoxin _number six. At least he's taking good care of it. I hand him the keys to the bike and we make a little small talk, or rather he ignores _me_ and asks Maka all about her dueling stats, the total number of souls we've claimed, what Avian Flu is up to, and a bunch of other inane questions that I wish she would tell him she doesn't have time to answer. But, instead, she politely answers them all even asking him about how business has been and if he thought that the air raid drill went well. I try not to look bored out of my mind, but not _too_ hard. I _want_ Maka to know that I want to go home. I want to take a shower, put on some clean clothes, and crash on the sofa, _our_ sofa. It's been far too long.

After what feels like an eternity, the conversation starts to wind down and Maka says goodbye to the burly bartender and we head out finally on our way to our apartment. As we make our exit, Maka points to the comic book in the case.

"Oh, look! He's a Skeletoxin fan, too," she whispers as we exit the bar. "I knew you two probably had more in common than just motorcycles. I bet-"

"I don't want to be friends with him. He's a resource for motorcycles and their repair _only_. He's not as cool as you think."

She shakes her head. "You're so weird, Soul. How can the two of you both value the _same_ comic so highly and not become friends…" The pace of her speech slows down till the word 'friends' comes out like she's in slow-mo. I can almost _hear_ the gears in her head turning as she works it out. "Wait a second!" she blurts out stopping on the street so suddenly that I collide with the back of her. "Is that _your_ autographed copy of _Skeletoxin _some-number-or-another?" She asks waving her finger in the direction of the bar. I hang my head. "You traded your comic for use of the bike?!"

"It's not a big deal," I say, not really meaning it, because it is a big deal, but I wasn't going to tell her. I didn't want her to feel guilty about it, and I knew she would. She's sweet like that. She admits that she doesn't 'get' my obsession with the superhero, yet she understands that Skeletoxin is important to me in the same way reading is important to her. I start to say that it was nothing, but then I reconsider. I _did_ give up something I loved and sacrificing one of my most prized possessions in order to rescue the woman I love _could_ put me in the running for some kind of Boyfriend of the Year award, and I'm _pretty_ sure something like that would come with a prize that I would really, _really_ enjoy. That's right. _I'm awesome._

I lift my shoulders from their normally slouched position and extend my neck in anticipation of a big ole smooch. Maka looks me in the eyes and I close mine sure that she will be showing me her appreciation at any moment. Oh, yeah!

"What an asshole!" she shouts right in my face. It startles me and my eyes pop open.

"What?!" I ask fearfully. Aw, crap. Is my plan backfiring?

"Not _you_," she says as though I'm a huge idiot. "_Him!_ We're at _war_ and he made you pay to rent the bike from him? What a _fucking_ profiteer!" She starts marching back in the direction of the bar and I grab her by the back of the shirt.

"Maka, _no_! A deal's a deal and, besides, it's just a comic book."

"_Just_ a comic book?! You get all dreamy eyed whenever you talk about waiting in line for three hours to have What's-his-name autograph it!"

I grin. "Meister, it's ok, really. And, for the record, it was _six_ hours."

"But…!"

"Come on, let's go home," I say taking her hand in mine. "All I really want right now is to take you home and enjoy the few hours we'll have at home before we have to go to the war council meeting."

Maka grunts. "Ok, but I'm not letting you make any more deals with that swindler. We'll figure out a way to buy you a _nice_ bike, not some hunk of junk that can be heard a mile away and has a rock hard seat that makes my butt hurt. And we'll get you a cool vanity plate with your name and-"

I stop and turn toward her, never releasing her hand. "Kiss me, Maka," I whisper to her.

"No! We're in public."

"I don't care."

"But-"

I wrap my arms around her and give her a kiss. "Come on. Let's go home and you can tell me all about that bike you're gonna buy me with nonexistent money."

"Ha, ha," she says sarcastically. "I'll find a way, Soul. I will. If you won't let me get your comic back, then at least let me do this for you."

"I'm not arguing with you. I'm just curious where this money is going to come from, because you're not allowed to moonlight as a stripper." She rolls her eyes. "You know the academy frowns on meisters doing that sort of thing while in school." She smacks me across the gut with the back of her hand and I laugh. "So what color is Brunnie Two gonna be?"

"Oh, God, we're _not_ going to call her that. She's got to have a dignified name…"

Daydreaming about once again owning a bike preoccupies me and I almost forget about my upcoming secret mission with our current Lord of Death, but when those thoughts _do_ flit across my consciousness for a moment or two, I ignore them. I'm determined to live in the moment, because these days you never know what will happen next, and right now, I've got my meister and we're back home. That's all that matters to me.


	75. Chapter 75: Convincing Liars

_**Chapter 75: Convincing Liars; A Hard Day for Everyone?**_

As soon as we cross our threshold, Maka dashes to her closet eager to put on her own clothes for the first time in days. I poke my nose in the fridge and find a fresh quart of milk and chug from it before rummaging around in the cupboard for a snack. After satisfying my hunger with a handful of crackers, I head to my room to grab myself clean jeans and a t-shirt.

Maka emerges from the bathroom her hair wrapped in a towel, a pair of jeans clinging to her and a t-shirt with a big pink skull on it. She looks absolutely adorable. Why did she even bother to get dressed? She _must_ know that one look at her has gotten me _incredibly_ turned on. Silly me, I thought living with her was supposed to be more tolerable now that she's my girlfriend, but, instead, it's more torturous now that I know what I'm missing.

I smile and my thoughts become transparent to her. She squeals, "Soul, I was going to have some _me_ time and do a little reading…"

"After…" I hiss in her ear as I pull her toward me.

"Soul, stop that!" she says giggling as she tries to push me back. "Have you forgotten what we did _all _last night?"

"No, I remember, Meister," I giggle devilishly. My mind does calculations. It is now about ten thirty and our meeting is at noon which means we have an hour and half to ourselves, _alone_ in our own apartment. I unclip her bra under her tissue thin t-shirt while my other hand climbs her body to cup her tiny, perfect little tit in my hand. Her screams change in nature as her only protest becomes that she just took a shower.

"Big deal, we'll take another… together." I take her hand and lead her to the couch and the shy way she looks down at her feet as I guide her to the sofa makes me want her even more.

We are making out big time, me dressed only in my boxers and her naked other than a cute pair of lacey panties which my right hand has found its way underneath. I'm caressing her gently listening to the gorgeous music of her erotic panting when someone bangs on our door. "Maka! It's your daddy! Let me in. I must see you, my precious baby. I'm so relieved that you're alright. Your mother is, too. I talked to her in the Death Room-"

Maka jumps up dumping me onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Mom's here?!" Her face lights up brighter than I think I've ever seen it.

"Oh, _no_ honey, she's not _here_," Spirit explains. "I'm sorry. I just talked to her in the mirror in the Death Room."

The delight on Maka's face fades away immediately. I _hate_ Maka's mother. What a fuckin' bitch. She abandons her _kid_ because her _husband_ is a louse. Then she doesn't even bother to come home when her daughter goes missing. What a piece of work!

I stand up and whisper to Maka, "I'm sorry, meister."

"It's ok. Mother has work to do, same as us. I'm proud that she trusted me enough to know that I would be fine. That's why she didn't come when I was taken. I'm sure it was hard for her to stay away."

I say nothing. I hate hearing Maka making excuses for the woman that abandoned her, but telling my meister that would do us no good. When it comes to her mother, Maka reverts back into a child, desperately believing _anything_ that provides her mother a half-way decent excuse for being a crappy parent. It's like all Maka's good sense goes out the window at the mention of her mom. Which means that if I point out to her what a lousy parent her mother _really_ is, it's liable to cause friction between the two of us, and right now I can't afford to take that chance. Maybe someday when Maka's older she'll gain some perspective and she'll be as upset with her mom as she is with her dad, but right now everything is still always her father's fault.

"Meister, I think we better get dressed," I whisper to her.

"Maka, my dear sweet baby, can I please see you, sweetheart? I want to hold you in my arms!" Maka rolls her eyes and hollers that it'll be just a minute as she hurriedly collects her clothes from the floor and tosses me my pants. I scramble toward the kitchen pulling them on and strike a pose by the stovetop as though I'm in the midst of making a pot of tea.

She opens the door and Spirit practically falls into the room from his exuberance to hold her.

"Oh, my dearest daughter!" he squeals as he grabs her, pulling her toward him, before enveloping her in an enormous bear hug. There are a lot of ways Spirit has failed Maka as a father, but, I've never once doubted how much he loves her. I smirk realizing that the other man in her life has been as big a mess over her absence as I have been. At least she's got one parent who isn't afraid to show how they feel.

I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing as I watch my meister get drenched from a fountain of happy tears flowing from each of his eyes. "I am so happy you are ok. You _are_ ok, right? Stein and I will make Avian Flu pay if they hurt you. That _bastard_ Justin didn't hurt you did he? I've _never_ liked him."

Spirit seems to become aware of my presence for the first time and his eyes linger on my bare chest. I pray to Lord Death I remembered to do up my fly. The guy isn't exactly emotionally stable at the moment. I hate to think what he might do if he pieces together that Maka and I were practically doing it when he turned up at our door.

"Hello, Soul," he says coldly.

"Hey, Spirit," I answer trying to pretend that I don't notice the iciness in his gaze. "How's it going? You get any kills?"

You would think that since I'm the one who brought Maka back that he'd be at least a _little bit_ nice to me out of obligation, if nothing else, but nothing Deathscythe does makes much sense. He's all emotion and drama, all the time. Such a fuckin' drama queen… and I'll never be rid of him because he's Maka's dad. Lucky me.

He nods. "Stein and I took out quite a few, but, all I could think about was finding Maka. We were not lucky enough to have been sent to the compound where my dear, sweet daughter was being held. Yet somehow _you_ managed to figure it out where it was."

"Soul and I are really in tune with one another," Maka says smiling at me.

"That's very sweet, Maka," Spirit says flatly. "But, if Soul had a lead on where Avian Flu had taken you, I deserved to be given the opportunity to help in your rescue or at the very least be informed that we had a lead. I was worried sick and I know that you're ashamed of me, Maka, but I _am_ your father and that should count for something."

Spirit is such a prick. I save his daughter and he doesn't even say thanks or good job, it's all about _him_, _always_. He has to assert his position.

"It doesn't matter. I'm home now," Maka says sharply.

"Spirit," I begin. "I should have-"

"No," Maka says sharply. "You don't owe any explanation to my father. You're my partner and my boyfriend which means that you have just as much-"

"I am your _father_! I have been there for you since the day you were born. I'm not some fling-"

"Fling!" Maka says incredulously. "Do I have to remind you how many years Soul has been my partner or that we're screwing on a routine basis?"

I close my eyes hoping that I can somehow block out this catastrophe. Did my meister just yell at her father that we're having sex a lot? I'm dead. One step away from becoming a Death Scythe myself and I'll be slain by Lord Death's right hand man. Goodbye, cruel world!

"Spirit, I think what Maka means is that she and I are-"

"I can't believe this! My only daughter gets a boyfriend and she thinks she doesn't need me."

"That's right, Dad. I _don't_ need you. Not because I have a boyfriend, but because I'm a woman now. I can make my own choices and I see no reason whatsoever that Soul should have to ask your permission for anything. I'm not yours!"

I can't help but cringe at this rant. This is not going to help my tenuous relationship with the man I think of as my father-in-law. Can Maka possibly believe the hurtful things she's saying right now? There's no doubt that Spirit can be obnoxious, but is it really ok to be this cruel to him just because he's a dumbass? Doesn't someone who loves you this much deserve better even though they're an idiot?

Torn by my need to support her and my desire to point out to her that she is wounding her father, I stand there awkwardly, my mouth hanging slack as the two Albarns bicker with one another.

"Spirit, I'm not replacing anybody," I say softly.

"Yeah, cause there's nothing to replace," Maka shouts. "He's never been there for me. He's too busy trying to get in the pants of every woman in DC-"

"Maka!" He shouts.

"So, yes, Dad, I'm _fine_. Now, you've seen me and you can believe it. I'm back; I'm fine. Soul did his duty and successfully brought back his meister. We don't need your help."

Spirit stares at his daughter. "Maka, why do you hate me so much? Because I cheated on your mom? Sweetheart, it was the wrong thing to do, but I didn't cheat on _you_. I will always love you. I am always true to you. What happened was between your mother and me."

Maka rolls her eyes. "You're a sorry excuse for a father," Maka says viciously.

Spirit doubles over crying. "Fine. I'll go. I won't intrude on your life ever again. You're a great meister, just like your mother, so I'm sure you'll be fine." He turns to leave, but before taking the final step out the door, he looks back, not at his daughter but at me.

"Soul, Maka is very precious to me, but you are the only person she truly loves. Promise me you'll never hurt her or she'll never love anyone or anything ever again," and before I can respond the man disappears from view, but I can hear the echo of his sobbing as he exits the building.

I'm so angry at Maka I'm seeing red. Spirit's a horrible parent, but at least she has a parent! And why the hell is everything her mother does ok while everything he does is wrong? It's blatant sexism and I'm getting sick of it. I don't like standing by and watching her treat him like that. I'm going to let her have it, even if it means our relationship goes on the rocks! I cannot believe that she would treat another person like that.

"Maka," I say, about to bitch her out for treating her doofus of a father worse than she does members of fucking Avian Flu, but I'm interrupted by her. She throws her face into my chest sobbing.

This hasn't been a great morning for the Albarns.

"Come on," I guide her over to the couch and lay down on it and she sprawls across me and cries and cries. Sometimes she can barely breathe. I can't recall ever having seen her like this.

"Maka, it's ok," I hold her and reach out for her soul with mine, but I can feel hers retreating from me. "Maka, don't do that, I'm just trying to help you to calm down."

"I don't want to calm down!" she shouts in between gasps for air.

"Yes, you do. Only a crazy person would want to be as upset as you are right now."

She says nothing but sniffles.

"Maka, is something else bothering you besides your dad?"

"You mean besides the war and Crona being missing? And my mom and dad being completely stupid people?!"

It's the first time I've ever heard her speak ill of her mother. Maybe she isn't as delusional as I thought; maybe she knows she's kidding herself about how great her mother is.

I decide it's best to say nothing. I just lay there and rub her back as she sobs. Sometimes, Maka just needs to let things out. She keeps a lot bottled inside. Her and Kid are both like that, whereas me and Black*Star usually leave people with no doubt as to our opinions on things, and most of the time dueling lets Maka release all those emotions, but every once in a while that isn't enough. Sometimes, she's just gotta have a good cry. So, I hold her as she sniffles and cries her eyes and nose streaming. If I were wearing a shirt I'd wipe her nose, but as it is she just lays there little puddles of tears forming before rolling off the side of my chest.

Eventually, she's all cried out. I take a look at the clock on the wall and see that we better get going if we don't want to be late.

"Meister, we gotta go," I tell her and she nods. She sits up and looks at me saying nothing. Her eyes are bloodshot and her nose is red. "Want me to grab a snack for you?" I ask.

She shakes her head and I take a deep breath. At this rate, it is going to take a long time for her to put back on the pounds she lost.

We walk to the academy and the outdoor air seems to do her good. She's _almost_ acting like herself again by the time we enter the Death Room, that is until she sees her father who is standing by Stein and Marie chatting about something.

Stein grins mischievously at me, and I know that he has something he wants to say, but I ignore him. I'm more than a little tired of hearing everyone else's opinion of my actions. I did what felt right to me. That's all I can say. Maybe it wasn't the best for Kid's agenda or the DWMA, but sometimes even those things shouldn't matter.

Black*Star jumps up from his spot on the floor and clobbers me with an overpowered hug.

"Duuu-dd-e, I think you're using your soul wave-ve-length," I choke out.

"Oh, sorry," he says immediately loosening his grip on me.

"It's better than getting a kiss from ya," I say laughing and he reaches over and ruffles my hair.

"I was so worried about you, man. I knew you'd be ok, of course, cause the Soul Eater's tough, but I was still worried. Weird shit's been happening all over." I nod. That's probably the understatement of the year, right there.

Kid calls the meeting to order and goes over the most pressing recent developments and tells us that he's received confirmation that Jakob's parents will be arriving in Death City today so the memorial service will be tomorrow at one o'clock as planned. Sadly, most of the news is bad. Other than Maka's return and the news that Stein and Spirit destroyed one Avian Flu outpost in the Haight-Ashbury district single handedly the rest of the news sucks.

Kid tells us that he will be meeting with each of us individually to give us assignments, but that this evening he is leaving Spirit and Stein in charge as, at the request of his team, he is taking a personal day. No one argues, with news this crappy we could probably all use a mental health day.

After the meeting, Maka and I head home. I take a nap while she reads, before I head out to meet Kid. I tell her that we're getting our guy's night started a little early and, thankfully, she doesn't ask questions. She just tells me to have a good time and that she's looking forward to spending the evening with Patti and Tsubaki. I walk out of our apartment feeling a little guilty about going on some kind of mission without her knowing, because it seems to break the rules of our partnership, but I remind myself that it's at the request of our current Lord Death. A few months ago, I never would have thought I'd be taking orders from our OCD friend and having to treat them as the end-all-be-all of our career, but nobody saw any of this coming. The DWMA's world has effectively been turned upside down.

When I get to the park Kid is performing tricks. He's really good. I had thought that since his board has the ability to hover that he had it easy a lot of the time, but watching him on the half-pipe I realize he has some serious skills. I also realize that Kid is a lot less socially awkward when he's on his board. At the skate park he seems like just another skater punk, not a god of death leading a battle against an organization hell-bent on world-domination. The other dudes at the park don't seem to treat him any differently either, but I don't recognize any of them from school. My guess is that they are not DWMA students.

He catches sight of me and does a nose grind before walking over.

"Hey," he says. "Ready?"

I shrug. I'm not sure how I'm expected to be ready for something when I don't even know what we're doing, but whatever. The reaper holds out his hand for his board to dematerialize and then pulls up his hood. I follow suit.

"Come on," he tells me. "We have an errand to run." Kid weaves us through a number of alleys, occasionally looking over his shoulder or doubling back presumably to prevent us from being followed.

"Dude, are we going to graffiti the side of the bakery?" I ask him trying to lighten the mood. "Cause I've already done that."

"We've both already done that."

"I didn't know you-"

"That's cause I wasn't dumb enough to get caught, unlike you and Black*Star."

I frown. I can't believe I just found out that Kid has graffittied. "Dude, why wasn't I there?!"

He hushes me with a wave of his hand as he peers out of the end of the alley. "We're going there." He appears to be pointing at _Miss Hottie's, Home of Attractive Topless Dancers 24-7, 365 days a year_.

That _can't_ be what he's pointing at. I look at the businesses next to _Miss Hottie's_: there's a pawn shop that looks like it hasn't gotten new merchandise in the last fifteen years and a stamp and coin collectibles shop. I sigh, we must be going stamp collecting. That seems like the geeky kind of thing Kid would do.

My friend steps out of the alley and crosses the street. I follow and start to veer toward the collectibles shop, but he walks up to the door of the strip club. I think I must be hallucinating.

"Kid! Kid, what the fuck are you doing?" He opens the door only a crack and we are met by the sound of pop music and the hoots and hollers of horny men.

"I'm doing my duty," he says before stepping into the bar.

"Maka's gonna kill me," I mutter under my breath as I follow him in. The bar is trimmed in red and purple with shiny silver metal throughout that matches the dancers' poles. Currently, a red head is sliding herself down one of the poles upside down. Kid and I stand there transfixed by her… _athleticism_… for a moment.

"Good afternoon, gentleman," greets a woman carrying a tray of drinks. "Anything I can get for you?"

I still haven't managed to peel my eyes from the ginger. I've only seen stuff like this in the movies and it is _way better_ in person, but when I hear Kid say, "My friend and I are in need of some _special _entertainment this evening," I pry my eyes from her in a hurry. What is the reaper up to?

"What do you have in mind?" The waitress asks seductively. I find myself gripped by panic. Is Kid going to hire a hooker, and if he is why the fuck did he bring _me_ along? This will _not _help those rumors about the two of us! Oh, no! What if 'special services' means a dude? He's gay?! I was _sure_ he wasn't. He flirts with the Thompsons and he didn't go out with Robin and didn't he tell me he thinks Robin is 'gorgeously symmetrical' or some shit? Maybe, he's bi. That could be it… but why am_ I_ here? _Maka is going to kill me._

No, maybe there's an Avian flu operative working here in the strip club and he has to come get lap dances from her so that he has her in a compromising position before he and I take her down. That's gotta be it. Please, Lord Death, let that be it, or Jakob will not be the only DWMA student memorialized at tomorrow's ceremony.

"Right this way, gentlemen," the woman says leading us through the bar to an area separated from the main part of the room by a curtain.

"Are you wanting your usual?" she asks Kid and my jaw drops. They _know_ him here? Forget about Maka, the Thompsons will _obliterate_ him from existence if he's been coming here to be 'entertained'. They don't like competition.

"Yes, I'm in need of Carrie's attention," he says.

"Understood," she says. "Just a moment." She turns and exits the way she came, pulling the curtain closed behind her.

"Kid," I begin, but then I feel a rumbling and the circular couch slides to the side to reveal a staircase. I'm intrigued, but also a little worried that 'special services' may involve dungeons and whips and chains. Didn't Kid have something like that in his mind when I entered it? Oh, my god, he's into S and M!

He steps into the dark hall without any hesitance and I follow. We go down what must be a floor or two before the stairs end. The room is completely dark. I can't believe that Kid doesn't have the decency to tell me what the fuck is going on.

"Welcome back, Kid. Have you come to give me your _soul_?" Thunders a deep, commanding male voice before cackling evilly. Oh, crap!

"Knock it the hell off, you bastard," Kid says seeming to be entirely unaffected by the terror that swept over me at hearing that voice. The lights flip on to reveal a room crowded with enormous computers, multiple television sets, CB radios, and telegraphs. The walls are plastered with posters from local rock concerts and news articles from all over the country.

At first I think the room is unoccupied but Kid seems to know his way around and leads me to a desk that was obstructed from our view as we entered. Sitting behind the desk is a blonde man probably only a couple of years older than us. The man pushes a cat off his lap and stands up to greet us.

"Soul, allow me to introduce you to Carey," Kid says.

"God, don't call me that! I haven't gone by that in years. Hackers have aliases. My handle is Lava Snake."

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?" Kid says sarcastically. "The name brings such _vivid_ images to the mind."

"I know, right?" he says oblivious to my friend's dry sense of humor. "It's been awhile, but I knew you'd be back. With ladies like the Thompsons it's inevitable. What have those _naughty_ girls of yours done this time?" he asks chuckling. Kid does not appear amused and stands there glaring at the man at the desk as though impatient to cut the crap and get down to business.

"It does not involve the girls. I need your assistance in fighting Avian Flu," he explains.

The young man makes a clucking noise with his mouth. "You know I prefer to keep neutral on politics-"

"You'll be paid handsomely, I assure you," Kid says quickly. "Though, if you believe that the conflict between Avian Flu and the Academy is merely 'politics' you have been in this basement for _far_ too long."

A crooked smile spreads across the man's face at the mention of money. It makes my stomach flop. "I got no affection for Avian Flu," the young man says. "I'm just not eager to make an enemy of them. I'm not _crazy_, like the two of you."

"Well, I suppose, that we aren't all cut out for world saving," Kid says. "However, if you know what's good for you, you will help us."

"Is that a threat, _Lord Death_?" The blonde man asks quizzically.

"Perhaps," Kid answers mysteriously. "That's for me to know and you to not find out, because you're _going_ to help us."

"And why are you so sure?" scoffs the man. "You can't be offering me _that_ much money."

"Yes, I can. I've got more money than the girls and I will _ever_ need. But you're not going to do this for the money. You're going to do it for the _challenge_. I know how much you like to do things that have never been done before."

The man leans backward in his chair and raps on a door that's behind him on his left side.

"Miranda, get your ass out here. Death the Kid's here and he needs our help."

A short girl who looks of Indian descent walks out. She sneers at Kid for a moment before asking him, "You finally gettin' what you're paying for Kid? Or just from the younger one? I never figured you to be the Lolita type, but you know when you're rich enough-"

"Miranda, the Thompsons are my _companions_, not some kind of _concubine," _Kid spits out the words giving the girl a hate-filled look._ "_Remember that." He orders in a disgusted tone. It's obvious he doesn't like Carey, but I'm guessing from his tone that he likes this girl even less.

"Sure," she says snidely. "You've got a strictly _professional_ thing going with them two, _for sure_. That's why your computer is _littered_ with photos of them."

I can see Kid's body stiffening. This chick is pretty cocky to think she can insult the Lord of Death's ladies.

"Oh, come on!" The man says. "Give the guy a break. He doesn't know which one he wants. I get it. But the answer's clear. _Go for Patti_. That chick is _da-ya-amn_ cute and it's _real,_ ya know? Not faked. _I'd_ totally tap her. There's a chick who works upstairs that reminds me of Patti, but the innocent thing is just an act. Still, she makes more money than any of them naughty whore types."

My eyes flip back and forth wildly between my friend and the seated man. I can't figure out if he really is such a jackass he doesn't care that his statements are offensive or if he is intentionally trying to goad Kid.

"You will kindly refrain from speaking of Liz or Patti," Lord Kid orders in a commanding tone.

"Yeah," Miranda says to Carey. "You mustn't insinuate that the Shinigami has any impure thoughts. You know how eager he is to appear squeaky clean so he can please _daddy_." Her tone is mocking. I glare at her.

"If that were the case I wouldn't have pretended to be shit-faced to cover the fact you stole all of father's booze that time," Kid shouts at her. "Now, please, shut up. I'm here to negotiate a deal with your brother."

"Yeah, well, brother's finally gotten smart and made me his partner," she says with an evil smile. "So, you're negotiating with me _and _Jizzmop."

Kid crinkles his nose. Even I can tell this is not going well, and I'm not even sure what we're supposed to be accomplishing. It would have been nice if Kid had told me what we were doing first and that he'd be dealing with these two demonic opportunists.

"So, what's this impossible feat you're wanting us to pull off?" Miranda asks.

"I need you to hack into all television broadcasts and deliver a message to the world," Kid says with a smile.

"You want everybody across the world to receive a transmission from you at the same time?" Carey strokes his chin in thought.

"Yes," Kid answers. "I need to warn the world about Avian Flu and their tactics."

"Hhhmmm. That's an awfully big job," the hacker says.

"You can take a moment to think on it," Kid says. "Soul and I'll just have a seat on the couch." The reaper turns around and begins picking up computer components, newspapers, and garbage from on top of a sofa that is sitting behind us. The thing was so entirely covered by junk I hadn't known it was there until now. From somewhere on the couch a pornographic magazine cascades to the floor, its pages fluttering open while on its descent. It lands open revealing a close up photo of a woman's vagina. Kid uses his foot to flop the magazine closed. For once I have to agree with my OCD friend, I wouldn't touch that thing with my hand either.

"This is how we get the place clean," the Indian woman derides. "Every time Kid comes he can't stand it and tidies up for us. We really should give him a discount."

"Instead, all you do is give me grief," he grumbles as he yanks a garbage can out from under a pile of electronics, many of which come crashing to the floor. "Hey, watch it!" Miranda shouts. "Those are some important components!"

"Sorry," Kid says sarcastically. "I couldn't tell. Most _civilized_ people don't leave half eaten food to mold on top of something that's important to them."

Miranda yells at him, "Just cause _we_ weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouth-"

"That has nothing to do with it and you know it," Kid says pointing to a small portion of the couch he has successfully uncovered. "Soul, have a seat." I follow his instructions and sit, realizing that I haven't said one word the entire time I've been down here.

"Miranda, quit terrorizing Lord Kid and com' here," Carey shouts from behind his wall of monitors.

Kid clears the spot next to me and sits down. "Carey and Miranda are brother and sister. They're _awful_ people but they're the best hackers around," he whispers. "They've helped me numerous times when I've needed some assistance in getting the girls' records wiped clean."

"You've always said you did that on the level. With an attorney and stuff," I whisper back.

"I lied."

I lift an eyebrow. I didn't think Kid lied.

"What?" He asks innocently. "I'm not about to have the girls taken away from me due to some stupid _misdemeanors_ like armed robbery or kidnapping-"

"I'm pretty sure those are felonies, Kid."

"Whatever. They're different now. I've reformed them," he whispers back.

Miranda glances over at us from the desk. "Yo, Kid. You finally gonna take me up on that offer to photo shop those special bikini photos of the girls-"

Kid glares at her. "_No._ They are only in a special folder because I like to be organized. Speaking of which would it kill you to stack your hard drives neatly?" The reaper hops up and rushes across the room to straighten a pile of computers. "The Thompsons are not sex objects and I've already told you once to leave them out of this."

"I can't believe you still haven't fucked either of them," says the man, craning his head so as to be visible from behind the stack of computers.

"Kid's waiting for love. I think it's romantic," a woman's voice comes from the far corner of the room and I see a dancer dressed for work. She's blonde, tall, long legged and wearing only a thong and a see through cape thing over her tits and a pair of red high heels.

"Romantic, schmantic," says Carey as the dancer runs to him. "All the world cares about is tits and ass." He grabs her butt and then slaps it. "Aren't you supposed to be workin' right now?"

"I'm taking a break. I just worked a group of business men. It was exhausting," she says with a big sigh.

Carey rolls his eyes. "You're _supposed_ to be upstairs making money."

"But _Kid's_ here," the dancer says sweetly. "You must have a good deal in the works. He's loaded."

For the first time in my life I get a sense of what being Lord Death's son must be like. He told me and Black*Star that before he met us and the Thompsons he didn't really have any friends and I get it now. Too many people are after his money or the notoriety of being friends or lovers with a Shinigami. I actually feel sorry for the guy.

"I've been here less than ten minutes and you have already insulted both the girls and me _egregiously._ Could the three of you _please_ knock it the hell off?" Kid says angrily.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry, baby!" the dancer says running over to him. "Here I'll give you a dance for free to make up for it."

"_No!_" He shouts, his eyes acquiring a hard look. "Thank you!"

The dancer touches his face. "Oh, honey, you need to get laid. The war and the sexual tension is-"

"Don't touch me," Kid says and I recognize the tone. He's starting to lose it. That reaper rage is starting to take control. I swap my arm to a scythe and step in front of him.

"If you know what's good for you, you're gonna back off. Kid _is_ under a lot of pressure right now, and he doesn't need shit from you guys, too. He's here to negotiate an important deal. That's all. Stay out of his love life. Got that?"

Miranda's eyebrow arches. "Hhhmmm. Kid's got himself a boyfriend. Could we have misinterpreted his devotion to his Twin Pistols?"

Kid raises his hand and darts across the room as though he's gonna strangle her.

"Kid, take me!" I shout as I transform and, instead, of murdering Miranda he wraps his hands around my handle. His soul wavelength is all over the place, its loops so irregular they practically overlap one another, but despite its lack of rhythm it's the strongest wavelength I've ever felt. The power he holds must be tremendous. No wonder he has to balance it out with two other people. I feel like he could topple this entire building if he wanted.

"Kid, listen to me. It isn't worth it," I whisper. "You know that the girls wouldn't want you doing this. They don't want you to do anything you'd regret."

I can't tell if my words are reaching him. All I can feel is the anger within him. It's so strong it's pulling me into it. I sense hatred of Avian Flu and of anything not as balanced as a yin-yang. I feel frustration and more than anything else a sea of confusion and sadness.

"Guys, maybe you normally mess with Kid, I dunno. But you _can't_ do this." I'm shouting at them my scythe eye stretching as far as it will go so I can have the three of them in my sights. "Kid's the Lord of Death now. He has powers you can't imagine and he's easily enraged, especially when you insult the Thompsons. Believe me when I say you do _not_ want him to wield me right now. He could kill every single one of you in one swing."

"I don't take kindly to threats," Carey says standing up.

"It's not a threat; it's a warning. That's why he brought me here. He knew you'd be activating every trigger he has with your filthy office and your dirty minds. So, _back off_," my voice is earnest. "He's not in control of the power yet. Just tell us whether or not you'll do this job and do not say _anything_ more about the Thompsons. Got that?"

The three of them nod before huddling close to one another. A few moments later they pull apart and say, "Alright, Kid. We'll do it, but on one condition. At the end of the broadcast we get to put up our symbol of the Lava Snake so there is no doubt who the world's greatest hackers are."

Kid nods and says, "We'll contact you later today with more details." And still clutching me in weapon form he walks toward the doorway and up the stairs.


	76. Chapter 76: A Short Sausage Fest

**Risenfromash:**__Howdy, everybody. In a recent review of this story, I was asked to tell you what my update schedule is for this story. So here it is. I don't have one. I haven't imposed on myself any kind of deadlines for _When Things Heat Up_, but I _usually _manage topost a chapter couple of weeks. It all depends on how much 'free' time I've been able to devote to it and how challenging the chapter is for me to write. The section when Maka and Soul were split up was very difficult and took longer to write than I would have liked, but I'm fairly happy with how it came out. You'll find that the length of chapters varies greatly, but I try to maintain a certain level of quality in the chapters, though there will be unintentional bad grammar (not a part of Soul's voice), misspellings, and/or awkward segments When a reader or I catch these things after I've posted, I remind myself that's why professional writers have editors.

Writing this story is my favorite thing to do with my free time and being able to share it with all of you means a great deal to me. Happy New Year, everybody!

_**CHAPTER 76: A Short Sausage Fest; Is This the Only Restaurant in DC?**_

"Well, that was a bit of a disaster. At least we got what we needed. Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done that without you," Kid says still shaking with anger as we emerge from the strip club blinking at the brightness of the afternoon sun.

"Are they always like that?" I ask as Kid positions himself at the corner of the alley to have a smoke.

"More or less. They are _complete _assholes, but they are also _amazing _hackers. Remember when New York City's Bank of the Free was hacked so that the contents of several CEOs' bank accounts were redistributed to their lowest paid employees over in China?"

I nod. I do remember that. It was big news. "That was those two?"

He nods as he lights his cigarette. "The news media assumed it was some anarchist group or socialist organization, but, no, it was those two basement-dwellers doing it just because they were bored."

"How much money were you willing to give them?" I ask, curious.

He shrugs. Blowing out a cloud of smoke and seeming to exhale some agitation along with it. "Not much. I was bluffing. I wouldn't want to give my family's fortune to such perverse people. Fortunately, they're attention whores. I'll pay them their usual per job fee and they'll have the pleasure of seeing Carey's Lava Snake on every television set in the world." The reaper curls his lip in disgust. "It's terrible phallic, but that's the price we will have to pay. Better than giving them money. He and Miranda are plenty comfortable. He owns the club."

"Hottie's is his?"

Kid nods. "He used to just rent space in the basement, but about two years ago he paid for the place with cash. The former owner and operator left DC to go start a new business in the Virgin Islands, from what I hear."

"Ugh," I groan. It seems unfair that shits like that get all the money, and I don't even have enough to get a motorcycle.

Something's eating at me and I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask. The worst that will happen is Kid will not answer or get pissed off at me, but he never stays mad for long… at least not with me, anyway. "So, is it 'cause of people like that that you haven't told the girls how you feel?"

Kid's shoulders sag a little. "In part, I guess. So many people assume that we're," he rolls his eyes skyward, "'doing it' that I hate to-"

Oh, my God. I've got him talking and he's _not_ denying his feelings for them. This may be my only chance to give him a little push the way he helped me to admit my feelings for my meister.

"Dude, even if you hooked up with one of the Thompsons, or _both_…" I watch his reaction to this one word carefully, but as usually I can't read a thing from his expression. "That wouldn't make those ass holes right. You gotta know that, Kid. What they're insinuating, that isn't who you are. Everyone knows you care about the girls. You wouldn't use them like that."

"I do care about them, tremendously, in fact… but I _do_ have a folder of them in bikinis on my computer," he says guiltily hanging his head.

"So? They're hot. Liking to look at them in swimsuits doesn't make you a criminal. It makes you a man, Kid."

Kid grins. "I'm not sure that Liz would agree. She once told me that if she ever caught me with porn she would throw all my belongings out my bedroom window."

"Girls don't like porn," I say bluntly. "Especially when they like the guy looking at it. It makes them jealous. You should have seen Maka the time she walked in on me with a copy of _Pussykats_ that Black*Star lent me. She came unglued."

"You read second hand porn mags? That's gross."

I shrug. "Only ones from Black*Star."

Kid turns to look at me with an expression like he just sucked a lemon. "That's still gross."

"At least they weren't Carey's."

"Oh, God, _I know_. I hate to think what Cherry and him do down there… I want to take a shower."

"Cherry?"

"That's his girlfriend's name… well, obviously not her _real_ name, but it's her stage name and what Carey calls her."

"Lava Snake and Cherry." I say it just so I can hear how absurd it is. "Shinigami, I hope they don't reproduce."

"You and me both," Kid says with a laugh coughing out smoke. "I'm glad we're doing this. Liz and Patti were right. I needed a night off." Then thoughtfully he adds, "I hope Liz has a nice time on her date…"

I arch an eyebrow. "Do you _really_? Come on now, you can tell me."

Kid looks at me appalled. "Of course, I hope she has a nice time. She's my friend! I don't want her to have a miserable evening."

"So, you hope that this guy she goes out with is 'the one' and they feel an amazing connection to one another and they rush off to screw-"

Kid puts up his hands. "Enough. I get your point. I hope she has a _nice_ evening-"

"Without any horizontal action, right?" I say smirking at him devilishly. I think I'm finally figuring out his game.

Kid tips his head and then shrugs. "No, her having sex doesn't really bother me. Actually, I keep meaning to tell her that Rodrigo is coming into town for the memorial service and I could easily let her have some time to-"

"It doesn't bother you to think of Liz fucking some other guy?"

"Not really. I mean, I had my chance… and I turned her down."

"Yeah, why did you do that?"

"Cause I don't want to just 'screw' someone."

"You're such a romantic," I comment laughing. "No wonder the girls are falling all over you."

He moans, "Only girls like Erika. You know, I've received some intelligence that would suggest she's defected."

"You think she's joined Avian Flu?" I ask incredulously. That seems low even for Erika.

Kid nods. "At this point, it's unconfirmed, but it's been hinted at from a number of different sources, so I have to believe there is some modicum of truth to the rumors."

"Lydia is gonna shit bricks when she hears."

"I know, that's why I'm not going to tell her until I'm sure," Kid says. "But we said no business tonight, and this sounds an _awful_ look like work."

I nod. He's right. We got off topic, time to refocus this conversation back on the Thompsons. Three… two… one… "So, you blew your chance with Liz… what's stopping you from being with Patti?"

Kid laughs. "I see I can't distract you, huh?"

"Nope. I know I've got one chance at this."

The reaper sighs. "Please don't tell me you're thinking of playing matchmaker, because I assure you that my situation is far too complicated-"

"_Patti_," I say forcefully. "Now, tell me what's so bad about being with Patti."

Again, he sighs. "It's complicated. And why are we talking about the Thompsons? Tonight is supposed to _relax_ me. We're supposed to talk about guy stuff."

"Like what? Beer and football?" I say throwing my head back and laughing.

"Not _those_ kind of guys," Kid says in disgust. "More like video games and music and, oh, Shinigami, _I don't know_. Just _not_ Patti and Liz."

"Ok, fine," I agree. "But, Kid would you be happy if you died tomorrow and they didn't know how you felt about them?"

He shakes his head. "Really? You're going to try that tactic?"

"It worked on me," I say suddenly uncertain of myself.

"Yeah, and you're not a Shinigami. I'm not that easy to kill, and I would _not_ be happy dying tomorrow regardless of whether they knew I'm attracted to them or not."

"Fair enough," I say with a smile. I'll let him off the hook for now, but just for now. Eventually, I'm gonna dig down to the truth and when I do. Hot damn! Maka and I will help make Shinigami history. "All I'm saying is you shouldn't let people like that stop you from doing what you want. You said yourself, they're assholes."

"You're right," Kid says. "The logical part of me knows that, but my situation is far more complicated than yours and Maka's or even Black*Star's- oh, Lord, what time is it? We're supposed to meet him at three o'clock all the way across town! Shit!"

Kid and I pick up the pace hurrying through Death City to meet our friend in Coventry Park in the exact opposite side of town.

We're late getting to the park, but it doesn't seem to have bothered Black*Star as when we arrive the ninja is on the basketball court surrounded by a bunch of younger kids. Most look like they're probably ten or eleven, but one is so small that he could seven, maybe.

"Alright! Now it's Ronnie's turn!" Black*Star stands behind the short boy helping him position his arms to take a shot. "Go for it!" The boy makes a basket and the other kids cheer.

"Thanks, Black*Star!" He says beaming.

"Ah, you're welcome and don't listen to those losers. Nobody's too short to play basketball. If they give you trouble again let me know and me and Tsubaki'll come set 'em straight."

The kids cheer as Black*Star waves goodbye and comes jogging over to us.

"What was _that_ about?" Kid asks.

"Aw, some douchebag was trying to run these kids off the basketball court even though they were here first, but I took care of it," he says with a wink. "Black*Star always fights for the underdog."

"Oh, please don't say that," Kid whines. "The DWMA should not be considered the underdog. We were established hundreds of years ago and we're run by a god-"

"Hey, calm down, man," Black*Star says wrapping his arm around Kid's shoulder. "This is supposed to be a low stress evening, remember? No bird people or talk of P.O.W.s, just some good ole-fashioned hijinks with your best pals."

"Right," Kid says uncertainly.

Black*Star continues, "No chicks, no rules, no-"

"Speaking of chicks, how'd Tsubaki's appointment go?" Kid asks and the other meister rolls his eyes.

"Awful," Black*Star mumbles.

"What appointment?" I ask confused.

"Mira's out on a mission with Sid so Geniushere," he thumps Kid on the chest, "came up with the idea of Tsubaki going to a normal doc, instead, of a DWMA person. Just to check and make sure the baby's ok. So we get there-"

"Tsubaki took you to her doctor's appointment?" I ask. Surely, I've misunderstood, but Kid's wink tells me that I have not and that there is a conspiracy afoot to give our friend opportunities to appear supportive and helpful to his partner instead of... well, the way he normally is, I guess.

"I'm her meister," he says firmly. "She shouldn't have to deal with this shit alone. But, fucking God, what a pain in the ass! We get there and the doc's running behind, so we have to wait _forever_ and Tsubaki keeps having to get up to go pee and the bathroom is _all the way_ outside the waiting room at the fucking other end of the hall. When they _finally_ call her name she's in the can and I tell them that she'll be right back that she just went to the bathroom, but they make her lose her place in line to see the doctor. So, we're there _all_ fucking morning. Then, another woman gets there and I swear she's got at least seven kids with her and one of 'em is _screaming_. Then they _finally_ get Tsubaki in a room and the nurse tosses a gown at her, barks at her to get undressed from the waist down and then vanishes without another word. Then the doctor shows up and he's a _total ass_. I think he musta become a woman doctor because that's the only way he could get between a chick's legs-" The laughter from Kid and I becomes too great for Black*Star to tolerate and he stops. "I'm not kidding. The guy's a _giant_ prick. He comes in and asks her if she's been drinking, smoking, or using drugs, and all this crap and she's all like 'no, I'm doing what the books say,' and he says, 'Well, maybe you should have read the book that said to use a condom.'"

"There's no way a doctor said that," Kid interrupts aghast. "That's totally unethical! You've gotta be exaggerat-"

"Well, this one did. Swear on my honor as an academy student."

"What did you do?" I ask.

"I punched him in the face," Black*Star says as though that is the only logical response. "I don't care if he's a doctor or not. No one treats Tsubaki like that, no way is a guy like that gonna be looking up her gown! I chased him out to the hall and yelled that my weapon needed another doctor or I was gonna go ninja on their asses."

Kid shakes his head. "You didn't…"

"Hell, ya I did. Nobody treats Tsubaki that way, not while I'm around to defend her. Then they send in this _ancient_ woman doctor who apologizes and says that the other doctor will be reprimanded for his behavior, but she explains that it's hard for them when young parents don't come with a 'responsible' adult. So, I tell her that Tsubaki is doing everything right and being very responsible and that we're DWMA students and don't need stupid parents because we've been taking care of ourselves for years and then she asks me if I really think I'm prepared to be a dad and I say that Tsubaki's putting the baby up for adoption, but that if she wanted to keep it I would support her because Tsubaki would be the greatest fucking mom ever and-"

"Wait, what? Go back- you said what?" I must be getting old. I can't keep up with this at all.

"What part?" he asks me.

"The part where you said that if Tsubaki kept the baby-"

"That she'd be an awesome mom?" the ninja asks.

"That isn't on the table is it?" asks Kid. "I thought Tsubaki decided she was putting the baby up for adoption."

"Yeah," Black*Star says sounding glum.

Kid and I stare at our friend. "Wait, you can't seriously be encouraging Tsuabki to keep it?!" I ask floored.

Black*Star shrugs, "Why not? Tsubaki is like the perfect mom, so why give it to someone else who might not be as good? Besides, what if the baby is a weapon like its mom or a meister? Most families wouldn't know how to handle that, but me and Tsubaki-"

"Oh, my God. You're actually thinking you want her to keep the baby!" I shout.

Black*Star scratches the back of his head and screws up his face in thought. "Well, yeah, I guess I am."

"That's a _horrible_ idea," I shout, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "We're _teenagers_. You don't even know how to take care of yourself! If Tsubaki weren't cooking and cleaning for you, you'd be lying around in your own filth-"

"Yeah," Black*Star says grinning. "Black*Star's like a big over-sized baby and she's a _great_ mom to me."

Kid shakes his head. "So, did the rest of the appointment go ok? Is the baby ok?"

"Oh, yeah," Black*Star says off-handedly. "The baby's growing the way it's supposed to and we got to hear its heart beat. It has a heart, did you know that? And they gave her another bottle of those damn horse pills she has to take every day. That was about it."

"So how mad was Tsubaki by the end of the appointment?" I ask.

"_Mad_, but not with me. She said she won't go back to that place because they said I wasn't welcome there and since I'm her labor coach-"

"You're her labor coach?!" I ask.

"_I'm her_ _meister_; who better to be her labor coach? If we can soul resonate, we sure as hell should be able to do some fancy ass breathing technique. Tsubaki doesn't want any drugs. That's not how they do it in her village."

"Is anyone from the village coming for the birth?" Kid asks.

"I don't think so," Black*Star says sounding disappointed. "By their laws, Tsubaki should marry the baby's father and since she won't do that she's kind of blacklisted, I guess."

"That sucks," I say. "It's not her fault Kyo's a dickhead."

"Yeah, I know," my exerburent friend continues. "I told her we could lie and say the baby was mine and I'd go through the whole public disgrace thing that the village would insist on doing, but she said no. She didn't want to put me through that just so that she wouldn't be shamed."

"Are you and Tsubaki dating now?" I ask. If Kid is busy playing matchmaker for Black*Star instead of focusing on his own screwed up love life I'm gonna smack both of them.

Black*Star stops walking for a moment. "Naw, we're not dating, not really. I'm just going with her to all her appointments and her La Maze class and making sure someone's with her all the time so Avian Flu doesn't snatch her. I wouldn't have left her tonight, but I knew that if Maka and Patti were with her I didn't need to worry."

Kid nods. "Yeah, I'm not letting Patti go off on her own, either. I know that Avian Flu would _love_ to get their hands on her in order to wound me. I think they mistakenly believe that because I call her 'princess' she is incapable of handling herself in combat."

The three of us chuckle. No lady of the DWMA is a damsel in distress, but our partners especially so.

"So, what should we do first?" I ask.

Kid strokes his chin in thought, "I could really use some time on _Booger Blasters_."

"What is your obsession with that game? You know you're at least ten years older than the demographic it's made for, right?" Black*Star always teases Kid about his favorite arcade game; it's a tradition, because why would a guy who hunts demons with the Twin Pistols enjoy blasting little green aliens with a plastic gun accompanied by a cheesy carnival soundtrack? Only Kid knows.

We head to _Coin-Op Kingdom_, pay our admission and each get a huge tub of nickels to use to play games. We let loose on the place as though the games are our salvation and, eventually, the horrors of the last month fade as we do the things we've always loved to do. Black*Star kicks butt on the _Star Flyer_ simulator, Kid sets a new all-time record on the dance pad, and I hold my own against the little ghosts chasing me through a labyrinth in _Mouth Man_.

After defeating all our favorite adversaries at the arcade we're ready to grab some grub and we head to Burger Meister, every academy student's favorite burger joint.

It's dinner time so the place is busy, but we luck out as our favorite booth in the back corner has just become available and Black*Star runs across the restaurant and plants his hands on it shouting, "I claim this table in the name of…the DWMA's most-powerful meisters."

I frown at him. "I'm a weapon, jackass."

He shrugs and pats the table again. "And one dude who's really good at taking orders from a girl."

"Nice," I say sarcastically as I flip him the bird. "Hey, you want me to order for you?" I shout. We always order the same things so it's not like I don't know what he wants and it looks like if he leaves the booth we'll lose it.

"Yeah," he says as he appears to be rubbing his scent all over the table.

"Is Black*Star planning to piss on our booth?" Kid asks.

"Whatever it takes to get the corner booth," I say grinning.

"I'm not sure I'd go quite _that_ far," the reaper says laughing as he orders the 'Shinigami Special' his made to order Black Angus Burger. After several disastrous attempts to serve the OCD reaper, the staff of _Burger Meister_ created his own menu item and started saving the most perfectly round patties for his consumption.

We grab our drinks from the soda fountain and park ourselves in the booth, Black*Star and I on one side facing the entrance and Lord Kid on the other side facing the wall. This is our standard seating arrangement whenever the three of us come here and I find it comforting to know that even though we're immersed in the biggest conflict the academy has seen in generations, some things can remain the same.

We sit and talk about all the kind of things that absorbed our minds before the bombing... girls, games, obnoxious teachers, and whatever random weird shit popped into our head. Kid is mid-sentence describing to us a new invention he read about in _Innovation_ magazine when we hear a squeal from across the eatery. Before I can warn him that she's incoming, Patti glomps onto Kid, her arms securely wrapped around his neck.

"What are you doing here?" He asks looking confused. "And _where_ is your escort?!" Kid says scanning the restaurant. Without giving her time to answer, he pleads with her. "Patti, I have asked you time and time again to please not run off from-"

"Maka and Tsubaki are right next door, but I was done shopping, so I came over to get a milkshake."

Kid's eyes grow wide and he gets unusually pale. "You already spent _all_ that money I gave you?"

Patti nods. "Yup, so can I borrow a couple bucks for a milkshake?"

"Are you serious?" He asks eyes even wider as he pulls his wallet out of his pocket. "What would you have done if I wasn't here?"

"I'd have told them to send a bill to the house," she replies matter-of-factly as she climbs into his lap. She gets on him under the guise of slipping past him to the available seat to his right, but she just stays there on his lap straddling him, her face only a couple inches from his.

"You really need to learn to live within some kind of a budget, princess. There is a war on," he says frowning at her.

"I know, but I didn't spend the money on me. Not most of it, anyway. I helped Liz pick out stuff to wear on her date so she'll look really pretty."

"Liz always looks pretty," Kid says offhandedly as he sets the wallet on the table and attempts to pull a couple dollars out of it one-handed.

"I know," Patti continues. "But it's a _really_ pretty dress and I got her a new necklace. She's been so sad lately-"

"She's been sad?" Kid questions temporarily halting his struggle with his wallet.

"Yeah," Patti says with a sigh. "But we'll get her to feeling better, I just know it." She brings her body close to Kid in a hug and he hugs her for a moment, before she draws back from him and stares into his eyes with what my grandmother would refer to as a "come hither" look. As though for the first time realizing the less than platonic nature of their positioning Kid says, "Uh… Patti, weren't you going to go order yourself a milkshake?"

She nods. "In a minute," she says adjusting herself on his lap in a way that _can't_ be accidental. From my vantage point, I can see my friend turn red.

"I think you should go order it now… or how 'bout I do it for you?" he says trying to slide her to the right off his lap or scoot himself out from under her by going left. His attempts to free himself from her straddling prove ineffective, and if anything, add to the physical friction between their groins, making Black*Star and I crack up.

"Kid, don't hurry off," the girl whines.

Exasperated, Kid explains, "Princess, you know I love spending time with you, but this is _guy's_ night and-"

"Unless you got a wiener you're not supposed to be here," Black*Star offers before taking a large bite of burger.

"Hhhmmm… maybe Kid is gonna need to check me just to make sure," she says seductively as she grinds herself on his groin.

"I'm pretty sure he can tell you don't have one," I say with a grin as Kid starts trembling and pleading for her to stop.

"I don't understand," she says giggling innocently. "I _know_ you like it when I sit on your lap."

"I do not! You're… you're blocking my view of Black*Star," Kid says grouchily, waving his arm in the general direction of our friend who is sitting across the table from him.

"But you _like_ it. I can _feel_ how much you like it," she says breathily as she stares into his eyes. He averts his eyes and blushes mumbling, "Patti, _please _don't do this…"

The weapon, apparently satisfied by his sheepish blush slides off of him and pulls a couple dollars from his wallet before skipping to the counter the cash clutched in her hand.

"You better get a milkshake," Kid shouts after her. "You come back over here with a frozen banana and I will never speak to you again, I swear. You hear me?" In response, she says nothing, instead blowing him a kiss. Kid smiles at her dreamily, then turns back to us and says, "Oh come on? Like your partners have never done that."

"Nope. If my partner did that I would have a shit-eating grin on my face all the time, but it hasn't happened yet," Black*Star says.

Kid looks to me, grasping at straws. "You and Maka are together now. I bet she did stuff like this all the time to let you know-"

"Maka?! Ha!" I laugh. "You remember who we're talking about right?! Dude, it wasn't until I more or less confessed that I was hopelessly in love with her that she so much as flirted with me. Before that? Nadda. Nothin'. Zippola."

"Except for the Maka chops," the ninja offers. "But, Patti, she's not afraid to let you know what she wants, and that my friend is _you_."

"Yup. She's got the joneses for you _bad._" I nod. "She's not even _pretending_ to be subtle anymore."

Kid leans forward and presses his face into the table. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I can't risk what we have. We're so delicately and perfectly balanced. It could throw off all the symmetry we've worked so hard to cultivate. I need to meditate! I can't take this. I mean, look at her. She's adorable and she's all over me, all the time," he says waving his hand in her general direction.

"_Poor baby_," Black*Star mocks. "Though, I'll admit if I had to choose between them, I'd go for Liz. She's the one in my spank bank. I like tall women."

Kid lifts his head. "Did you just…?"

"It was your imagination," I tell him and push his head back down before he can go ape shit on Black*Star.

"I don't know why you're fighting it, Kid. She's totally into you, always has been. Would it kill you to have a good time for once?" Black*Star says waggling his eyebrows, but before Kid can answer Patti skips back with her milkshake and some change for her meister.

"Want a sip, Kid?" she asks tipping the milkshake toward his head which is still face planted on the tabletop. He rotates his head a little in order to look at her. He asks the flavor of shake and hearing that it's mint chocolate chip lifts his head and agrees to sample it.

"Are Maka and Tsubaki supposed to meet you here when they're done?" he asks.

"Yeah, but it might be a while. They're trying to find something for Tsubaki to wear with her baby belly that isn't totally yucky. All the maternity clothes we looked at were awful. Just cause Tsubaki's got a bun in the oven doesn't mean she should have to feel unattractive."

"I still think she's hot," Black*Star affirms.

"I know you do," Patti says winking at him. "It's really sweet of you to help her with everything. It means a lot to her."

Black*Star shrugs. "Of course. I don't want her going through this alone, and I guess I was kind of an ass at first."

"Just a bit," I grunt and he frowns at me.

"It's ok. You didn't see it coming," Patti says, chewing on the end of her straw. "She didn't see it coming either."

Black*Star rests his chin in his hands, and sighs. "I can hardly wait till she has the baby and we can…"

Patti scrunches her face. "Oh, that isn't your plan is it, Black*Star?"

"What?" he asks arching an eyebrow. "I mean I'm not _assuming_ anything or nothin', but hopefully by then we'll be _you know_-"

"Most women don't wanna have a man _touch_ them for _months_ after having a baby," she says bluntly.

Black*Star blinks. "Really?" He looks as disappointed as a kid whose favorite toy has been taken away from them.

"Course, you don't have to wait until she has the baby… I mean, you can do anything when you're pregnant you can-"

"Pwawtti," I interject my mouth full of food. "I'm eatin'."

"Oh, sorry! I forget how squeamish guys can be about this stuff. Ever since Kid delivered that baby, I forget that some guys can't even stand to be in the delivery room."

"You delivered a baby?!" Black*Star asks. "That's awesome."

Kid shakes his head modestly. "I think saying I 'delivered' it is a bit of an overstatement. Women have been giving birth for a millennia. I just caught it… but I guess I made the mom feel a little less nervous about the whole thing."

"That's 'cause you were amazing!" Patti says beaming at her partner.

"Whenf did you haff time to dof thiw?" I ask continuing to stuff my face. I knew Kid lived some kind of exotic double life, DWMA student by day, gynecologist by night. The thought cracks me up so much that I start to choke on my food and Black*Star has to start hammering on my back with his fist.

"Don't worry Soul, I know the hindlick," he says and that only makes my gagging worse. Kid and Patti watch Black*Star and I with amusement until I assure them that I'm ok.

"Well, I'm gonna get goin'. Thanks for the shake," Patti says. She's about to run off when she says, "Oh, it's Liz."

"Now what is _she_ doing here?" Kid moans. "I don't want to see her while she's on her date!"

I look across the restaurant and, sure enough, Liz has just walked in. "She's alone," I say.

"What?" Kid asks spinning around to take a peek. "What the hell?"

Liz is clearly dressed for an evening out. She's wearing a long white sundress with a dangling beaded necklace that resembles the summer sun. This must be the outfit that Patti helped her pick out. She's wearing her hair down in long, wavy tresses and if Kid wasn't attracted to her before I'm sure he would be now, as she is smoking hot and every guy in the place is checking her out.

"Liz!" Patti shouts from our corner of the restaurant.

Liz smiles a little and waves before slowly walking over to join us.

"Sorry," she says with a small grin. "I swear I'm not stalking you guys. My date ended early and I was still hungry so I thought I'd grab a little something."

"Want somea my shake?" Patti asks as she slurps on the straw.

"Yeah, thanks," Liz takes a sip of the milkshake and then trembles a little and rubs her arms. "They've got the AC kind of high in here tonight, don't they?"

"Where's your coat?" Patti asks and Liz glances away from us. "I guess, I forgot it, back at…"

Kid goes to take his jacket off and realizes he isn't wearing one and grimaces. "Come on, Patti and I'll warm you up." She slides into the booth on the side opposite me and Black*Star and Kid and Patti slide in after her. "I'd give you my sweatshirt, but I don't think it'd fit," Kid explains frowning.

"Yeah, you're such a scrawny runt," she says curtly as he grabs her arms and vigorously rubs them trying to make her goose bumps go down. She watches his futile efforts to warm her up and for the first time since she showed up, their eyes meet.

"Liz, have you been crying?" He asks concerned. Liz doesn't answer but the way she reacts makes us all know he's hit the mark, and he doesn't give her any opportunity to deny it. Letting go of her arms he asks in a very serious tone if something happened.

"No, nothing happened," she answers shaking her head. "And, for your information, I don't need to be saved," she says getting defensive. "I'm perfectly capabl-"

"I know that! I just don't like to see you sad." He pauses for a moment and then says, "I'll get you some dinner." Patti slides out of her spot to let Kid out of the booth and he wanders off to get the older sister some food.

Liz sits facing Black*Star and I awkwardly. "Guys, I'm really sorry. I should have guessed you'd be here. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess, I wasn't I was just…"

"Hey," I say. "It's cool. Patti crashed the party, too. Maka and Tsubaki are next door seeking sexy maternity wear, apparently."

"That may take a while," she says with a laugh.

Patti sits back down scooching close to her sister and whispers, "Don't worry, Liz. Garry wasn't-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Liz says loudly and then looks down at her shiny fingernails and begins to run her fingers on the polish.

"Here you go," Kid says walking up with a tray on which rests a serving of fries and a soda. "Your burger'll be ready in a couple minutes."

"Thanks," Liz says grabbing the tray gratefully. If only I could get Maka that excited about food.

"No problem," Kid says sliding into the booth next to Patti.

Liz chomps on a few fries and starts grumbling, more to herself than to any of the rest of us. "Ugh, what a crappy evening! This sucks. I actually wish we were training! The one night we have off in forever, and I blow it on a total loser. It figures." The rest of us sit quietly scared to say or ask anything. This is Liz, after all. She's not known for having an even temper. "I can't believe it. I doll myself up and then I get treated like that. I guess that's what I get."

"Liz, what happened?" Kid asks gently, but I can tell he's really worried. Liz rarely says anything about her love life.

She groans, "Me and Garry went for a walk at the park and things were going OK, or so I _thought_, and then we went to his place… I thought we were gonna make dinner, but when we got there-" Kid's eyes look like they're about to pop out of their sockets. If I were this Garry-person I would be on my way out of DC pronto.

"Liz, what did he do?" Kid's tone is no longer that of a caring friend, but the angry voice of a vengeful reaper. I may need to scramble over Black*Star and get in scythe form for Kid again cause he looks like he's losing it like he did with Lava Snake.

Liz shakes her head. "Oh, he didn't do anything wrong. He just wanted to have sex and I didn't… and when I said I wanted to wait," her voice begins to crack and is barely audible. "He got all offended. He said that everybody knows I'm easy so he wanted to know what my problem was." Tears start pouring from her eyes as she shakes her head.

Like one organism, Kid reaches for the older Thompson's hand as Patti slides under the table allowing him to scoot over to embrace her older sister. Liz doesn't fight it and buries her face in his neck crying and making a bunch of incomprehensible noises.

"Liz, it's ok. He sounds like a total dick," Kid tells her. "You shouldn't shed a _tear_ over someone who's such a troglodyte."

Liz lifts her head. Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy. "But it's true, Kid. _I _am_ easy_."

"Don't say that," he orders angrily.

"Oh, come on! When's the last time I went out on a date and _didn't_ have sex at the end of it?" The distraught girl shakes her head. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"There's _nothing_ wrong with you. You're just a victim of a stupid double standard. If you were a guy no one would think anything of it. It's an imbalanced societal thing. Right, guys?" He says looking to me and the ninja for support.

"Yeah," Black*Star says. "Tsubaki's getting all kinds of crap because she got pregnant, but I bet nobody's giving Kyo any shit and he's probably with a different girl every night. Asshole."

I nod. "We dudes have it a lot easier. You shouldn't feel bad."

"But…" She starts to argue.

"No, 'buts', the guy was an ass hole, not only for what he said, but for the way he treated you," Kid says dismissively.

"Kid, buying me dinner first wouldn't make that big a difference," she comments cynically.

A ghost of a smile crosses his face as he says thoughtfully, "Maybe not, but he made a pretty big assumption. Any guy who's with you should see it as… I dunno… a _privilege_… I guess, and not just assume things." Black*Star and I nod at Kid's words. It's true, and I'm seriously impressed that Kid can articulate it at this point when I know there is probably nothing he would like to be doing more than clobbering Garry into a pulp.

"That's easy for you to _say_," Liz says tearfully. "But I don't even live up to _your_ standards, Kid."

Kid's brows knit together. "What do you mean?" he asks confused as he takes a strand of her hair and tucks it behind her ear.

"You won't be with me because I've been with a bunch of people," she says dejected.

Kid's eyes open wider. "Is _that_ what you think? Don't tell me you honestly believe that."

Liz nods. "Of course. I asked if you wanted to be friends with benefits and you said no and-"

"You did what?!" Black*Star jumps up. "You had a chance to sleep with Liz-"

I reach up and yank him back to a sitting position and glare at him. He better not mess this up for Kid. Lord Kid and Liz are having a discussion they have been needing to have for quite a while, and I may be forced to _kill_ Black*Star if he distracts them from it.

"I didn't turn you down, because you're experienced," Kid scowls, his lips forming a very thin line. "I did it because I was worried it might mess up the delicate symmetry within our partnership, that's all. It has absolutely nothing to do with who you're been with or not with. Did you really think that I wouldn't be with you because I subscribe to some kind of virgin fantasy?"

"Well," Liz's eyes quickly flit over to her younger sister who is standing in the aisle drinking her milkshake. "Yes."

"Liz, if I thought I could, I would be with you and I would _love_ every minute of it…"

"Really?" she says looking up at him from his shoulder.

"Cross my heart," he says and he gives her the most loving look I have ever seen on his usually severe face.

"Kid, you're so sweet," Liz says with a sigh. "Why can't more men be like you?"

"Oh, there are plenty of nice guys out there. You just have a knack for finding the gems. What is it you _do_ exactly?" he asks her playfully as a _Burger Meister_ employee walks up and sets a cheeseburger in front of her.

"I don't know," Liz answers shaking her head. "I swear. If I knew I'd stop it! It's like any guy who likes me has to be a total prick."

"Oh, that's not true. I have my moments," he says laughing. "But I'm _definitely_ not what you'd classify as a 'prick'" the reaper holds up his hand to silence the inevitable disagreement from Black*Star and I and we snicker. He knows us so well! "And I'm _very _attracted to you." The words slip past the Shinigami's lips as though it's not some big secret and it's little wonder as they look natural together. She's so comfortable in his arms munching on her hamburger and fries, but as soon as he's uttered those words, his eyes meet mine and he looks terrified. It's as though he's suddenly remembered he's not supposed to admit what he's just said aloud.

"You, what?" Liz says suddenly interrupting a French fry on its way to her mouth so that she's holding it suspended in midair.

Kid appears panicked and looks to Patti for assistance. "He said that he has the hots for you," Patti says helpfully.

Glaring at the younger of his two partners, Kid says, "That's a very _loose _interpretation of what I said." Patti giggles and mouths the words, "Kiss her, idiot!" to him. His eyes wide as saucers dart toward Liz. "I would _never_ hit on a woman made vulnerable by some…some creton."

"You're sweet," Liz says nonchalantly picking up her burger and taking a bite. "Hhmmm. This burger is really good."

"Food makes everything better," I say to her trying my best to act normal despite the desperation on Kid's face.

"Hey, look it's Maka and Tsubaki!" Black*Star says, waving to our partners. They've just walked in each clutching a rather sizable shopping bag.

"So much for guy's night," I whisper to Black*Star.

The ninja shrugs. "They're girls, but they're alright and at least we aren't as lost without them as Kid is without Patti and… hey, where'd he go?"

In the moment that our attention went to our partners, the reaper appears to have vanished. I scan the restaurant. I don't see him anywhere. "Where'd Kid go?" I ask Liz.

She shrugs. "He must have slipped out to have a smoke. You know he he has to be all mysterious," she says wiggling her fingers in the air mocking every single campy magician that exists. "As though we don't all know what he's up to." Patti shakes her head in disgust and slides into the seat next to her sister.

Maka sits in the booth next to ours and leans over the back of Liz's seat. "I thought you had a date," she comments.

"Don't ask," Liz groans in between bites of her burger.

Tsubaki comes and stands by Black*Star telling him about some garment she bought. I offer her my seat so that I can go hang out next to Maka.

Black*Star and I slide out of our seat.

"Here you go, Tsubaki. A perfect spot for you and Peanut," the ninja says extending his arm to indicate she should be seated before him.

I tip my head and narrow my eyes. "Peanut? Who the fuck is Peanut?"

"The baby!" He yells at me as though I'm clueless. "Isn't that right, Peanut?" He says leaning over, enthusiastically talking to her belly as she slides into the booth. This is something I never expected to see, my idiot friend talking to a fetus as though a puppy dog has somehow been crammed into Tsubaki's abdomen.

I'm doing my best to process this and that Kid is getting dangerously close to spilling his guts to the Thompsons, when the lights of the restaurant dim. We all look around to see what's up. We hear a familiar buzz as the crappy sound system they use to announce whose order is ready, springs to life.

"Hey, meisters, demon weapons, and boring normal folk like me!" I recognize the voice as being Brandon, one of the proprietors of Burger Meister. "Thanks for hangin' with us at Burger Meister tonight!" Black*Star lets out a whoop in between bites of curly fries. "As many of you know we've been working on getting karaoke set up here for a while now…" Someone shouts, "You suck!" and Brandon laughs, "I know, I know, we aren't really good at technology that doesn't involve fry oil, but we've got it up and running!" The patrons go a bit crazy at this. We've been waiting for this for a long time. "We were _planning_ to roll it out next weekend… but when the reigning Lord of Death asks for a favor we're more than happy to accommodate…"

Liz and Patti both utter expletives as our eyes fly to the far corner of the restaurant that has been cluttered with heaps of AV-type equipment for months.

"Holy shit," Black*Star says as we all watch Death the Kid come around the corner mic in hand tapping his foot to the beat of a _pop_ song that I can't believe he knows.

Maka leans into me and whispers, "This is a _love_ song." I nod, my jaw hanging slack. I guess that when a Shinigami makes their move they don't half ass it.

"_Baby, I know that this world can be a cruel place," _he sings_._

Dressed in what by his standards would be considered 'slumming it' clothes, Kid looks like your average teenage male, but his singing is fucking _amazing_. It's a blend of that timeless crooning made popular in the forties with just enough huskiness mixed in that he's easily the sexiest performer I've seen in years. Move over Roadside Refuge!

No stranger to the spotlight, Kid appears to be a natural. He stands there with the mic in his hand and you can tell he feels the music deep in his soul as he sways with the beat and looks like he's having a fantastic time. Maybe he should sing the war news to us in our council meetings, because I could definitely find bad news much easier to take were it delivered like this.

"_But you can be weak with me. We'll stand strong against the cynics, we'll fight the good fight, but when no one's around I'll be your shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold. Cause with me you can laugh and cry and sing, cause baby, you can be weak with me."_

Everyone present is frozen by this impromptu performance, even the people in line waiting to order. It's as though the entire audience is holding their breath. The Thompsons had always said that Kid had an amazing singing voice, but I had thought they were exaggerating. Now, met with the evidence, I'm thinking that if the whole Lord of Death thing doesn't pan out for him Kid could easily become a professional vocalist.

"_Baby, I know that this world can be a cruel place."_

Kid is careful not to make it obvious who he's singing to; the attention he pays to Liz is subtle. Yet for those of us seated in the reaper's booth there is no doubt in our minds who has inspired him to sing and that the words of this particular song are meant just for her.

"_But you can be weak with me. We'll stand strong amongst the cheats, we'll fight the good fight, but when no one's around I'll be your shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold. Cause with me you can dream and cry and sing, cause baby, you can be weak with me."_

The second time through the chorus he gets really into it. He closes his eyes and brings the microphone dangerously close to his lips, and it's as though he's cast a spell on every woman present, including my meister as they all stare at him dreamily. Apparently she's temporarily forgotten what a big dork Kid can be with his nerdy hobbies, his obsession with symmetry, and his affinity for suits and ties. Suddenly, I have flashbacks to a time we were all together and Tsubaki asked a Ouija Board who Maka's true love would be and it spelt out K-I-D. Tsubaki later admitted to me that she had faked the whole thing because she wanted to see what my reaction would be. I shudder. The thought of Maka and Kid proliferating DC with little library loving, nerd children is disturbing to me.

As I recall this long buried trauma, I find myself glaring at Tsubaki but she's oblivious to my gaze, as she too, has fallen under Kid's spell. I glance at Black*Star and he seems just as perturbed by 'his' woman's sudden infatuation with Kid as I am by Maka's. That makes me feel a _ton_ better. Black*Star frowns at me. I grin. Then, he flashes his middle finger at me. I betcha money he's standing over there realizing he's gonna be the last person in our group to lose their virginity. Poor bastard. I smile smugly and put my arm around Maka. It's ok. I'm secure enough to admit that Kid's coming off as pretty damn seductive tonight and I might even survive hearing Maka say the same. Maybe.

"_Trust in me. Be weak with me. Be strong with me. Trust that I'll be there, no matter what."_

Kid sways a little and his movements gravitate toward us, or rather toward _Liz_. Patti squeals with delight like a little kid about to blow out the candles on their birthday cake, while Liz sits there perfectly still her eyes wide as though drinking in every single molecule of the young man in front of her.

"_Baby, I know that this world can be a cruel place._ _But you can be weak with me. We'll stand strong against evil, we'll slay that dragon, but when no one's around I'll be your shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold. Cause with me you can laugh and cry and sing, cause baby, you can be weak with me."_

The reaper approaches our table while there's a musical interlude. During the break in the lyrics, his mouth closes and he stares right at her and whatever thoughts are going through his head make him miss his cue to start singing again. As if waking from a trance, he loses his cool for a moment and stutters, but before he can become flustered, Patti hops up and runs to him. With Patti's help the reaper finds his place again, regaining his collectedness, and the two end the song as a duet.

Kid nods his thanks for the applause and Patti curtsies before jumping into his arms whispering something in his ear. His hands firmly anchored on her butt she locks her ankles and arms and grins at him as the two of them return to join the rest of us.

"I'm glad you liked it, but it was _really_ for your sister," I hear him tell her as he carries her back over to our booth. "I thought that since she had a shitty evening-"

"I didn't even know you knew that song," Liz says with a puzzled expression.

"Of course, I know it. It's one of your favorites. You listen to it practically every day," he says with a laugh. "Just cause I'm in the west wing doesn't mean I can't hear your music."

A small horde of girls come over to compliment Kid on his vocals and try to convince him to sing more, but he politely declines. "Naw, I've only got time for one song tonight."

Patti slides herself down Kid's body while keeping her arms around him possessively. "Yeah, Kid's hanging with his friends this evening. Maybe some other time." Kid's admirers nod their understanding and slowly drift away continuing to marvel aloud at his performance.

"You enjoyed that didn't you?" Kid asks with a knowing smirk.

"The karaoke or sending away your groupies?" she asks him.

"Both," he answers.

"Most definitely," she says with a wink and he beams. It's obvious that he does not mind the Thompsons' monopoly on his attention and affection. He slides into the booth next to Liz, followed by Patti who makes an intentional effort to squeeze the reaper and her sister close to one another.

"You're not bad," Black*Star acknowledges. "I'm impressed, but I bet I could get this place really _jumpin'_ with some of my mad rhymes." We all groan. "Guys, come on. Don't shut me down like this! You're my friends! Don't I always support you?" the meister pouts.

"Star," Tsubaki says sweetly. "You have _many_ talents and you aren't bad at rapping stuff _other_ people have written, but… I don't know how to put this…"

"Bro," I say. "You can _not_ write your own stuff."

Black*Star runs his hands through his hair. "Let me guess. You all think Kirikou is a better rapper than me."

"We don't _think_ he's a better rapper than you. He is a better rapper," I tell him. With Black*Star you gotta be blunt or there's no getting through that thick skull of his. "He's just faster on his feet than you are at comin' up with shit. But that's ok, 'cause you're way faster on your feet in duels."

"Dude, I'm so disappointed in you," the want to-be-rapper says. "Just because he's black-"

We all groan. This is _not _the first time we have had this argument.

"Black*Star!" Maka says annoyed. "It has nothing to do with the fact he's black! He's just better at making rhymes."

"I'm a badass ninja whose gonna fuck you up, with a blast of my soul wavelengtha," he raps and we all frown.

"Maybe you could find someone who likes poetry to help you…" I suggest.

"Oh, no!" Maka exclaims. "I don't know anything about hip-hop."

"But you own a rhyming dictionary," I say grinning at her. This is a precious opportunity to get back at Maka for years of acting all superior because she 'gets' poetry and I think it sucks. Black*Star's face lights up. I've just made his night and Maka looks pissed as hell.

"A rhyming dictionary?! I didn't know there was such a thing," he says happily.

"I'm sure Maka would _love_ to share it with you. She's very good with words. Comes from all that reading. Did you know that reading is her _favorite _activity," I say staring right at her. This is awesome! I'm gonna get hit, but the look on Maka's face right now is priceless. Man, is she pissed!

"I could look up 'ninja' and find something better than 'betcha'."

"Right. Cause Maka always wants to help her friends in any way she can. Right, Meister?"

Maka knows she's stuck. She bashes me in the head with her shopping bag.

"What the fuck?" I say rubbing my head. "I thought you went _clothes_ shopping."

"I went to the book store first." She says matter-of-factly.

"Of course ya did," I say grabbing her by the waist and pulling her up next to me so I can whisper in her ear. "Next time maybe you'll admit that your favorite activity is being with me." She looks at me in shock, and that's before she feels my hand creeping up the back of that short, short skirt of hers. She gives me that warning look, but I shake my head. "Nobody can see," I whisper to her, but she still appears incredibly embarrassed.

"Tonight, when we're at home… and the door's closed… and locked," she whispers back to me. I grin devilishly.

"It's a date."

I tune back into my friends' conversation and discover that Kid appears to have agreed to allow Black*Star to rap at our celebratory party when the war is over.

"Start working on your material now, because our Lord of Death is gonna bring this thing to a swift end," Patti brags leaning up to kiss her male partner on the cheek.

He looks down at her lovingly. "I wish that were the case, Princess. But in truth, I fear things may drag on… at least for a while. I'm not the strategist my father is."

Liz pats him on the leg. "Don't sell yourself short, Scrawny. No need to be modest with this crowd. You're doin' just fine. Besides, this is your night off, so no talk about the war, remember? Tonight is about each of us getting to spend a night with our friends just hanging out."

I nod in agreement. I'm damn lucky to have such an awesome bunch of friends.

Kid stretches and yawns, "Liz, I think I ought to walk you home. Patti, are you gonna hang out more with Tsubaki and Maka or-"

"Oh, no, Kid," Liz says politely. "This is your night out with the guys. I shouldn't even be here… I can get myself home."

Seeing as Black*Star and Kid don't seem to be minding the girls' company any more than I am, I toss out an idea. "We were thinking about goin' to the movies. Why don't we all go together?"

Tsubaki looks at Black*Star. "Is that ok with you? I thought you were-"

"It's ok," Black*Star says eagerly. "Me and Kid and Soul got to hang out at the arcade."

"I think that's a great idea," Patti says. "Wouldn't that be fun, Liz? I can't remember the last time we went out to a movie. It'll be like a big group date."

I expect a squawk of protest from Kid, but he nods. "Sounds great to me," he says.

As we exit our booth, Maka and I hang toward the back making sure we've picked up all our trash. Black*Star and Tsubaki lead the group with Kid's trio following. The reaper holds Patti's hand, his other arm wrapped around Liz. She leans on him, but because she's taller it doesn't look very comfortable or natural, and I hear her complaining about it. "If only you were-"

"Taller, older, more muscular, I know," Kid groans and then suddenly he halts and exclaims, "Wait a minute!" All of us pause for a moment as he takes his hand from around Liz and holds it out in front of him. His hoverboard appears and he hops on it adjusting the amount it hovers off the ground till he's a couple inches taller than Liz.

"How's that?" he asks. Nervously, she lays her head back on him, but now it's in the crook of his shoulder and I hear her say, "That's much better. Thanks, Short Stuff."

"Anytime. Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner," he mutters as much to himself as her. Then he calls back to me, "Soul, what movies are playing right now?"

"Does it matter?" I ask thinking that those two are going to be keeping him too busy to actually watch the picture.

"Yes, it does!" Liz shouts, trembling. "I don't wanna watch anything creepy! No thrillers or ghosts or supernatural stuff! You know I can't stand that!"

"But Kid will be there to hold your hand," Patti points out.

"Not necessarily," her sister says in a sarcastic tone. "Depends on if the movie posters in the lobby are hung straight or not. You never know what OCD emergency may call him away."

"You are never going to let me live down that incident with the pharaoh are you?" he says shaking his head.

"I think it's important to be realistic and remind my sister that you don't act like Prince Charming twenty-four seven."

Kid laughs. "True enough, but wouldn't you agree with the Princess that this evening I am being _remarkably_ charming?"

"You're still a scrawny runt," Liz says in an ornery tone.

"Now, now, there is no need to be _mean_ to me," Kid teases. "Just for that, I'm not sharing my popcorn with you."

Patti twists her head back toward Maka and I, winking at us. "You'll share your popcorn with _me_ won't you, Kid?"

"Assuming you don't spend all my money before I order the popcorn," the reaper answers.

The shorter Thompson tips her head to the side. "That depends. How much do Junior Mints cost?"

"More than you've got," the reaper says with finality and he begins to laugh. "Don't give me that look. You just had a milkshake. How much sugar do you need?!"

Black*Star and Tsubaki drift back our way to join us in the rear of the crowd.

"I don't get it," Black*Star whispers to Maka and me. "I thought Patti was into Kid. If he starts dating Liz, isn't she gonna have to knock off all the flirting with him?"

"Try not to overthink it," I say.

Maka nods, "It's weird, but I'm sure they'll figure something out."

"How very open minded of you," I whisper in my meister's ear. "Could it be that you're becoming ok with some people having more than one?"

She turns to look at me daggers shooting from each emerald orb. "And what is that supposed to mean, Soul?!" She says marching off, quickly overtaking all our friends.

"Nothing! I was just teasing about your father… and stuff… I didn't mean that _I _want that! You didn't think…" Oh, crap! I jog after her and take her hand. "Maka, that's not what I meant. You gotta know that I only want you! Meister, I love you!"

She whirls around and then grins broadly. "Gotcha."

"You were kidding?!" I gasp. "_Maka_, there are some things that are _not_ ok to joke about… us breaking up or fighting is one of those. You know that, right?"

Maka laughs. "Relax, Soul. You're taking everything way too seriously these days. Tonight is all about having fun. There will be plenty of time for drama later. Sometime after we… you know."

I grin. I'm not one to argue with that. My meister takes a night off even less than Death the Kid.


	77. Chapter 77: A Reaper's Business

_Chapter 77: A Reaper's Business; Misassumptions?_

The next morning I awaken to the sounds of Maka in the kitchen. I glance over at the alarm clock and see that it's a little past eight. I roll over unwilling to face the day. My bed is comfortable and I'm tired. I could easily sleep till noon… or beyond.

"Soul, you need to get up," Maka says from the doorway. I grumble back to her in caveman-speak. "I'll go take my shower, but when I get out you'll need to get up. We have a meeting this morning before the memorial, remember?"

I moan. I forgot all about the damn memorial. Now I really do not want to get out of bed. I close my eyes wishing that I could shut it all out. The fear, the loss, the uncertainty… but then I'd be ceasing to live and that's my goal these days to live or give Avian Flu a hard time on my way out of this world.

Fuckin' Avian Flu, making me get out of bed. I stumble into the bathroom barely awake. It makes things way more convenient now that Maka and I can be in the bathroom at the same time. I still won't piss in front of her. It's too weird, but I will go in and shave or brush my teeth or stare aimlessly at the mirror like I'm doing at this moment. What the fuck'd I come in here for? Whatever. I stomp out of the bathroom and open the fridge. We've got no milk. Wonderful.

"Staring at it isn't going to make anything else materialize," Maka tells me as she walks into the kitchen half-dressed, pulling her hair into its customary ponytails, while holding a rubber band in her mouth. I grunt and head into the bathroom. Something tells me this is going to be a long day.

I'm still in a fog as Maka and I walk to the academy for our morning meeting.

"Why in the hell did Kid schedule a meeting the morning after we all stayed out late?" I grumble.

"He pushed it back an hour," Maka assures me.

"Eeeeww! One whole hour? Damn reaper. Just cause _he's_ a workaholic doesn't mean the rest of us should be forced to-."

"He's trying to save lives, Soul."

I frown at her. "I don't think an additional sixty minutes would make that big a difference."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Maka observes, frowning at me. "This doesn't have anything to do with the fact I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow last night leaving you unsatisfied does it?"

"No." It's the truth, but I was disappointed last night… for the two or three minutes that I was awake and she wasn't. "I'm just exhausted. Even having fun takes energy. I'm getting too old for this lifestyle."

Maka pays me little mind. "You wanna go back home and I can tell everyone that you've retired? I'm sure Brian would be happy to be my new weapon."

"You suck with a gun."

"I do not! I did fine when we were in Mexico."

"Yeah, you did if the goal was to make the compound look like a piece of Swiss cheese."

She punches me in the arm and I stagger. "Ow! You don't need a weapon. You can just walk around hitting people like some kind of barbarian."

The morning debrief on the state of the DWMA's ongoing battle with Avian Flu reveals that not much has happened in the last twenty-four hours, even on the other side of the globe. This could, I guess, be considered good news, but it hardly seems worth having gotten out of bed for. All in all, I find the meeting a total and complete waste of time.

"Wow, that was some really helpful information, don't you think, Soul?" Maka asks as we walk out.

"Huh? Oh… oh, yeah."

"You weren't paying any attention were you?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Not really, no."

"And you're not looking forward to the memorial."

I raise an eyebrow. "Meister, no one looks forward to something like that."

She rolls her eyes. "You know what I mean. You don't have to go if-"

"Yes, I do," I say firmly. "I have to pay my respects to Jakob and the others. I'm a DWMA student, it's part of my duties. It just… the whole thing, reminds me of when Mom died. The flowers, the people with anguish on their faces trying to decide whether to say something or remain quiet, the digging through of old photo albums…I hate all of it."

Maka nods. "I get that. If it gets to be too much just signal me and I'll fake cramps or something so we can leave."

I nod. There's no way I'm leaving in the middle, but it's nice of her to offer. We have kind of an unspoken rule that we don't ask about each other's mothers, but every once in a while I find it nice that Maka's willing to acknowledge that she's my family now.

We're supposed to have _another _meeting with Kid later this morning so Maka suggests we stay on campus and train rather than heading home. I agree despite my exhaustion, because it's a better use of our time then walking home just to turn right back around and walk all the way back. We work up a sweat in the courtyard practicing our usual attacks but messing around with our new ability to burst into flames.

"Come on, Soul. Get it together we gotta get better in control of this heat."

"I know, Meister, but I'm telling you it's not me that's doing it. I can't control it, because it's not mine to control."

"Well, don't look at me. I'm not doing it. I'm doing everything the same as I always have."

"So am I!"

Maka stands me on end so she can scream at my scythe eye. I guess she thinks her voice isn't loud enough or I'm too stupid to understand her words without watching her lips move.

"Maka, it's like this fire is its own thing and it does what it wants to do, on its own."

She flops backward onto the grass hugging me to her. "This sucks. We have this amazing new ability and we can't synergize it with the techniques we already have."

"We'll figure it out," I say transforming into my human form. "Look at Genie Hunter. We didn't know how the fuck we did that, either, and we use it all the time now."

"Yeah, but I'm impatient. We don't have time. We need to master things _now_."

"Maka, Maka, Maka, patience," I say patting her on the leg. "We'll get it, I promise."

She groans. "It's so damn frust-"

"Gees, guys! Get a room!" The shout comes from the walkway and I immediately recognize it as Ox. My nostrils flare with agitation. I _really_ do not like him.

"Hey, Ox," Maka calls.

"Oh, God, don't talk to him… oh, no, now he's coming over here," I groan as I roll off of her and we brush ourselves off and stand up.

"What have you been up to?" Maka asks politely.

"It's classified," he says self-importantly.

"Then we probably already know about it," I say flatly. If he wants to have a pissing match, I can give him one.

"Hhhhmm. I guess Lord Kid has a big mouth, huh?"

"No," Maka says laughing as though what he said wasn't a huge insult to our friend. "We're just part of the war council. That's all. You know Kid is nothing but professional."

Ox snorts. "Yeah, so professional I hear he was hanging out at a burger joint last night getting handsy with both of his partners. That's why I will not partner with anyone I am romantically entangled with."

"Or could it be because no one is willing to go out with you and your big head?" I mumble under my breath.

Ox curls his lip at me with distaste, but smiles at Maka. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm really glad that you're ok. Thinking of any of us falling into Avian Flu's hands is just scary, of course, I wouldn't really know since no one on a mission with me has been taken… but you know it happens, you shouldn't feel _ashamed_ or anything."

Maka glares at him. "I assure you that Soul and I are both just fine and working hard on a new technique that will-"

"Soul! Maka!" My face lights up. It's Lydia. She's just stepped out of the academy with her mom. I didn't know they were back. She comes jogging over to us. She seems to be moving normally again. I breathe a sigh of relief. Holy crap, I'd been really worried that I'd killed her.

She hugs both of us and then greets Ox by awkwardly extending her hand to him to shake.

"It looks like you're feeling better," observes Maka. Lydia nods and does a kind of jig in place.

"Yeah, I guess that pain medication isn't for wimps. Some of it can actually help you heal, who knew?" she says shrugging her shoulders. "Mom, come say hi to Maka and Soul and their friend…"

"Ox." Our classmate supplies his name, frowning a little, probably because he's disappointed to find that he isn't known by all the underclassmen.

"Nice to see you again," Cheryl says.

"You didn't have to shoot anybody on the train, did ya?" I ask.

"Nope, she didn't," Lydia says beaming. "Mom was on best behavior and so was Christopher. They're actually kind of like friends now."

"Wow," I say surprised. "I did not see that one coming."

Cheryl laughs. "You must think I'm terribly uncool."

"No, not at all," Maka says. "Christopher just seems a little-"

"He's super nice," Lydia says. "I can't believe I almost killed myself trying to outrun him. He's such a pussycat."

"A pussycat, really?" I smirk at Lydia's mother. "You sure he's not a tomcat on the prowl?"

At this, both of the York women laugh. "Hardly!" gaffaws Ms. York. "Actually, he provided us with our entertainment on the trip."

"Entertainment?" Maka asks.

"Yes," Lydia says rolling her eyes. "My mother grilled him and he told her like his entire life story."

"I thought it was interesting," Cheryl says. "And I'm sure you did, too. You're just too proud to thank your mother for vetting him for you."

I'm shocked. "Wait, a second are you saying you approve of him?" I ask Cheryl.

Ms. York shrugs. "My daughter does whatever she wants to do and Christopher seems relatively harmless. He was a thespian in high school, speaks three foreign languages, and has never had a girlfriend," Ms. York says. "But I'd rather have her contemplating dating him than being hopelessly devoted to a guy who is clearly committed to someone else." As she says this she is staring right at me and I wish I could bury my head in the ground the way an ostrich does.

Lydia nudges her mother. "Come on, Mom. We need to go." Then to us she adds, "We have to find my mother something appropriate to wear to the memorial. All she brought with her is a bunch of tank tops and pajama pants."

"They are not pajama pants. They're yoga pants and they happen to be very comfortable," her mother replies.

"Well, you're not wearing them to pay your respects to Jakob. You're going to wear a dress."

Cheryl sighs, "Then I should get to pick your outfit. Nothing slutty… none of those see through tops. I'm sure Jakob would have liked them, but-"

"Mother! Jakob wasn't like that at all. He was just a friend." As the two Yorks walk away squabbling about clothes and potential boyfriends, I'm struck by how much they remind me of the Thompsons except that Cheryl and Lydia seem to fight more than Liz and Patti.

"And to think a lot of people thought you were trading in Maka for _her_," Ox grunts.

I take Maka's hand and glare at him. "A lot of people thought that, or is that what you thought?" I may be paranoid, because I know he's infatuated with Kim, but I've always had this fear that Ox is secretly attracted to Maka… like if they weren't embroiled in a constant battle to be Crescent Moon Valedictorian and I was out of the way that Ox'd be asking Maka out. In my fantasy world where this is happening, Maka tells him no and chews him out for being an arrogant jackass, but in the world I _actually_ live in Maka and Ox are delving into a boring discussion about meister-only topics. I mumble a curse word to myself and sit back down. This academic discussion could take a while. I sit down pouting.

I've never put my finger on exactly what annoys me so much about Ox. Is it that he thinks he's smarter than my meister or is it because I imagine that he has little respect for a male weapon with a female meister? I sit there trying to imagine him as a weapon. His enormous ego could never handle it.

"Catch ya later, Soul," he says as he walks off.

Maka looks down at me, a frown upon her face. "Was that entirely necessary?"

"What?"

"That little pissing match you feel the need to have with him every single time he talks to me. I assure you that I have _never_ been interested in Ox," she says, crinkling her nose.

"I didn't say you were, but that doesn't mean he isn't into you."

She shakes her head as she offers me a hand. "You're delusional, you know that right? He said that thing about Lydia to get _me_ worked up, not you. He tries to get me on edge. It's a meister versus meister tactic. Pretty childish, but effective."

"Why would anyone be wanting to battle another meister at this point? If he's trying to get under your skin he's an ever bigger asshole than I thought he was."

Maka smiles. "I'm _sure_ he's a bigger ass hole than you think he is. He once asked me to kiss him in front of Kim to try and make her jealous."

"He did what?!" I'm seeing red. That fucker is on my shit list now. "How did I not know about this?"

"I wasn't about to tell you. I knew you'd come unglued on him," she says laughing merrily.

"When was this? Did he mean tongue?" I'm obsessing about this the entire way to the meeting with Kid. I ask a million questions that Maka chooses to totally ignore. "Meister, do you hear me? I have a few questions about how long this has been going on."

"Oh, God, this is why I didn't tell you! Soul, we're gonna have to talk about your trust issues-"

"I don't have trust issues. I have issues with a guy hitting on my girlfriend-"

"I wasn't your girlfriend then and he wasn't hitting on me. He was genuinely trying to get Kim's attention. He's as enamored with her as Patti is with Kid."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh, Maka, you are so naïve."

We punch in our codes to the Death Room door and continue our argument as we walk down the hall. I'm mid-sentence explaining to Maka that having some guy slide his tongue into her mouth for any reason is probably a little bit of a hint he wouldn't mind sliding something else into her when I see that Kid isn't the only one here.

Across from Kid, kneeling on opposite side of the table drinking tea is Spirit. What the fuck is Maka's father doing here? I don't want to deal with this today. Fuck! I glance over at Maka and I can sense an immediate shift in her attitude. She's more on guard now than when we're heading into battle. Shit! This is gonna be _bad_. I whisper, "Maka, let me do the talking, k?"

"No, I'm fine," she whispers back through clinched teeth.

I strategically place myself between the two Albarns. Maybe I can keep her from killing him. I give Kid the evil eye. _He's_ the one I want to throttle. What in the hell was he thinking getting these two together? If this is some kind of an intervention, I am gonna go off on him and tell him that just cause he's Lord Death right now doesn't give him the right to meddle in our personal affairs.

"Thank you for coming," he says. His formal tone indicates that this is business. There will be no clowning around. Wonderful.

"May I be given permission to speak freely?" Maka asks. I take her hand and squeeze it _hard_.

"Maka, why don't we let Kid tell us why we're here, first?"

"No, it's ok," Kid says politely. "Is there something on your mind, Maka?"

"Here we go again," I mumble. How can Kid be so smart about some things yet such a dumbass about others?

"My relationship with Death Scythe has nothing to do with my ability to function as a meister." The words flow off her tongue unemotionally, almost robotically as she stares straight forward. "Therefore, there is no reason for you to-"

Kid blinks. I suspect that this was not what he had been expecting. "_Everything _affects one's ability to function as a meister, Maka. Perfect balance is required-"

"Lord Kid," Spirit's voice is shaky. "I understand that you have brought us together to act as a neutral third party but Maka has made her choice. She has chosen Soul over me."

I cringe. Again, with the Soul versus him thing? What is that? He's so stupid that I can't keep my mouth shut. "Give me a break. Maka's been through a lot. She didn't mean that shit she said the other day-"

"Oh, yes I did!" Maka exclaims and I roll my eyes. "He has _never_ been there for his family!"

The two Albarns descend into a yelling match, craning their necks in order to be able to leer at one another around me as they holler at one another. My name is tossed around a fair amount, though I know this argument isn't really about me. Still, it's pretty damn awkward. I look at Kid and shake my head. How naïve is he? He actually thought that bringing the two of them together over tea would somehow heal years of mistrust and anger? What a fool.

Kid scowls, holds up his hands, and shouts over their yelling, "Meister Albarn and Death Scythe! _Pipe down_, now… please."

"She started it," Spirit says matter-of-factly. "She wants to fight. I'm just giving her what she wants."

I put my head in my hands. He is so immature. This man never should have had a child.

"Enough!" Kid shouts angrily. "While I in no way condone the tragic state of your relationship with one another, I did _not _call you here in an attempt to reconcile the two of you. Nor did I hope to open your eyes, Spirit, to just how good Soul and Maka are together. I called you here because I need to tell you some news that is very difficult for me to deliver. So, if both of you would _shut the hell up_, I'd really appreciate it." He appears weary and after a pause says sadly, "It's about Blair."

As soon as the words are uttered, both Albarns are entirely focused on Kid while I'm too busy experiencing a horrible sick feeling in my stomach to speculate what he may be about to tell us.

"Over the past week or so, I have been receiving intelligence that would suggest that Avian Flu is targeting witches and covens around the world." He pauses. "They are _not_ taking prisoners. If they will not join Avian Flu, they are killed, and it seems that the majority of the witches captured are choosing death rather than renouncing their own beliefs and following Harold Blitzengard." Maka begins to tremble a little. I take her hand in mine. None of us ask questions, but wait for Kid to continue. "An entire coven in Malayasia was wiped out and witches are disappearing from all over. Which brings me to Blair. She hasn't been seen since the bombing."

"What?!" I ask. "What do you mean no one's seen her since the bombing?"

"Have _you _seen her or heard from her?" he asks me pointedly.

"No, but…"

"What about you, Spirit?" the reigning Lord of Death asks.

"No, I haven't, but we were kind of on the outs…"

"How could no one have realized that she was missing?!" Maka says her eyes beginning to well up with tears. "She could be buried under rubble somewhere!"

Kid shakes his head. "I don't think so. My father was _very thorough_ in having all of the damage carefully examined to search for survivors. Someone with Soul Perception would have discovered her if that were the case."

"Wait," I say. "What about our place? Our apartment was clean when Maka and I got back from Texas."

"I had Liz and Patti oversee a team who put it in order. I didn't want you to have to worry about it, but unfortunately, they found no evidence that Blair had been there since the bombing."

"And you're just now telling us?" I growl.

"I didn't want to alarm you before I had a reason. Cats wander off and Blair is independent. All of us know she's disappeared before," Kid explains. He doesn't sound defensive, but they sound an awful lot like excuses to me.

"Yeah," Maka admits. "She's disappeared for a day or two, maybe a week, but we're talking over a month! I can't believe you-"

"Please, understand that I only realized she was missing while Soul was in Texas and I've been having her whereabouts investigated in the last few days."

"How'd you figure out no one's seen her?" questions Spirit.

"One of her boyfriends asked me if I'd heard from her," Kid tells us. "So, I started asking around. The fish shop guy hadn't seen her and your apartment had obviously not been visited recently-"

"How'd you get into our apartment?" I interrupt.

"My partners are _thieves_, Soul, and leaving a spare key inside a Lord Death mask on your front door is not an especially clever hiding spot."

I frown.

"I thought everyone was accounted for by census after the bombing," Spirit asks clearly as confused by this news as Maka and I.

"Unfortunately, the role call list was only for academy students and faculty. For civilians, we've relied on their families or friends to report if they were missing."

My heart aches. I remember at one point thinking that it was weird there was still stinky, rotten food in our garbage and refrigerator at our apartment, but my focus was entirely on getting Maka back. I was blind to the meaning behind it all, which was that Blair hadn't been coming around. Ugh! How could I have been so stupid?

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Maka presses our leader.

"No, I do not, but I fear that she may have been targeted by Avian Flu."

It is Spirit who breaks down first. "Poor, Blair! That sweet, dear pussy! I never should have fought with her. I should have protected her-"

"Why would you? All you do is use women and then walk away from them," accuses Maka bitterly.

"_Hey_," I interrupt, turning my head to glare at each Albarn in quick succession. "If this is anyone's fault it's mine. I knew she hadn't been to the apartment in a while, but I didn't report it. I thought she was just being a cat."

"No one is to blame other than Avian Flu," Kid says.

"I ask permission to find her-" Maka says.

Immediately, Kid replies, "_Denied_. I'm sorry, but I have a special assignment for you and Soul."

"Then _I_ shall go," Spirit says. "With or without Stein I can go and find her."

"Like you've found Lord Death?" Maka asks sarcastically.

"Maka!" I say. "_No one's_ been able to find Lord Death. Kid can sense his life force, and _he _can't even find him, so just… lay off your dad." I can't believe that I'm defending her father. Apparently, neither can Kid, as he looks shocked, and he and I both know Maka is gonna make me pay for this later. Shit!

"Soul! Can I see you outside please?" Maka hisses through clenched teeth. "That is if Lord Kid has nothing else to share with us."

Kid shakes his head. "No, I'm done. I'll meet with you this afternoon to go over your next assignment."

I nod and Maka and I walk silently out the guillotine hall. Once we're through the door, Maka begins to lay into me.

"What the _hell_, Soul? Why are you defending my father? You know he's completely irresponsible."

"Maka, you're being especially hard on him. You know that I'm no fan of your father, but you're treating him lousy. Cut the guy some slack. At least he's trying to be here for you now."

"Trying? Trying?! You call gallivanting all over San Francisco with Stein, doing Shinigami knows what, being there for me? I was _kidnapped_, _enslaved_ by our enemy and it was you that-"

"Maka, if he'd had any clue where you were he would have dropped everything to come try to rescue you, same as me. He came to our rescue the day we first met Krona and Ragnorok, remember?" She grunts, but says nothing. "So he's not Father of the Year? Has he ever hit you or left you to starve?"

"No, but that isn't exactly a high bar you've set their, Soul."

"Granted, but _my_ dad has never bothered with any of that."

"You don't even know if your dad knows about you."

"I have an older brother. He may not know about me, but he probably knows or knew about Wes."

"This isn't about your father, Soul."

"I know, but, Meister, every academy student has a story. There are theories that show that a dysfunctional support system is almost as important as genetics when it comes to being a weapon or a meister."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I think you need to accept what's happened in the past and move on."

"Easy for you to say."

"No, I've come to terms with Mom's death and my dad's lack of interest or nonexistence or whatever. It sucks, but it's part of what brought me here… and to you," I put my hands on the side of her shoulders. "Maka, I love you, but-"

"But!"

"Just hear me out! Maka, I don't want you to make me out to be a hero at the expense of your father. I should have given him the opportunity to help to get you back or at the very least let him know I had a good idea of where you were. Honestly, my plan was shit. It was pure luck that we managed to get out of there alive."

"It isn't just about the last few weeks. Soul, I can't forget what he did to my mother."

"_Maka_!" I shout. "He cheated on your mom. He was a louse and partied and drank rather than being a partner to her. _I get it_, but Maka he's here… and your mom isn't." I see a dangerous glint in Maka's eyes like fire in a field of green grass. I'm pushing the limits of what I can get away with saying, but I'm not going to be Maka's boyfriend if it means standing by and blindly agreeing with everything she does. She's my meister, but this isn't the battlefield. "Maka, I think you should apologize to your father."

"Like I would _ever_ do that. He never once apologized to my mother."

"How do you know that? How do you know that your mom wasn't doing some of those same things?"

"Because she was home with me when he was out getting drunk and screwing cabaret girls!"

I frown. "Maka, he made a lot of mistakes, but you're making one now." I turn away. I can't believe her. She acts like Death Scythe's fucking Harold Blitzengard, for God's sake.

"Soul?" she sounds scared, but I'm still walking away. This is her problem. I've told her what I think, now I'm gonna shut up, stand back, and let her deal with it.

I don't turn around.

"Soul, come back here!"

"Not till you've calmed down," I say walking away. "I'm gonna shoot some hoops before the memorial."

"What?! We need to train."

"We've trained enough for today. We need some stress relief. For me that's b-ball. I think you should read… or something."

"I can't read! I'm angry!" she shouts.

I shrug. "I'll meet you back at the apartment when I go back to get changed."

I turn the corner. Maka and I fight... and we used to fight a lot, but I think this must be our first really big fight since we became an item and, frankly, it makes me feel really crappy. A part of me wants to do whatever will make her happy because I love her and I don't want to have her mad at me, but I can't be like that. I can't sellout my opinion just so she'll be my girlfriend. I've gotta have _some_ self-respect. I don't want to be that guy who's 'really good at taking orders from a chick,' as Black*Star put it last night. That's not who I am and I don't want it to be who I become either.

I walk to the gym, grabbing a basketball out of the supply closet on the way and angrily dribble it onto the court. I've got the place to myself and it feels great to once again be playing. It's been too long. I think about all the times I used to go shoot some hoops as an excuse to get away from Maka or the sight of Blair's gorgeous naked body.

Thinking about Blair hurts like hell. My mind races with a million horrible possibilities of the ways Avian Flu could have offed her. I imagine Blair trying to use her sexy, kitty cuteness to win over Harold Blitzengard and him cruelly ordering her death. I know that thinking all this bad shit doesn't help, but I can't help it.

What if they took her in one of those bird's nests things they flew in that first day of the conflict? There is no way she's alive, not with Avian Flu, not after this long. How could we have been so caught up in ourselves to not realize she was in danger? Blair's been an amazing friend to Maka and me, even if she did shack up with us without asking our permission. Blair just kind of does stuff without asking, like curling up with me in bed in cat form and then transforming into her hot human body. Damn! How could anyone hurt her? And how am I gonna sit there in the memorial and see her photo and name listed as a missing ally and not totally lose it? We've been through so much together… hell, she's the reason I'm not a Death Scythe right now. If she weren't a damn cat… a cat… I grin. She has nine lives! I totally forgot about that. I gotta talk to Maka! I dash to throw the ball back in the supply closet and run out of the gym headed to the library.

Sure enough, my meister is there seated by one of the large windows on the main level, but she is just kind of sitting staring off into space with a book sitting in her lap, rather than reading it.

I slow down and walk up to her. "Maka," I say in a soft voice.

"What do you want?" she asks grouchily without turning toward me.

"I want to talk to you."

"Like you did earlier? Because that wasn't very nice."

"No, I don't want to talk about your father. I've said my opinion on the subject. I need to talk to you about Blair."

Maka looks at me and I can see that her eyes are glistening with tears. "How many more people are they gonna take from us?"

I kneel beside her and hug her. "Maka, do you remember when we met Blair?"

"Of course, it was sort of an epoch in our lives."

I nod. I don't know what an 'epoch' is, but it probably doesn't matter. "Then you've gotta remember Blair's not a normal witch. She's a _cat_."

"Duh."

"She has nine lives. Remember? We _killed_ her and she came back."

Maka springs up and squeals. "She's alive!" and then hangs her head in shame for disturbing the other readers.

"Maybe!" I smile broadly. "Probably. I hope!"

She throws her arms around me. "I'm sorry, Soul, I don't mean to-"

"It's ok. I get it. Let's not worry about things right now. We don't have that long before the service and I should take a shower."

She nods and takes my hand, and I breathe a sigh of relief that we can disagree about her dad and still be ok with one another.

Getting ready takes less time than we expected so we walk back to the academy early to see if there is anything we can do to help out. A DWMA memorial is a pretty major undertaking especially at a time like this when the academy is fully engaged with a conflict with evil forces.

When we arrive at school, we find Tsubaki and Black*Star in the green room observing a very heated debate between Kid and Professor Stein.

"I'm not sitting in it!" Kid says in his low, forceful reaper voice.

"Yes, you are, Lord Kid," drawls Stein. "You may be our Lord and master, but I'm older and, possibly a bit wiser, so I know best."

"What's going on?" I ask Black*Star who is on the side lines of the argument watching the two meisters bickering as though watching a tennis match.

"Kid is refusing to sit in Lord Death's throne during the service. He says the seat belongs to his father, and Stein says that seeing someone in the chair will offer stability and comfort to a 'community on the brink of _madness_.'" The ninja cackles crazily and does his best possessed/zombie face.

"He threw the 'madness' word in there, huh?" I ask snickering.

"Yeah," Tsubaki says. "It kind of escalated things."

"Big surprise," I laugh.

"I am the Lord of Death!" Kid growls. "What I say goes and I say the chair remains empty. I am _not_ my father and while he is still alive it is _his_ throne. He had it imported from China."

"I wouldn't be too proud of that, dude. Everything's made in China these days," Black*Star says with a grin. This comment throws both meisters off their game and the back and forth between them stops for the moment.

Stein grins at my blue-haired friend and I immediately get the feeling that Black*Star should have kept his mouth shut. "Black*Star's unsolicited contribution to this conversation has given me an idea," our mentor explains. "Lord Kid, let's ask your posse what they think you should do?" Rotating in his chair, our teacher puts us all on the spot. "Your friend, Kid, the acting Lord of Death is refusing to assume the throne."

"I've assumed the _responsibility_," Kid snaps. "I just don't want to sit in the _chair_. My father will be back. I won't sit in that throne until the time of his death, as has been the custom of the Shinigami."

Stein completely ignores the young reaper and continues to address the rest of us, "So, my lovely Crescent Moon prodigies tell Kid where he will be sitting."

Black*Star shrugs, "Who gives a fuck?"

"That would be one vote for apathy. I appreciate your honesty, Black*Star," Stein says smirking.

"Anytime, man, you know you can always count on Black*Star," the ninja says striking a cheesy pose as though he's a fighter from one of those button-mashers.

"Tsubaki? What say you?" Stein asks.

"I agree with Kid. We know Lord Death is alive. I believe leaving the chair vacant shows that we have faith he will return and that he has not been replaced in our hearts."

"Well said, Tsubaki," Kid says nodding his approval.

With a raised eyebrow, our teacher moves on to the next one of us in line. "Maka?"

Maka is silent for a moment, deep in thought. "I think Kid should sit in the throne. He _is_ the acting Lord of Death. Isn't that spot like the office of a president or government official? Whoever is acting in the role gets the chair."

Stein looks at me smugly as he pulls a cigarette from his pocket. "Well, Soul Eater, it appears that it all comes down to you. Where does Lord Kid place his butt during the ceremony?"

"Uh… can I abstain?" I ask.

"Be a man, Soul. Tell our fearless leader where his ass should be," Black*Star says thumping me in the gut with his fist.

After catching my breath I challenge him, "Why should I? You didn't, ya spineless weasel!"

He shrugs. "I can see both points of views. Black*Star can be a deep guy sometimes."

"Deep as a puddle on the sidewalk," I mumble grouchily. "Fine… I'm sorry, Kid, but I agree with Maka-"

"_Big _surprise," the ninja shouts. "He sides with his girlfriend!"

Stein rises from his chair, clearly pleased to have won this battle of wits with one of his protégées. "Now, Black*Star there is nothing wrong with agreeing with that special lady in your life. It is often a wise decision, because women are _much_ more perceptive than us testosterone driven males, and it is never smart to get on the bad side of your partner. Remember that."

"Speaking of which, where's Marie at?" Tsubaki asks.

Stein shrugs. "No idea." We all shake our heads at him. He laughs. "I said to try not to get on the bad side of your lady, not to keep track of her all the time. I'm not attached at the hip to my partner like Soul and Maka here."

Black*Star points and laughs at me. I wait till Maka's attention is distracted to whisper in his ear, "At least sometimes I get to be attached at the hip the way a boyfriend _should_ be, unlike _someone _I can think of who can't seem to admit to his partner-"

"To quote my _former _best friend, 'So not cool, dude,'" Black*Star says hitting me.

Kid sighs as he watches us. "I thought you guys came in here to _help_. If you feel the need to beat each other go do it somewhere else, please."

"Yes, sir," me and Black*Star say in unison while offering a lazy salute to our Lord.

Saluting makes me realize that Kid's normal waist attachments, Liz and Patti, aren't here. "Where are Liz and Patti?" I ask surprised that they aren't with him.

"_They_ are actually helping me. The Thompsons are keeping an eye out for our special guests from Vietnam." I sigh. The Huang family is coming, more parents burying their kids. It's so sad. At least Hai Huang was old enough to have been a full-fledged Death Scythe for six or seven years before Avian Flu got him.

Kid turns to our professor and bows his head. "All right, I admit my defeat by a _pseudo_-democratic process. I will be seated in the throne. Have Mac place it stage right and have Bartholomew bring over a couple of the fancy chairs from our dining room and put one on either side of the throne. If I must be up on the stage for this _entire_ thing, my weapons will be seated beside me."

"Will do, Lord Kid," Stein says as he shoves off with his feet, flying out into the hallway on the green office chair he uses to roll all over campus.

"Good grief! Now my ass is going to hurt," complains Kid.

"Now the _real_ reason for this discussion comes out," I laugh.

"The chair's hundreds of years old," Kid explains. "Of course, it's uncomfortable. Why do you think we only drag the bloody thing out of storage for memorials and graduations?" Before exiting, he grabs a pile of laminated signs and thrusts them into Maka's hands and hands Tsubaki a large roll of clear packing tape. "Oh, I almost forgot. Could you go hang these around so people can find their way to the restrooms? We have quite a few guests who have never been here before. I trust that you will do a good job. _Nice and straight, parallel to the floor, perpendicular to doors and other wall hangings, _please_. _Black*Star, you may _not_ assist them."

"That's ok. I don't wanna help ya, ya anal retentive bastard," our friend says putting his hands behind his spiky blue hair. "And I'm planning to sleep through the entire memorial. Just so ya know."

"No, you aren't," Kid says pointing at the ninja in a very intimidating fashion. "I have a job for you two as well."

"We'll meet you guys out front," Tsubaki says, waving as her and Maka head out to plaster the academy with the laminated signs of Lord Death pointing toward what appears to be an old-fashioned outhouse. I hope that's some kind of universally known symbol for the can, because otherwise our foreign visitors may have a problem. I'm pulled from my pondering of the crapping and pissing etiquette of various cultures by Kid who begins talking with great intensity to Black*Star and me as soon as the door closes behind our partners.

"I need the two of you to help me with a _discreet_ need," the reaper says secretively.

Black*Star and I tip our heads slightly and both draw back from our friend. It dawns on his more innocent brain what his words _might_ sound like to people as gutter-minded as me and Black*Star. "Oh, good grief, can you guys think with your _other_ head for like five minutes?"

"I suppose that could be arranged," I say rubbing my chin.

"It might be _hard_," Black*Star says grinning as I nudge him as a compliment him on his excellent use of innuendo.

Kid frowns, his eyes narrowing as he studies the two of us. "How exactly did I wind up with you two clowns as my best friends?"

"Cause you need friends in your life who say and do all the things you're too much of a pussy to do yourself."

Kid freezes. "Did you just call me a pussy, Black*Star?"

"I did."

The karate chop comes faster than Maka can slap me with a book, completely catching Black*Star off guard. He makes a futile attempt to punch Lord Kid which the reaper blocks with the back of his arm.

"Shit, man! I thought you'd given up on practicing hand to hand, since you hardly ever go on missions without the girls now."

"Oh, no," Kid says smugly. "I still practice martial arts… and I suggest that _you_ do as well."

Black*Star appears humbled and the reaper laughs. "Don't take it so hard, Black*Star. I have incredibly fast reflexes these days. It comes with the title."

"So, what is it you need from us?" I ask, deciding it's best not to rub in Black*Star's defeat.

"I need you to keep an eye on a couple troublemakers that I've heard may be showing up to the ceremony."

"They Avian Flu?" Black*Star asks smacking his fist into the palm of his hand.

"No, _that_ I would know how to deal with, these two are just sleazy," Kid says with disgust. "You remember Jon and Brock?"

I scratch my head. Kid seems to think I know who he's talking about, but I'm drawing a total blank. "Who?" I ask.

"You mean those two assbags who were expelled our first year?" Black*Star says scratching his head.

"Oh, shit! 'Johnson and Cock'?" Kid nods at their nicknames. I remember them; they _were_ total assbags. They thought they were god's gift to sex and would hit on _any_ attractive female they came in contact with who was between the ages of fifteen and fifty. "Why are _they_ coming? They didn't know Jakob or any of the others did they?"

"Off the record," Kid says frowning. "They are coming to hit on women."

"At a funeral?" Black*Star asks. "Isn't that kinda-"

"Tacky, unethical, gross? All of the above? Undoubtedly, but then again they were thrown out for sexually harassing a number of faculty and students," Kid replies off-handedly as he extends his arm making his reaper robe and mask materialize out of thin air.

"You can get expelled for sexual harassment?" Black*Star snickers.

"What's so funny, Black*Star?" questions Kid. "Unwanted sexual advances can be terribly disturbing and cause all kinds of problems- what? What is so damned funny?"

Busting up, I manage to snort out, "You. When you gonna expel Patti?"

Kid turns bright red and starts stammering. "Well, uh, that's different… that's just some good natured joking between partners… Patti would stop if I asked her to."

Black*Star and I are laughing so hard that we are having to lean on one another for support so we don't fall over.

"She would! I'm sure I could get her to stop…" Kid says his voice wobbling with obvious uncertainty.

"It doesn't matter, cause we know you're never gonna _actually_ try 'cause you're enjoying every single minute of it," Black*Star chuckles. "You act all mature and serious, but you have the hots for a girl who still plays with dolls!"

"She does _not_ play with dolls!" Kid says raising his chin in the air defiantly. "She likes _stuffed animals_… and coloring, and those are…"

"Much more grown up pursuits," I say giving him a toothy grin.

"Well, thanks to the more mature pursuits of _your_ partners, Patti's been talking about nothing but Kama Sutra all day."

Black*Star stops laughing and frowns, "What's Comma Suita?"

Now it's Kid's turn to laugh. "It's a kind of tantric sex, and apparently Tsubaki has a _very _detailed book on the subject that she has shared with the rest of the girls. So all morning while I've been trying to get stuff done, I had the pleasure of listening to Patti interrogate Liz about her experience with various sexual positions."

"You should have offered Patti some first-hand experience," Black*Star suggests waggling his eyebrows, but this comment only makes the reaper look even more frazzled.

"I don't know anything about… 'speed bumps' and… 'spiders' and, oh Lord, the things I have heard this day! Patti has absolutely _no_ decorum. In the middle of setting up a display of photos of Jakob she's asking Liz what an orgasm feels like." Now I'm laughing so hard my eyes are watering and I can hardly get air.

"It's not funny! She was talking about all of this in front of Joe and Bartholomew."

"So how many things did you end up dropping?" I ask knowingly.

"Three," he says rolling his eyes. "A picture frame, a vase, and I chipped Jakob's urn."

Black*Star nods. "If I die you can feel free to crack my urn all you need to if it means my remains get to be around chicks talking about hot sex."

"I'll keep that in mind should I ever get annoyed enough with you to pull the trigger like I mean it," Kid says pulling on his reaper robe. He shakes his head. "She actually asked Joe how old he was when he had his first time and in what position he most enjoys sex. She's apparently taking a survey."

"Good thing she'll be up on stage with you so she won't continue surveying people during the service."

"Oh, don't say that. Everything must be _perfect_ today; nothing less will properly honor the dead."

"So, what do you want me and Black*Star to do? Bind and gag Patti?" At this Black*Star winks at me and Kid vehemently denies that bondage arouses him.

"I don't need you to do anything about Patti. I can handle that on my own-"

"I bet you can!" I say smiling at him.

"Oh, please, I'm not about to make a move on the Thompsons the day of the memorial. That would be completely inappropriate." I notice that he says 'the Thompsons' rather than saying Patti or Liz. I can't tell if Black*Star notices this, but I do. It's as I thought. He's going for both of them. He's one ballsy dude.

"I need your help with the walking hard-ons," he says making the tears start pouring out of my eyes I'm laughing so hard.

"Isn't that Liz and Patti's job?" I squeak out in between gasps for air.

Kid stares at the two of us. "Could you two please be serious? This is important. We have guesses coming from Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, not to mention the grieving families who have lost loved ones and-"

"Ok, ok," I say calming down. "You want us to be your bouncers, no prob. We'll throw Cock and Johnson out for ya."

"No!" Kid shakes his head as he strolls over to a long mirror mounted on the wall. Checking to see how he looks from a variety of angles he continues, "Unfortunately, we can't do that. It wouldn't be right. The service is open to all. We can't exclude anyone unless their behavior _at_ the ceremony justifies it. You'll just have to keep an eye on them and if you see them using this event as a meat market for their lust-"

"Or moving in on either of your girls," Black*Star says. "You are one greedy bastard, you know that?"

Kid stops adjusting his garments and looks at Black*Star an expression of hurt on his face. "I am concerned for _all_ our female guests. The women in our community need to be able to come here to grieve free from the irritation of unwanted advances. Liz and Patti are far too wise to fall for some muscles and wavy hair. Jon and Brock are two of the worst misogynists-"

Black*Star and I stare at Kid.

"Kid," I say cautiously. "Liz is real smart about some things, but didn't you just describe the kind of guys she always dates?"

Kid opens his mouth to deny this, but then says, "Oh, God, you're right. Ugh, I can't deal with this right now! Where the hell is Rodrigo? I told him he could borrow Liz for a while after the ceremony…" Kid glances at his watch. "Dammit! I have to go make sure Ms. Leech isn't out front leering at the early birds. Steer Jon and Cock… I mean, Brock… away from Liz and keep them from cornering any of our young and impressionable students, or, Shinigami forbid, the relatives of the deceased. I've seen photos of Jakob's four sisters and they're quite striking." He sighs. "I've got to go." He turns from the mirror, his reaper robes flowing around him as though they come complete with their own life force. "I'll see you in a bit. We're setting up a kind of receiving line out in the foyer so I can greet everyone." And with that he departs the green room.

"I'm glad I'm not a reaper," Black*Star comments after our friend's left.

"I thought you were working toward Godhood."

"Workin' toward it? I'm halfway there! I'm just glad I'm not a Shinigami. Their life is all death and darkness and pain and madness all the time, isn't it?"

"I dunno, but I think that's why he has us. We keep things fun."

"Right you are, my friend!" He fist bumps me . "So, should we set a trap for Johnson and Cock or do we just stand back and wait for them to cross the line on their own?"

"Do we really want to do work we may not have to?"

Black*Star nods. "Good point. Besides, I think it'll be funnier this way."

"God, I hope so," I say following my friend out of the green room. "Otherwise, today is really gonna suck."


	78. Chapter 78: Reflections on Death

_**Chapter 78: Reflections on Death; Is It Time to Let Go?**_

We find our partners near the east exit meticulously taping up one of the signs that has a caricature of Lord Death pointing toward the nearest restroom.

"Why you suppose Kid never does the gloves?" I ask, pondering aloud.

"Cause they look ridiculous on him," Patti answers appearing from somewhere behind us. "Believe me. He's far too short to pull off the giant finger look."

"Well, _you_ look great," compliments Tsubaki. Patti's wearing a black and gray dress with lavender and silvery/grey flowers pinned in her hair. It's subdued, but still pretty.

"You don't think the flowers are too much? Sister and I couldn't decide and Kid was no help. He was too busy trying to pick the music to accompany the slide show. He's terribly concerned about pleasing the families of the dead," her face suddenly draining of its usual glow. "This is awful! We shouldn't be having to do this. _Seven dead! _ I keep thinking how it could easily be one of us next. I don't know what I'd do if it was one of you guys… and Avian Flu would love nothing more than to wipe out Kid… and then what would sister and I do…" Her voice trails off into the realm of unspeakable fears as a stream of tears begins flowing from each of her eyes.

Maka hugs her as the rest of us stand by silently. I look to Tsubaki. Usually, she has something comforting to say at moments like this, but even she is speechless and as the tears start to come she simply opens her arms to join in on the embrace.

The problem is that we all know Patti's right; there's no denying that we're damn lucky we've made it this far without getting ourselves killed or maimed. We're not exactly ones to be volunteering for the 'safe' missions, after all. The fact is we're only getting through this because we have each other and awesome mentors like Professor Stein to support us and we've had fortune on our side. It's an unsettling thought, especially when I realize how close to disaster the five of us have already come.

I awkwardly shift my weight watching Maka, Tsubaki, and Patti hugging. I wouldn't mind joining in, I could use a hug, about now, too, but I hang back trying to maintain my cool. It seems like a female bonding moment, anyway.

"Put it here, bro," Black*Star says enveloping me in his thick arms. "We dudes can hug over here," he says to me with a wink. It's really scary how well he and I can read each other's mind sometimes. Like, I know he's hugging me, but I know he's also wishing he were in Patti's place resting his head on Tsubaki enormous bosom.

Black*Star's partner notices the two of us hugging and smiles even though she's crying. "It's so beautiful what good friends they are."

"I know, they're closer than brothers, it's… beautiful," Patti says and then the three girls start sobbing even more.

"Oh, Lord," Black*Star mumbles letting go of me. I nod and frown my disapproval of their sappiness. Our tough as nails, battle-savvy girls have been reduced to emotional goo. I turn away not wanting to witness any of them in this pathetic state, especially my own meister.

As I attempt to distract myself from the trio of sobbers, I see that Liz and Kid have emerged from a connecting hallway. Liz is wearing an outfit that coordinates with her sister's but is longer and features a slit up the side so that her leg is revealed as she walks. It's very sexy, but I can only guess whether or not Kid has noticed with all he has had going on. I can read Black*Star's mind, but I've got no clue what goes on in the reaper's.

"Oh, dear," he says looking in the direction of the tangle of weeping girls.

"Don't be mad at us for having emotions," Tsubaki spats angrily.

"No, it isn't that. I've just noticed that the welcome banner is crooked," he says with agitation pointing past the girls and out the window to the back side of a vinyl sign hanging outside. "Oh, well. It's too late to do anything about it now, I suppose… though, I could have Mac-"

"No," Liz says firmly. "You're going to _let it go_. You're going to _accept it_ and refocus your energy on something else." She says the words slowly and with great authority as though she's recording some kind of affirmation tape, only _way _bitchier. "We've got to start greeting our guests."

"Are you sure?" the current Lord of Death asks. "It would only take a moment. I could run upstairs and climb out onto the roof-"

"No." Liz says flatly.

"Or _maybe_-"

"_No,_" Liz repeats without even giving him time to explain his third solution. His shoulders sag as he whines, "But it throws off the symmetry of the architecture-"

Liz grabs his upper arm like a mother might their misbehaving child, making him look directly into her eyes as she barks at him. "Listen to me. The families of the dead aren't going to care about some stupid banner, but they are going to want to be reassured that their son or daughter or husband or brother or _whatever _died for an important cause led by an honorable and _together_ young man, one who does not suffer from a disorder that makes him freak out over stupid things like _toilet paper_ folding and _lopsided _banners."

Kid's eyes grow wider and wider as his elder partner rants. When she's done he looks rather terrified, but manages to say, "Right. You're right, of course." But that is apparently not enough evidence that he has abandoned his current compulsion as she doesn't release him from her grasp.

He attempts to regain his composure, which is challenging considering he is still being pulled upward by one arm. "Today each one of us must be ambassadors for our cause, and I must show the families of the dead that I will do _everything_ I can do to make sure their family member's death wasn't in vain."

"That's more like it," Liz says relaxing her grasp and her bitch face ever so slightly. Using his incredibly flexible body to full advantage, Kid manages to worm his way out of her clutches and proceeds to adjust his bunched up sleeve.

"It's just that I feel so terrible," he admits shaking his head. "This is _my_ fault. It was _my_ responsibility to ensure their safety… my father never lost so many…" He pauses and then adds, "I'd gladly give my life if it meant-"

"Don't say that," Patti shouts pulling herself away from Maka and Tsubaki to glare at her meister. "Don't you _ever_ say that."

He starts to argue, but Liz's loud voice drowns out his words. "She's right, Kid. Patti and I feel just as bad as you that we weren't on the train at the time of the attack, but don't you dare talk like you'd trade places with the dead."

Sadness evident on his face, he says, "But, I _would_-"

"Then don't say it in front of _us_," Liz says. "Our job is to protect you and help you win this war, so Patti and I don't wanna listen to any of that melodramatic shit. Do we, Patti?"

Patti nods and then cries, "I don't even want to think about what a future without you would be like!" She throws herself into her meister's arms, her tears now pouring forth as though someone turned on a water spigot.

"What's gotten into her? She seemed perfectly fine earlier when she was interrogating everyone about their sex lives," Kid says, a confused half-smile appearing on his lips as he rubs her back. It's an odd sight, seeing someone dressed as Lord Death embracing another person so lovingly.

"She's been trying to distract herself," Liz says walking over to wrap her arm around Kid.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here. I hate it when you two do that," the younger sister complains.

"Oh, so you are listening," Kid says amused. "What's got you so upset? I haven't been as _unbearably _whiney as your sister claims, have I?"

"No, of course not, Kid," Patti replies quickly as Liz rolls her eyes. "I just can't deal with all this sadness. I feel it hanging over all of us, like a big, nasty, frowning, grey storm cloud." In all my years as Patti's friend I've never seen her like this. I didn't think she had the capacity to become discouraged or depressed, she's always such a cheerleader.

"It'll be ok," Kid assures her. "That's why we need to do this. The memorial will help all of us to move forward. It's a way to help us remember the dead and face our own fears… Death is an important part of life and sometimes we have to acknowledge that, whether we want to or not."

"But I don't want it to be such a big part of yours! I don't want you to act like your life is disposable!" Patti cries.

"When have I ever done that?" he asks seriously.

"Just now! You said you wished you could trade places with them!" Patti insists.

"Fine! Let me amend my statement! I would trade places with them…_ if_ I didn't have two partners who would rather die themselves than let me. There, how's that, Princess? Is that more to your liking?"

"Yeah," she says sniffling.

"Patti, I'm not about to _destroy_ myself. That's not what I meant. It's just, as Lord Death, I have a lot that I am responsible for and I have to think about more than just what I might want for myself-"

"I know," she admits glumly. "Sometimes, I wish you weren't a reaper. I wish you weren't Lord Death."

"I'm sorry, but that's my lot in life... and ours as long as we're a team. I thought you liked the prestige of being the weapon of a reaper."

"I don't know about the prestige," butts in Liz. "But I know she likes the money."

Kid laughs. "Yes, well, were it not for my wealth I fear you two would have robbed all of DC blind by now, but, seriously, you will tell me if it ever gets to be too much, won't you?" He delicately brushes the hair back from her face so he can look at her as he speaks to her.

"What do you mean?" Patti asks inching her head slightly away from his chest in order to look up at him.

"If you… or your sister… either of you… if you ever feel you need something different… and that you need to strike out on your own-"

"Shut your mouth!" scolds Liz sharply, raising her hand threateningly. "Get one thing straight, Reaper. We're in this for the long haul and we take the bad days with the good. It just happens that today things got _real_ for my sister and she's having a bit of a hard time with it. It doesn't mean we want to _bale_ on you. We just don't wanna hear you acting like we wouldn't be a wreck without you."

Kid nods slowly, wearily watching Liz's hand. "I can see how Jakob's death could really shake a person up and today is not going to be easy on any of us… tell you what, Patti, how about after the service we make the underclassmen clean up and the three of us go out for ice cream?"

"Can I have mine with extra hot fudge?" she asks.

"Sure," he says taking her hand and starting to head toward the entryway with the rest of us following. "You can even get a frozen banana and torture me by running your tongue all over it."

"Does that _really_ bother you?" Patti asks as they walk shoulder to shoulder with Liz on the other side of him.

"Immensely," he says laughing. "It's practically pornographic."

"Oh, good," the younger Thompson says hugging his arm between her breasts. "I want to know everything that turns you on so I can make our first time magical."

From my vantage point all I notice is that Kid's reaper robe sways slightly, but then Maka and I are forced to leap backward to prevent him from falling on us as Kid has fallen backward, stiff as a board, perhaps in more than one way.

"Kid," Patti giggles, leaning over my friend's rigor mortised body. "Quit being goofy. You know you can hardly wait!" One of his eyelids twitches slightly as a trickle of blood begins to run from his nose. "Isn't he adorable, sister?"

"Yeah, sure," Liz says sarcastically as she towers over both her meister and her sister, a frown on her face. "Patti, why'd you have to do that? I think you might have given him an aneurysm."

Patti dismisses her sister's concern with the wave of her hand as she dances around Kid like some kind of psychotic leprechaun who's just discovered the end of the rainbow.

"Don't be silly. Kid knows that's why I've been hittin' the books and learning all about sex, doesn't he?"

"I don't know about that," Liz says uncertainly as she kneels down to check Kid's vital signs. "I think he thought you were just satisfying your curiosity-"

"Oh, well, _now_ he knows," she says with a shrug. "It's all for you, sweetie!" She sings as she kneels beside him sighing lovingly.

Liz grumbles, "Patti, you know how old-fashioned Kid is. He's liable to ask his 'special someone' to wait till _after_ the honeymoon. That's how he is." She puts her hand on his forehead assessing his temperature. "Aw, damn. You've really done it this time. Tsubaki, will you go get me a glass of cold water and, Maka, will you please take Patti to the bathroom to get her makeup fixed."

"But…" Patti protests.

"No, 'but's Patti," Liz orders. "I'll deal with Kid."

Patti gives Kid a quick kiss on the forehead and dashes off with Maka to the restroom.

Once her sister is out of sight, Liz sits down next to the twitching reaper. "Kid, you can wake up now. The temptress has left."

My friend's body slowly relaxes. "But you're still here," he says sounding dazed.

"Really? You're gonna flirt with me, now? Really? You need to get your head screwed on straight." She says as she pulls him up to a sitting position.

Embarrassed, he stammers, "I uh… I…"

"Soul and I tried to warn you, dude. That girl's not gonna take 'no' for an answer," Black*Star says with a wide grin.

"But… I…" Kid still looks a bit dazed.

"Don't worry about any of that now, Kid. We can get your sex life straightened out later. We've got a job to do," Liz tells him.

"Absolutely," he says standing up, but before taking a step he asks softly, "What were we doing?"

Liz sighs, "We were about to go stand by the auditorium doors so you could shake everyone's hands and get every germ they have."

"That's right!" Appearing greatly relieved, the reaper begins to walk off briskly calling over his shoulder, "Liz, quit lagging behind. We have a job to do."

Liz's nostrils flare and her fingers stiffen into a claw-like shape as she pretends to wring his neck from behind. "What do you think I've been trying to do, ya spoiled brat!"

"God, they're cute together," I say to Black*Star as I watch Liz chasing after Lord Kid.

"Who? Patti and Kid or Kid and Liz?" Black*Star asks.

"Both."

My friend shakes his head. "I still don't get it." Then leaning close to me he whispers in my ear, "He doesn't have _two dicks_… does he?"

This is more than I can handle. I laugh loudly, so that the first memorial attendees who are just walking into the academy are greeted by me laughing my ass off. From the looks on their faces I gather that they were not expecting that.

"Ok," I say after taking a deep breath. "I'm fine now." But then I make the mistake of looking at Black*Star.

"Dude, you didn't answer my question."

Now, I'm doubled over laughing and just when I think I'm done something goes whizzing past me at top speed. I didn't see what it was, but there's only one thing it could be, Kid on his hoverboard.

"Kid, you get back here, you nut!" Liz shouts as she sprints along the exact same path as Kid. "Put down that hammer! Now is not the time!" She runs out the door and continues yelling while we hear hammering.

Maka, Patti, and Tsubaki find Black*Star and I watching Liz's freak out.

"What's sister doing?" Patti asks.

"Kid's on the roof fixing the banner," I tell her.

"And she's pissed," Black*Star says stating the obvious.

Black*Star and I find an excuse to separate ourselves from the girls for a bit in an attempt to hunt down Johnson and Cock or whatever the hell their names are, but we come up empty. Frustrated, I sit down on a bench near the line of guests filing into the auditorium while Black*Star throws his leg up on it stretching.

"You wanna go shot some hoops after this?" Black*Star asks.

"Yeah, but Maka and I have to meet with Kid to get our new assignment."

"Such a pain in the ass. Tsubaki and I have to meet with him about our next one, too. Not like we haven't been with him for half the day already. What's another hour? Maybe we can convince him to tell us our next mission over b-ball."

"I doubt it," I grumble. "I don't think the gym is considered a 'secure' location."

Black*Star flexes his muscles. "It's plenty secure when Black*Star's there."

As I laugh at his bravado, I spy a girl checking him out and nudge him. "Blonde two o'clock."

"What's happening at two o'clock?" Clueless, he drops his arms.

"I meant there's a chick checking you out. She's about four groups behind the Clemens."

He finds the Clemens family, who are the owners of practically every coin operated laundry in DC and, therefore, something of local celebrities and I watch as he searches the crowd for the girl I pointed out to him.

"Oh, her? She was checking me out? Really? She's cute," he says smiling.

"Maybe you should go say, 'Hi'," I suggest.

"Naw, man. You know what Kid said about hitting on someone at a funeral."

"That's just Kid's opinion, besides what the hell do you think Patti was doing?"

He takes a step in the girl's direction and then stops. "Naw, I better not. I mean, she's cute, but…"

"But she isn't tall and dark haired and exotic looking."

"Yeah! God, it's scary how well you know my type," he says and I can't tell if he's messin' with me or being serious.

He sits back down on the bench next to me not seeming at all disappointed. We sit there in silence. The day feels so surreal. There hasn't been an official DWMA Memorial service since our first year when a weapon/meister team lost their lives dueling a demon while whitewater rafting. At the time I'd thought it sucked for the two guys, but all I really took away from the service was that Maka and I should never be swinging me around while in an inflatable boat, which she had told me was kind of a no-brainer to begin with.

Black*Star stretches and yawns. "If Kid starts to give one of those horribly long speeches about the academy's history I say we sic Patti on him." Over the years, my friend and I have devised a number of tactics to cut Kid's incredibly long speeches short in order to preserve the sanity of the student body. But the Patti plan beats Black*Star's patented 'climbing the tapestries' technique by a mile.

The trickle of guests has grown to a flood and I still don't see our partners. I start to get nervous as I remember what those days without Maka were like. Patti may not be able to imagine her life without Kid, but I know _exactly_ what my life would be like without Maka. and it sucks.

I lean back weary from stress and hard work and close my eyes trying to block out the murmur of the crowd and the occasional sniffle of the bereaved.

"Soul, you doing ok?" It's Maka. I open my eyes and am startled to see that she's next to me and Black*Star isn't. "You fell asleep."

"I did?"

"Yeah, we figured if you were that tired you probably needed the nap so Black*Star and Tsubaki are going to save us seats." I nod and yawn. "You sure you're ok? You've been kind of quiet."

"I'm fine," I say with a noncommittal shrug of my shoulders. Honestly, I'd rather be asleep. Awake I'm thinking about Patti's sobbing and of how much this reminds me of my mother's funeral and how we aren't really kids anymore yet Jakob will perpetually be fifteen.

Maka slides her hand into mine. "You're allowed to cry. You know that, right?" The funny thing is she isn't poking fun at me. She's serious. "I know this must be especially hard for you."

I inhale deeply and stretch. "I don't like funerals. That's for sure. But the sooner we get this show on the road, the sooner it will be over."

"I keep thinking about Blair and Crona," Maka admits.

I wrap an arm around her. "Me, too, but remember, you and I have both come back from the dead."

She nods. "Soul, do you ever think it's odd that Sid was brought back, but that option isn't offered to anyone else?"

"That's cause Stein was crazy then. He violated a lot of rules doing that. You remember how far gone his mind was at that point? Wasn't that when he was trying to get us to dissect that poor Dodo?"

"Yeah, I know but Sid seems so normal. I think it's so sad that someone as young as Jakob should be gone forever… when…"

"We aren't gods. We weren't meant to make that choice."

"So, you wouldn't have resurrected your mother if you could?" These are the type of deep, philosophical conversations I only seem to ever have with Maka. I think on this for a bit. Would I have brought my mom back from the dead?

"No. I would have liked having her around, but _she _wouldn't have liked it. She was a very vain woman. I think she would chose death over the zombie look. She probably would have become a hermit if she got that weird blue skin that Sid has." I yawn again, lazily getting to my feet to go join the line filing into the auditorium. "That's one of the things I like about you. You don't care how you look." As soon as I say the words I wish that I could rewind myself and say something different or better yet just shut the fuck up. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, you aren't obsessed with your appearance and makeup and-"

"It's ok, Soul. I know what you mean," Maka laughs. "You're right, I'm not like that. Some women love nothing more than painting themselves up and flaunting everything they got. Like that woman there. Look at her. Who wears that to a funeral?"

I follow her eyes and see Cherry accompanied by her boyfriend and his sister, Marisa, in the line that is creeping toward Kid and the Thompsons. I don't know much about etiquette, but I would have to agree that the outfit Cherry is wearing seems a bit over the top even by DC standards. The black and red printed mini skirt isn't that bad, but combined with the black see-through blouse and the red high-heeled boots that lace up in the back like a corset and she may as well have come wearing the neon sign from Hottie's around her neck. Which puts me in a tight spot. If I admit that I know this person in the stiletto boots and the teeny, tiny, thinly veiled black bra, that could lead to a lot of questions, and while I know Maka will believe me if I tell her the truth… I'd still rather not have to tell her that Kid and I went to a strip club even if it was for business and not for pleasure.

If we can manage to get to the end of the line without them seeing us I'll be home free. I take Maka's hand and move swiftly toward the end of the line trying to use Maka's body to block the hackers' line of sight.

"Soul! Hey, Soul!"

The words hang in the air. Can I pretend I didn't hear them? Damn, Maka's starting to turn. We were past them! I know we were! Something must have attracted the dancer's attention this direction. I am frozen in place as Maka looks to see who is calling my name. I turn around slowly, ducking slightly in case Maka feels the need to pummel me in the head right away.

Cherry squeals, "Look, honey! It's Soul."

Shit! I'm not going to be able to play off that I don't know her. Best keep cool… God, I wish I had a helmet on right now.

Maka glares at me and her eyes say it all. I can hear her, '_What the hell, Soul?!_' even though she hasn't uttered a word.

"Calm down. I'll introduce you," I whisper trying to steady my voice so I don't appear guilty of something I most certainly have _not_ done. "She's a friend of Kid's."

"You expect me to believe that Liz and Patti let him be friends with someone who wears stripper clothes to come to a funeral," she whispers back.

I hold up my finger. "A couple things, this is a memorial, not a funeral. I don't exactly know why that's important, but I feel forced to point it out for some reason, and, two, she _is_ a stripper, so I guess she brings her work home with her, I dunno… and, _no_, I have not partaken in her talents… She's more of a _friend of a friend_ with Kid."

Maka and I walk over to say hello. I cross my fingers that nothing is going to happen that will make Maka think I'm lying to her.

"Hey, Carey," I say trying to sound nonchalant.

"I told you not to call me that," grunts Lava Snake.

"Ooooohhhh! You must be Soul's girlfriend!" Cherry coos reaching out to shake my meister's hand. "You two are _so_ cute together. You look like a _couple_, you know what I mean? Me, I like to get dressed up and look nice, but look at _him_. He's such a slob." She shakes her head in frustration at her boyfriend.

"Cherry, quit being a bitch, I _brought_ you didn't I? I didn't want to come to this thing. It's a funeral for fuck's sake," he grumbles.

"But I like to meet the people you know, sweetie, and I just _adore_ Kid. He is _such_ a sweetheart. A man who cleans! It's _soooooo hot_," she purrs standing on her tiptoes to try to get a peek at our leader.

"I didn't bring you so you could gawk at Kid," her boyfriend says annoyed.

"Yes, you did! You know I'll get all hot seeing him in his Lord Death outfit," she says fanning herself. "You know, I bet the costume shop would have something like that in your size." She puts out her lower lip in an exaggerated pout and pokes his chubby gut with her perfectly manicured fingers. "Don't you think we should look next time we-"

"I am not pretending to be Death the Kid for you. No way."

"But I play along with _your_ fantasies all the time!" Maka's eyes connect with mine and I can tell she's no longer thinking it's _just_ the outfit that's inappropriate. Who knew Maka had such propriety?

"Pick a different fantasy then," Lava Snake mumbles. "I am not pretending to be that dweeb."

"Hey," I warn angrily. "That 'dweeb's' a good friend of mine and just about everybody else here. So if you're smart you'll be careful about what you say."

Lava Snake sneers. "That's assuming there aren't any Avian Flu members infiltrating this little shindig," he says viciously. He really is an asshole. As if our nerves aren't already shot from all the demon battling lately, he has to imply that our security is so lax that the enemy could waltz right into the memorial for our dead. What a fucker! I can feel the rage swelling within me, but I know how you're supposed to act at a funeral… er, memorial.

"Come on, Maka," I say taking my meister's hand in mine and walking away all the while glaring at Lava Snake.

"It was nice to see you again!" Cherry shouts after us, sounding sad that we didn't stay to chat more. "You should come over for drinks sometime!" Then I hear her lay into Lava Snake for his behavior. At least she stands up for herself some. She seems way too nice to be with such a dick.

We make our way to the end of the line of people waiting to see Kid before going into the auditorium.

"Friends of Kid's you say?" verifies Maka.

"Think of them more as business associates, a necessary evil."

"Hhhhmmm. She seems ok, but he's an ass," she says flatly.

"A fair assessment." I agree hoping that this will be the end of it, but, of course, it's not.

"You've seen her naked haven't you?"

"What?! No! Why would you say that?" Play innocent. You've done nothing wrong. Just because you were in a strip club does not mean you were there to see strippers. You were the victim here… or the lucky bastard getting a free show, but…

"You were _very_ careful not to look at any part of her body."

"And you think that's because I've _seen_ her body before? What kind of logic is that? I just didn't want to get clubbed by the latest best seller. It doesn't mean I'm guilty of anything."

"I'm not buying it," she says giving me the same disapproving look she gives me when I'm drinking from the milk carton or have, gasp, left the toilet seat lid up.

"What?" I ask frustrated.

She crosses her arms, but she doesn't look angry.

"Fine," I grumble caving. "I saw her tits, but it wasn't my fault, I swear. It was Kid's fault."

She shakes her head. "It's fine. You just better know that you cann_ot_ lie to me."

"I _didn't_ lie. It's not like I had a lap dance or something-"

"No, I don't mean _don't_ lie to me. I mean, you _can not_ successfully lie to me. I can read your soul wavelength like a polygraph."

I frown. "There goes my plan to throw you a surprise party."

She laughs. "Like you'd ever be organized enough to throw me a party, much less a surprise party."

I'm hurt. I could _totally _throw her a surprise party. The hard part would be the lying and making up excuses to _cover_ the plans, because she's damn nosey. Like cause I'm her weapon she needs to know what I'm up to _all _the time. It's not like I'm about to go get shit-faced with Black*Star again. I've matured a lot since then… or maybe I haven't.

"When is your birthday, again?" I ask. I know perfectly well when her birthday is, but I scratch my head and play dumb just to piss her off. She frowns at me. "Aw, shit. We have an anniversary now, too, huh?"

She nods. "And then there's Valentine's Day."

"Shinigami, how many times do I have to give you a present?" I cluck my tongue disapprovingly. "Gees, I'm gonna have to rethink this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing."

"Do you realize that the longer you and I are together the higher the percentage of BS that comes out of that mouth of yours?"

"I blame my technician. I'm just a tool, molded by my meister. I become what she guides me to be."

"You're so full of shit," she says shaking her head.

The line has moved forward so that we're now standing next to a beautifully laid out table with plates full of little rectangular cards and pencils. There's a sign on it inviting guests to write down a personal note to the deceased or a memory or wish for their family, a 'reflection' they call it. All I can think to write is 'sorry, you're dead' or 'Fuck Avian Flu', but fortunately I'm not the poet of this team. Maka picks up a pencil and chews on the eraser as she searches her thoughts for inspiration. Then she leans over decisively writing something on the blank card.

"The physical is brief, but the soul eternal," she writes.

"Deep," I say with approval.

"I didn't come up with it. It's a quote I've heard somewhere. It's probably in one of my turn of the century meistering books."

The line seems to have screeched to a halt, but I scooch forward to close the gap between Maka and I and the middle-aged brunette in front of us just so I can feel like we're getting closer to our seats.

"You're not going to do one?" my meister asks me indicating with a tip of her head that she means the reflections.

"Naw, I can't think of anything."

"Come on. You must have something you want to say about all of this."

"Oh, there's plenty I _want_ to say, but most of it would get bleeped," I freely admit.

"I don't think the academy is censoring us."

I lean out to the side of the line to see what the holdup is on getting into the auditorium. Looks likes some old lady is holding Kid's hand, telling him all about the 'good ole days', which means we could be here for a while, because Kid is a sucker for old people. Meanwhile, his trusty partners look like they're about fit to be tied as they try to politely signal to the hunched over old lady that it's time for her to move on, but she remains blissfully oblivious and continues patting Kid's hand and talking to him.

Maka groans. "God, what is the hold up?"

"Looks like your great grandmother is tellin' the handsome, young son of the headmaster how things were back in the day."

Maka leans out. "Oh, God, she really does look like my great grandmother."

"You have a great grandmother?" I ask and then realizing that sounded really dumb, I begin to amend my question.

"She's dead," Maka says. "I barely remember her, but what I do remember is remarkably like that lady."

I start to ask more questions about this Albarn or whatever the hell Maka's mother's side of the family would be called, but Maka shakes her head.

"Don't change the subject. Write," she orders me thrusting a pencil and one of the blank cards into my hand. "Release your inner demons onto the page."

"You take the whole concept of the written word _way_ too seriously, Meister. If I were to ever write a story 'fuck' would be the most common word in it."

"Write, Soul," she says with that intense bossiness of hers, that I'm-in-charge-because-I-know-what's-good-for-you attitude that I love to hate.

"Keep your pants on. I'm thinking. I didn't realize I was going to have to do an expository writing assignment at this thing."

"Oh, Soul, you have no idea how tough life would be for you at a regular school, do you?"

"I'd manage," I grunt as I start drumming the pencil against my leg.

"It'll make you feel better," Maka says. I look at her like she's crazy, which she obviously is, because only a crazy person would feel better by writing some shit on a little piece of paper.

"I don't have anything to say, Meister."

"I told you. You can't lie to me."

"Fine, I'll write something if it gets you to quit buggin' me." I look down at the blank rectangle, my mind just as blank. I tap the pencil on the paper making it into my own percussion instrument. I'm really rockin' out with it by the time we're next in line to be greeted by Kid and his weapons.

"Uh, oh," Maka whispers to me, recognizing that our fearless leader appears to be rather frazzled.

"Maybe Patti tried to make today 'magical'," I say cracking myself up.

"I can't believe I did that! I'm garbage, worthless garbage," he's saying to the girls and I can tell that he's about _this _close to throwing himself prostrate on the floor.

"Knock it off, Kid," Patti tells him. "It's not that big a deal. So you screwed up. It happens."

"What happened?" I ask Liz, knowing that she'll give it to Maka and me straight.

"He greeted the Huang family in Mandarin."

"So?" I ask confused.

"They're _Vietnamese_. Kid can speak every known language, but apparently he can't remember which one he's supposed to be talking in. They looked at him like he'd grown a third eye ball."

"It was so embarrassing. I brought shame on the academy!" My friend frets, ignoring the girls' attempts to cheer him.

"Kid, buddy," I say patting him on the shoulder. "I can name at least half dozen things you've done _today_ that are more embarrassing than speaking the wrong Asian language to a group of Asian people."

Kid's sniveling ceases and he looks at me with sad puppy dog eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yup," I say giving him a gentle punch in the arm.

"Ugh! Don't distract him, Kid," Maka complains. "He hasn't filled out his reflection card yet."

"You haven't?" Liz asks. "You better hurry. We're using them in the ceremony."

"You aren't going to read 'em aloud is you?" I ask.

"No, that would take too long," Patti assures me. "And some of them are meant to be private. Besides, none of us want to hear what Excalibur has to say."

The five of us freeze as though our life force is being simultaneously drained from us. This is what tends to happen when we discuss the world's greatest weapon, that or we go running in the opposite direction of where he is.

"Please tell me he has a V.I.P. seat nowhere near us," I whisper to Maka.

"Don't worry, he's got his own section of the balcony," Kid says. "I don't think anyone has the energy to deal with him today."

"See you inside!" Patti says waving to us as we move forward and are finally able to enter the auditorium.

As we enter, I smell flowers and something like old parchment. Torches on the walls are lit giving the room a cozy, fireside feel despite its enormity. The stage's curtain is down and in front of it sits three chairs off to one side and four footed candelabras that stand as tall as a person. In contrast to the minimalistic decorations on the stage, the auditorium is packed. Every student, alumni, and faculty member not off on assignment appears to have come to pay their respects.

Black*Star waves at us from the forth row of the 'Crescent Moon' section pointing to two seats next to him and Tsubaki. They've positioned Tsubaki in the aisle seat probably because of how often she has to go pee these days. As Maka and I squeeze past our friends to get to our seats Black*Star notices the pencil and paper I'm still carrying with me.

"You were supposed to put that in the bowl on the table," he tells me.

"I'm not done," I say frowning. "_You_ did one?" I ask incredulously. It doesn't seem like a Black*Star kind of thing to do.

"Yeah, course," he tells me as though it's a no-brainer.

"What'd you write?"

"That I'm real sorry," he says with a shrug. "I don't know that it matters what you say. It just shows you care, ya know?"

I guess that my friend has decided to show his sensitive side today. _Dammit_. Now I'm gonna _have_ to think of something to write.

"Just write what's in your heart, Soul," Tsubaki says.

"What'd you write?" Black*Star asks her.

"It might sound kind of stupid… but I wrote how I will always remember the outrage and anger Jakob expressed that day and that I swear to channel that strength when I feel weak."

I had forgotten that they were there when Jakob died. All three of them had witnessed his final moments. They'd heard his final words and seen the throwing of the fatal blow. Those memories have to be hard to live with.

Black*Star tears up. "There was nothin' we could do. I swear. I would have, if there was anything." He sounds so sad, so disappointed that his god-like power wasn't enough to save the sweet kid who first lost his partner and then lost his life to Avian Flu. "Sometimes things just suck."

"But you were so busy trying to protect me and the baby. We should have done more we-"

From the seat in front of us I hear a familiar voice say, "Tsubaki, it's what Jakob would have wanted. That's the kind of guy he was." It's Geoffrey. I don't think I've seen him since the train.

"Hey, man! How ya doin'?" I say thumping him on the shoulder.

"We're doing pretty good, considering…"

"Honey, we're doing great, _really_," says Robin. "It's just cosmetic." He twists in his seat to talk to me and I immediately see what they're referring to; it would be impossible to miss. The right side of his face is no longer smooth and normal but covered in distorted uneven tissue. I'm so startled I gasp… and then I feel terrible.

"Crap, dude! Hell, I'm sorry, nobody told me-"

"It's ok," Robin says, only one half of his face moving the way it should. "Fortunately, my boyfriend has assured me he likes me for more than my pretty face, and no one's gonna find me complaining about my lot at the funeral of my comrades."

"Oh, I'm not sayin' we're bad off," Geoffrey spits. "But I'd love to pour some acid on Blitzengard's face. Make his outside as ugly as that deformed soul of his."

"Geoffrey, please. It's not important. It's only half my face. Now I can go as the Phantom of the Opera for Halloween and not even use any makeup."

"That's not funny," Geoffrey says.

"It would be if you dressed up as Carlotta. You're built like an opera singer," Robin laughs.

"Not where it counts and you know, that," Geoffrey says slapping him playfully on the knee.

"So, what happened?" I ask.

"Acid attack," Robin explains. "I was concentrating on the bastard in front of us at ten o'clock and didn't realize there was one closing in on us from the side. Geoffrey got hit, too, but it mainly got him in the shoulder and on his side."

"God, I'm sorry, man," I tell him. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Yeah, same here. Taking after Maka was pretty damn gutsy," Robin says winking at me with his mutilated side. His next comment is cut off by the dimming of the lights and a voice over the PA system telling everyone to get in their seats or settle into a spot to stand in.

The lights go all the way out till the only illumination are the candles and torches. I've never seen the auditorium like this and it makes my heart thrill in a frantic way. A piece of music with a brooding, deep base tone overlaid with a lilting melody begins to play, and the haunting refrain immediately makes a connection down deep with my soul.

The sound of the big, heavy oak doors at the back of the auditorium opening is heard and everyone stands as Liz and Patti enter, followed by Kid. Every eye in the place is on the three of them as they walk down the aisle single file with the dignity of royalty. The four of us smile. Our friends seem to have forgotten the sadness and nervousness they were feeling earlier and are ready to be the rock this community in turmoil requires, and I love that Kid, true to his style is wearing his Lord Death mask raised, perhaps as a subtle reminder that he does not consider himself fully Lord Death, but a temporary stand-in assuming his father's role.

When the three approach the stairs Kid steps to the side and offers the girls his hands assisting each of them in getting on the stage as there is no handrail. Then each girl goes to stand in front of one of the finely carved wooden chairs on either side of Lord Death's throne.

His ladies nod to him in unison and he pivots walking to the middle of the stage to a microphone which has been preset for his height.

"Hello, everyone. Liz, Patti, and I thank you for joining us today in honoring and memorializing our fallen friends. Today is about sharing our stories about the fallen so that we can all better know and appreciate these people who have passed from our lives too soon. And let me assure you of one thing, none of the heroic individuals we remember here today were taken by the will of the Shinigami; not a one of them had run out of time according to my people. They were _stolen_ from this world by an evil that _must_ be stopped and we shall only succeed in stopping it by working together. Therefore, I urge every one of you in attendance today to pledge yourselves to join me in the fight against Avian Flu, and, I do not mean only the meisters and weapons and allies amongst us, such as the members of the gun slinging Free Minds Alliance." A spotlight whirls around to land on Rodrigo and a couple other Hispanic men who are seated way over on the right.

"Each and every one of you can support this cause. You can fight Avian Flu simply by sharing with your family and friends the stories you hear today, because _Avian Flu wishes to control the world._ Harold Blitzengard, the founder of Avian Flu, fashions himself a Shinigami who may chose who leaves this earth and the moment of their death, but what he does not understand is that you can never truly rob us of our comrades, for they continue to live on within us. The academy's own Professor Stein has shown that our memories can _literally shape_ the physical forms of our souls, none more so than the memories of those we love. So, _today we fight Avian Flu by ensuring our fallen friends shall _never_ be forgotten!_"

The audience erupts into applause and for the first time I really get what the difference between a funeral and a memorial is. This is about us channeling all the grief we're feeling in a positive direction.

Kid steps back and Patti approaches the microphone. "Before we proceed we would like to inform all of you that today Lord Kid has invited a member of the media to be present during the service. Christopher, can you please wave?" She looks out across the crowd. "The Faculty and Student Body of the DWMA welcomes Christopher Ganglehoff of Urban Prerogative. He will be filming the proceedings today." Everyone turns to try to gain a peek at the honored reporter. I, too, crane my neck and see him with a hurky movie camera on his shoulder that appears to be attached to some kind of big box on a platform that has a large crank attached. The crank is being turned by another person while he mans the camera. For a moment he pulls the eyepiece away from his face. He says something, but he's got no mic so people close to him repeat his words and then they are repeated to the people next to them so his words end up traveling across the room like a wave. "I will honor your dead with exposure of the truth," Maka tells me when the words reach us.

I grin. "Awfully magnificent prose from a guy wearing an 'I C U.P.' t-shirt."

Maka grumbles about how she has always thought that ad campaign was in poor taste.

"I dunno,'' I whisper. "It gets a person's attention."

"I guess," she whispers back.

Patti steps away from the microphone and Liz takes her place. "We will now read the names of the fallen. Jakob Miller, DWMA Student, Two Star Demon Weapon, Chainsaw."

The curtain is raised and a slide show of photos of Jakob begins. There are photos of him as a baby and toddler and photos of him in weapon form. There's a picture of him holding what appears to be a burnt-to-a-crisp meal on a camping trip and a photo of him dressed in formal attire before some academy dance or special event. I hear people crying around me, especially the Shooting Stars section. The slide show ends with a recent photo of Jakob with his meister who is still considered missing in action. The photo is left up for a little bit before Patti comes to the microphone to read the next name.

They do this for each of the seven dead we are remembering today giving each equal time, including Rodrigo's teammate, Patricio Trevino.

After the final slide show it's Patti's turn at the microphone once again. "We will now read the names of those who are missing in action or presumed to have been taken as prisoners of war." After each name three photos are displayed of the missing person. Crona isn't on the list because he was gone before the bombing, but Blair is featured and Maka starts crying when she sees the first photo which is of Blair in cat form sitting in the middle of our kitchen table. The final person on list is Lord Death and I can see the sadness in Kid's eyes as he sees the three photos of his father appear in succession and then fade from the screen.

Kid then steps to the microphone and invites a number of people from the community to come forward to share their stories about the deceased.

One of the Free Mind Alliance tells about how when he met Patricio he thought he was a jerk and they had gotten into a big fight, but after that had somehow ended up as best friends. Black*Star grins at me and mouths the name, "Kid," and I nod remembering that day he and I were determined to put the new kid at the academy in his place and ended up getting schooled by the young man with the two hot guns. In broken English the speaker ends by saying, "Patricio, you always be with me. Here," he says thumping his chest with his fist.

Next to the microphone is Nikolas. "Mi nam is Nic-o-lus," he says. "I usuallee leave the twalking to my sistrer, but today I wanntid to do this meself because Jaakub was a good friend of mine. He was one of the nicest pewple I've ever met. He was my fwirst fwriend here at the cademy and the fwirst persoon to ever tell me the storee of how thwey lerned they were a demun weepown. Use-awlly, the fwirst time a person twransforms is at a time of stwess or anger. For mee it happened when I saw kids bullying my seester, Magoomo. For Jaakub it hapinned when he witnessed a couple of punks shoplifting from his famlee's hardware store. While his dad was hellpeing another customer, some teenagers cam in and stuffed thweir pockeets with bags of bweef jrkey and candee bars. Jaakub shouted at them to knock it off. Jaakub was a very aceptin' person, but there were certain things he didn't tolerate. He had a real sense of rwight and wrong, and steeling was not OK. He woold hav gwiven you the shirt off his back if you needed it or split his last sanweech in half with you if you were hwungry, but steeling was wrong. The shoplifters just blew him off because he was so young and small. They figured he couldn't do anything…" Nikolas smiles. "And that's when he turned into a chainsaw and chased them out of Miller's Hardware. A lot of us who were there… the day of the train wreeck… we weesh he had kept his mouth shut and just done what they said, because we miss him. But I understand that what Avian Flu is doing is so wron he jus couldn't take it. He was so worried about his partner that all he cared about was tellin' them off and tryin' to knock some sense into the fuckers... oh! Excuse me! Sorry," he says embarrassed. "I jus… I jus miss him a lot. We all do, and Jaakub, if Tran's alive, we'll find him I promise."

And with that the boy with the squeaky voice walks off the stage leaving all of us feeling so grief-stricken I'm not sure how we can move forward, but then from stage right come a handful of students dressed in the worst costumes I have ever seen. Most of them have on some kind of plastic toy armor and cloaks. A couple have huge gauntlets and one is wearing a blonde wig and a dress that looks like something the female mage in _Fables of Fantasy _wears. The group runs onto the stage, weapons drawn. "Clawdagus, we will avenge thee!" yells one. "I can not believe he was struck down. Our party has never before lost a member."

"What about me?" sings one of them who is holding what looks like a loot made out of cardboard.

"Bards don't count," says the tallest member of the party. "We expect to resurrect you every few hours."

At first I can't figure out what the fuck I'm watching, but then I hear other students in the audience shouting out. "We must avenge Clawdagus!" and I remember that Lydia told me that Jakob was really into roleplaying. This must be his gaming group roleplaying the aftermath of his death.

"I failed him," one says throwing himself prostrate on the ground. "If I had but not rolled a one."

"Yes, how could you fail our friend?" asks another of the one on the ground.

"He choose the life of a martyr- short but beloved," shrieks the boy dressed as a girl in an artificially high voice, though I can hear quivering that I don't think is a part of the act. He's starting to break down.

"You must be so lost without him," the tallest member of the party says in a lecherous tone. "Perhaps, I should provide you with some comfort." To emphasis the exact _type _of comforting he'd be willing to provide he thrusts his crotch suggestively in the direction of the boy in drag.

"I have already been comforted," twills the fake girl. "I carry Clawdegus' child within my womb!" Then turning to the audience and speaking as an aside in his normal voice he says, "I'm not kidding. My character got damn lucky cause she _could_ have gotten herpes, but I got a sixteen- and that's knocked up. She's really happy though because she thinks carrying the cat man's child is a real honor. She doesn't know that in actuality Clawdagus has left a trail of bastard children and STDs up and down the coastline of Valentia, but their party thinks that what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

The youth in drag then turns back to the group and raises her… er his scepter along with the others and in unison they all shout, "Clawdegus will live on."

"Down with Avian Flu for Clawdegus!" they yell as they run off the stage and down the aisle out of the auditorium.

Person after person gets up sharing stories or being silly or emotional and unaware of the passage of time we laugh and cry. An alumnus gets up and talks about Lynn Humphries, a Death Scythe who died in an altercation with Avian Flu in Canada. One minute a person will get up and share an emotional story that would bring even the most hardened cynic to tears and then the next thing you know someone is up presenting a montage of photos of their friend to a medley of classic space rock. At one point, one of the members of the Shooting Stars gets up with a banjo and plays a song that is a thinly veiled allusion to the cruelty of dying a virgin. The look on Ms. Leech's face must have been priceless.

The screen that was used for the slideshow is lifted to reveal a huge mirror behind it and Death Scythes and Meisters from around the world call in to pay their respects.

"I wonder if we'll see my mom," Maka murmurs and I nod, but we don't.

"Do you know where she's at?" I ask.

She shakes her head. I'm beginning to wonder when the last time she heard from her mother was. She used to get postcards from her fairly routinely, it seemed, but Maka is usually the one to get our mail so if they've stopped coming I wouldn't know. Then again, her mom wasn't included in the MIA/POW list so that must mean she's still checking in with Kid, at least.

She takes my hand. "My mom's real private. She's probably too embarrassed to be on screen like this. She'll probably drop the families a line in the mail to express her sympathies."

Hhhhmmm. I suspect that isn't true, but I nod, as something is happening on the stage that is absorbing my attention. A large Lord Death mask has been wheeled out onto the stage by a couple faculty members dressed all in black. The mask is made out of what looks like metal piping and is at least ten feet tall. The Thompsons stand up and disappear for a moment coming back in with long straight pipes with things fluttering on them. Each girl is holding one end of the pole and they attach it to the Lord Death mask like one puts a katana in a wall mounted holder.

"What are those?" Black*Star asks. None of us are quite sure what's happening until Kid comes forward to the microphone while the Thompsons continue carrying in pole after pole.

"Before today's ceremony we invited each of you to write a reflection on a slip of paper. We've tied those reflections to these poles. We will now light them on fire sending their essence skyward and the ashes shall be distributed equally amongst today's honored families so they may be mixed with the ashes of the fallen."

Patti hands Kid and Liz the kind of long match people use to light fireplaces, keeping one for herself. They then light them from one of the nearby candelabras and in perfect synchronization they each light a section of the mask.

The written words catch fire and as it burns the metal piping turns red hot and glows creating an image that sears itself into my mind as though I had touched the metal myself.

The entire room is silent as we watch the smoke from our reflections curling and dancing as though it were incense and it's then I remember I didn't get mine done! I suddenly know what I need to write. I find that I've still got the pencil and the paper in my lap and I write, "Take care of Mom for me. Tell her I still have lots to do here. We got this one, promise. – Soul." I tap Robin on the shoulder with the paper.

"Procrastinator," he shakes his head taking the paper and passing it forward. My 'reflection' travels in this way until it reaches the front row where a woman I don't recognize carries it to the front and waves it so that Kid comes and gets it. I see him glance down at it and grin when he sees my name on it. Knowing him he probably wants to smack me for waiting until after they've lit the thing to turn in my reflection, but he calmly walks over next to the flaming Lord Death mask and tosses my message into the fire with a swift flick of the wrist.

After all the papers have been burnt the mask is wheeled backward and the girls take the corners of a large piece of fabric that was underneath the mask and use to funnel ash into each of seven small leather pouches, one for each family.

Then Kid invites each family forward and gives them the leather pouch along with a hug.

After this, Kid approaches the microphone and I anticipate he is going to dismiss us, but his partners slide themselves in front of him. He appears bewildered, but he covers it well by stepping back and graciously offering them the microphone with a sweep of his arm.

Patti takes the microphone in her hand and carefully positions the power cord so that neither sister will become entangled in it. Then they both bow before him as a person would when being knighted. Kid stands there looking awed by their beautifully choreographed symmetry, but perhaps a little confused about what exactly is going on until the two girls' voices say in unison, "I proclaim my allegiance to the Demon Weapon Meister Academy and I shall serve my meister body, mind, and soul in order to restore the balance of good and evil."

"That's a really old demon weapon oath," Maka tells me sounding impressed. I nod. It seems familiar, but I'm confident I've never heard it recited before. I think I've read it in one of Maka's books at some point, but now hearing the words aloud I understand the commitment behind them, the passion, devotion, and sacrifice being expressed by them.

Lord Kid stands there in stunned silence taking in the girls' proclamation.

"Did Liz and Patti just say they would service Kid's body?" Black*Star whispers to me, but not soft enough, because Tsubaki overhears him and scolds him for his comment.

"No, seriously, this is a little kinky, right?" my friend insists.

"Yeah, ok, maybe a little," Tsubaki smiles evilly. "But it's not as bad as what Patti said earlier today."

"You mean about their first time?" I ask.

"Yeah, they aren't even dating are they?" Tsubaki asks. "And I've always thought he was more into Liz."

"He wants both of them," Black*Star says shaking his head. "Makes _me_ look like a saint, doesn't it?"

"I wouldn't go that far, but you're no bad guy," Tsubaki says touching his thigh flirtatiously.

I raise an eyebrow and Black*Star nods smiling. It shouldn't be too long and those two will officially become a couple. Then we're just going to have Kid's little love triangle issue to sort out. Liz or Patti… or both? Is that even an option? We need another guy's night so we can discuss this and it better be soon if the lustful look on Kid's face is any indication.

Our leader has taken the hand of each of the girls and brought it to his lips. Kissing the back of their hands one right after the other before gracefully pulling them to the feet. Can a person's heart be ambidextrous?

The three partners turn to face the audience just as a _horrible_ loud noise starts. Everyone groans and tries to cover their ears. It's the air raid siren!

"Meisters and Weapons to battle stations," Kid shouts. "Civilians stay in your seats and you will be taken to the subbasement momentarily." From the intensity with which Kid yanks down his mask and extends his arms for his ladies to transform, I know this is not a drill. He hops on his board and sails over the rest of us, the Demon Twin Pistols already at the ready.

Bartholomew walks up to the microphone and starts giving directions to the civilians as meisters and weapons pour out of the auditorium dashing in every direction.

"Maka, what's the plan?" I ask.

"We're gonna take those mother fuckers down," she says through gritted teeth.

"Awright!" I hoot flipping up into the air in scythe form.

"Not if we get them all first," Black*Star shouts leapfrogging over seats to try to beat us to the door.

"Fucker!" I shout at him and I can hear Tsubaki laughing.

We get to the door and I spin my eye around trying to take in the scene as Maka runs faster than I think she's ever run. She's tearing through the other meisters to position us front and center. I can feel the power not only of her wavelength, but of her long, strong legs as she expertly weaves around obstacles determined to get closer to our enemy.

Outside, I spy a flying regiment accompanying a helicopter. Kid is already within shooting range of the flyers and is flipping around and blasting them out of the sky with his signature pinkie trigger technique, but I can't appreciate it because I'm focusing on what we can do. If we could get to a roof we might have a chance of getting on the back of one of the flyers…

"Hello, Lord Kid," a voice blasts out over the sound of the helicopter. A tremor goes through Maka's body. It's so dramatic that I shake a little in her hands.

"Maka?"

"It's Blitzengard! We can end this today!" she shouts never stopping her running.

The voice continues, "I heard that your memorial service was open to the public so I thought I'd drop by and leave you a little something to remember me by." The helicopter door slides open and a man drags something large over to the door.

"He's pushing something out!" I shout. It could be an explosive. Maka's running to find the best dueling point, but I'm trying to figure out what Blitzengard's up to.

At first, the object's shape is undiscernible, but as it falls I could swear… "Oh, my God, it's a person!"

Maka runs up as high as she can get. "Soul, I could throw you-"

"I'm not a distance weapon, Maka, you know that! We need to stay together."

"But that's _Harold_!" She's running so fast she's repelling off the sides of the walls around the academy.

"Aww! Maka Albarn, the girl who thought she was too good to accept my matchmaking, and her chosen partner, the Soul Eater. The two of you _trashed _my event so I thought a little pay back was in order! But thanks to you, I found no difficulty in determining who was expendable. When the DWMA forsakes one of their own during a rescue attempt you know that person_ must_ be _truly worthless_."

I'm feeling sick… and it's not the breakneck speed at which Maka is running. It's Blitzengard's words. They are slowly sinking in… I stretch my eye as the body lands with a thud that will haunt my nightmares. Other weapon/meister teams rush forward toward the body… but some thought is nagging at my mind… what did he mean 'forsaken'?

And then I hear someone near the body shout, "It's Justin. He's dead!


	79. Chapter 79: Two Kinds of Torture

_**Chapter 79: Two Kinds of Torture; Soul's Psychiatry? **_

As soon as the words hit her ears, Maka whirls around. I so badly want it to be another 'Justin', _any_ other 'Justin', but given Blitzengard's words there's really no doubt in my mind who's body has crashed to the ground. The choice of victim in today's very public show of Avian Flu's heartlessness has been carefully calculated to inflict pain on Maka almost as much as on the murder victim himself.

"Oh my God!" my meister cries as she takes in the vision of the academy alumnus' remains thrown in an unceremonious heap at the base of the grand staircase. His extremities are twisted in ways the human body was never meant to turn and there are red gashes and lacerations on his limbs. The sight makes me feel ill. Maka staggers a little as we both reel from the knowledge that yet another one of our comrades is dead and that we were the last members of the DWMA to see him alive. My chest aches remembering that the last time we saw him alive we were running from him, leaving him to fend for himself in a hot bed of Avian Flu. The guilt hits me hard, but I haven't forgotten the image of Lydia's temple being ripped open by the brass knuckles he was wearing or his attempts to keep my meister from me.

I feel terrible, but I'm not sure what we could do differently if we had it to do over again. Even seeing this does not make me regret what we did, what I did really, in my effort to keep my meister safe.

But that's not the only guilt-tinged thing I'm thinking. I find myself actually feeling _relieved_ that it's Justin and not Blair or Crona that has been dumped from Blitzengard's helicopter and I'm pretty sure that makes me a really bad comrade.

But, it's not like Justin was without friends. A young man about Justin's age comes running from a cluster of meisters and kneels over the limp body, bringing it to his chest.

"Oh, Justy! No! _No!_" The young man's screams ricochet off the buildings. "What did they do to you?" he wails as he examines his friend's body. "You tortured him! How could you do this to another human being?" he yells up to the figure visible in the door of the helicopter.

"Easily, that's how," Blitzengard answers. "His life no longer served a purpose. He _failed_ Avian Flu. So, I've seen fit to utilize him after his death. He's here to teach you what your resistance will lead to."

The man holding Justin's remains rocks the body like one would an infant but instead of singing a lullaby he is wailing. His cries are guttgut-wrenching expressions of outrage and despair unlike anything I've ever heard. I feel as though I'm trapped in a house of mirrors that reflects only anguish and pain multiplying them once, twice, a hundred times over with no way out, but the worst part is not the yowls of grief, but Blitzengard's laughter. He's got to be a total psychopath as he is actually _chuckling_ at the grief he is witnessing.

"You _genuinely_ believe that you can win?" the despot says belittling us from on high as Lord Kid swirls and flips around, targeting two birds at a time with his gleaming twin pistols. "I have you outnumbered and outwitted."

"You may think that," Kid shouts as he pauses his complex maneuvers to hover in the air near Justin's body. "But it's an illusion. The DWMA _will_ bring you down." And as if to emphasis this point he stares down Harold Blitzengard as he simultaneously blasts two birds out of the sky. A single soul-charged bullet takes each one down, plunging them lifelessly to the ground with the perfect symmetry only he and the Thompsons have mastered.

I can't help but find myself gawking at our friend as this is the first time he has faced off against his arch nemesis, and Kid is never one to disappoint. His attacks are incredibly powerful but have amazing finesse and grace, and it's obvious he has truly ascended to his father's position as his Lord Death mask has contorted into a vengeful sneer I've only ever heard of happening with a full-blown Shinigami.

"We here at the Academy have pledged ourselves to save the world from your tyranny. We will fight you no matter how evil or oppressive your tactics. You do not scare us." Kid's voice is unwavering as he tips his head back and spreads his arms wide, a clear sign that himhe and the girls are beginning their three-way soul resonance.

I shove the remorse I have over Justin's death out of my mind and start calculating. Kid's going to use Death Cannon to try to take out Blitzengard, and he could do it in one of two ways, he could aim for Blitzengard directly or he could aim for the helicopter's propeller, bring _it_ down, and _then_ go after Harold. Now, what _we_ need to do is run interference so that none of Harold's lackeys disrupt Kid's resonance or block my friend's chances of blowing the fucker out of the sky. This means we need to find high ground and do all we can to distract the flyers from going after Kid and our other meisters who have ranged attacks. We could team up with Black*Star; one team could lure in the flyer with the enticement of an easy kill and then when it gets low enough both teams could attack simultaneously.

I scan around for a location that would be advantageous for this plan, but… Wait! Something is wrong! We're not moving. We've become spectators!

"Meister?" I ask confused. My job is always to act as the lookout while her's is getting us where we need to go, so why isn't Maka running?

"I killed him… Soul, it's my fault!"

With a frenzied motion, my eyes flip from Kid to my meister and I see that she is looking down at the ground and fighting back tears. Oh, Shinigami, no! Don't let this happen! She's playing right into their hands. Obviously, Blitzengard had time to study my meister's strengths and weaknesses and recognized that Maka's greatest weakness is self-doubt. It's the only thing that trips her up, and something like a moral dilemma of how much to compromise one's own safety in order to 'not leave a single man behind' is just the kind of thing to rob her of confidence.

"We did what we had to do, you know that. Don't listen to _Blitzengard_! This is what he wants! He's manipulating you!"

"But… we _did_ leave him behind and he was one of us," she says, her voice quivering as she speaks.

This is bad, very, very bad… but I should be able to pull her out of it. That's why Maka and I make a great team, after all. Whenever she doubts herself I won't stand for it, and I do whatever it takes to get her to shake off her insecurities. That's why Maka and I are good together.

"But-" Her soul wavelength is shaking and jumping all over the place.

"Meister, _listen_ to me. We couldn't take him with us. He was fighting us too much."

"Black*Star fought us, too."

"Not with brass knuckles, he didn't!" I insist. I'm spinning my eye around taking in the aerial battle. Currently, the flyers all seem to be occupied by dodging the ranged attacks coming at them, but I estimate that it will be mere moments till the enemy notices that Maka and I are an easy target. My meister looks toward the man cradling Justin in his arms and the tears begin to flow.

_Fuck-a-doodle_! What in the hell am I gonna do? I take a deep breath and begin talking as fast as I possibly can. I appeal to Maka's smarts, "Meister, Avian Flu does _horrible, evil_ things. We know that! _They_ killed Justin, not us."

Still, all she does is cry. There is no attempting to get out of the way, no calming her erratic soul wavelength, no planting her feet before swinging me. There's just crying.

Shit! We are running out of time, and I give up on the gentle approach. I pop my torso out of my scythe blade and grip her shoulders tightly. "_Meister Albarn_, I _order_ you to wield me to bring down Avian Flu. They are an _enemy_ of the DWMA." I shake her a little. "Get your head in the game, Maka. For Shinigami's sake! We gotta move! We're a sitting duck out here." I even whine, " Meister, we've gotta fight or we're gonna get ourselves killed, too!"

Blitzengard's voice booms over the sounds of explosions, gun shots, and screaming. He's laughing again as he bellowsays three words, "Target: Red Eye.," Immediately, and as soon as the words are uttered a bunch of flyers abruptly change course, and beginning to head straight toward me and my meister. It doesn't take a genius to guess what he just ordered them to do; h. He is seizing his opportunity to exact his revenge upon us.

"You made a fool of me," his projected voice continues. "But today you will learn there are no happy endings unless _I'm_ the one who writes them."

Maka, her vision blurred by a sea of tears, swings me erraticallywildly trying to fight off the birds, but there is no I can tell there is no way that we will be able to resonate with one another, her emotions are simply too untamed at the moment. So, the best we can do is this, her . She's just waving me around with almost a complete lack of control as she , criesying that Justin's death is it's all our fault.

"Meister, we gotta run," I shout, leaning forward as if to pull her my meister by my handle, but Maka's not moving. But still she's staring at Justin's body seemingly unaware of the explosions and chaos around us. Avian Flu has penetrated her logical, highly-disciplined soul, totally decimating it and now my partner is like a child, untrained and over-whelmed by emotions.

I start flipping my blade around trying to prevent birds from swooping down on top of us, though I fear there isn't much I can do about an egg bomb if they choose to use one.

"Soul, what have we done? I was only thinking of myself!" I see a bird with a huge beak sharpened to a shiny point coming up fast behind her. He's going to try to skewer her. There's only one thing I can do. I transform and position myself between the bird's needle nose and her, but rather than just taking the hit, I grab her, pushing her to the ground with me on top, and together the two of us roll the two toward the sidewalk.

OWe logroll across the street, our logrolling two bodies laying tightly against one another. It's challengingdifficult to get the momentum we need because the street is relatively flat but we manage it and it was an unpredictable enough response to the attack manuvear that none of thethe flyers were n't expecting it. We reach the sidewalk and I jump up, and yanking Maka into a doorway with me. She seems disoriented, leans over, and pukes, though I doubt it's from dizziness alone.

"Meister, don't let him get under your skin," I say peering out of the recess of the doorway trying to assess what to do now.

"You, ok?" Ox is in the middle of the street wielding Harvar against two birdmen at once. I guess he must have helped cover us as we got over here. Great, now I'm gonna owe him one.

"She's shook up," I say.

"You should get her down to the shelter," Ox says matter- of- factly. I know he's right, but I have pride and this is _Ox_. As her weapon partner, _I _should be able to snap her out of this and if I can't it should be _me_ who decides when to throw the towel in and head for the bomb shelter. After all, only I'm the only one who can really understand the blame game going on within Maka's psyche right this moment as she works through how much culpability she and I have in this tragedy.

"Maka, maybe we did make a mistake. I dunno, but we can't change what's happened and our friends are fighting for their lives… we need to help them. We can prevent more deaths. So, you think we can do this thing? "Well, Cause I'm pretty sure you've gotten yourself added to the kill list," I say itattempting to make a joke as I keep an eye on the chaos in the street. light heartedly.

She grabs my armse with her other hand, he. Her eyes are wide with terror.

"They tortured and killed him, Soul. We shouldn't have left him behind!" I can sensefeel her soul wavelength rise and come crashing down in pointy little pulsations rather than the steady undulating curves that it normally wouldshould be. Oh, no. She's further gone than I thought. I thought for sure she'd snap out of it when it became obvious that our the mention of her friends werebeing in trouble would snap her out of it, but no diceI'm not getting through to her at all. It's like when Kid's OCD is at its worst and he'll walk right out of battle oblivious to the Thompsons' needs.

We've got to get somewhere safe. I check the door that we are holed up against. It's locked and there's no window I can break to get inside. We're going to have to make a run for the front doors of the academy. The question is can we make it through this aviary of enemies?. Normally, we'd make it no problem because of Maka's speed, but I've no'm not even confidencet I can even get Maka to run and putting her on my back will only increase her exposure to the enemy.

"Meister! Now is not the time for self-doubt. We need to fight… or we need to get to the shelter. I know you don't want them to win-"

"I…" She grips both of my arms tears falling from her eyes like raindrops. "Soul, I'm so sorry. I can't do this…" She sounds disappointed and _terrified. _"And you're having to save me again. _I hate myself._ Why can't I be stronger?"

"Meister?" I take a step in front of her and slice a bird's head off. "Please… don't… apologize." I grunt as I jump out of the way of another bird that wants to woodpecker me.

I've accepted that I nod. tThis will not be our finest hour, but we're a team and my job is to protect my meister and today that means swallowing my not to be our moment of glory. That's ok. I gotta take care of my meister and that means swallowing my pride.

"Guys, I gotta get Maka out of her," I shout to Ox.

"We'll help cover ya, too," Black*Star's voice reaches me and I realize he must be on the roof above our a roof across the street. "Maka, it's gonna be ok. Don't worry, Soul's gonna get ya outta here."

She nods her head, though I know that she will feel shame tomorrow over having been unable to fight… that is if we manage to live till tomorrow.

A bomb blasts the street in front of us and we're showered with chunks of cobblestone.

"Black*Star, Ox, we're gonna make a run for it on the count of five. Right, meister?"

"I… I…" she stutters.

I pull her close to me and whisper in her ear. "Maka, listen to me. ," I whisper to her. "We promised each other when the time comes we're going out together, right?" She nods, trembling. "Well, today isn't our day meister. We're going out in a blaze of glory not when running away."

She's tremoring still, but she nods.

"Meister, on the count of five we're gonna to run to the academy, ok? Five… four… three… two…" Kid blasts a cluster of birds from the air with his dual barreled canon and we use that as a diversion as we dart from the doorway sh from the doorway we're holed up in to the safety of the academy.

Placing her hand in mine, we run like hell, dodging meisters and lunging birdmen and ironically it feels like a reprisal of our escape from the ranch in Texas except this time Justin is dead.

I try my best to focus on the task at hand. I just gotta get a little further with her and she'll be in a secure location to take the time she needs to recover from Avian Flu's mind fuck tactics.

We manage to reach the front doors of the academy, but to my great surprise when we get there we almost collide with a person running _out_ with what looks like a giant megaphone. Maka and I jump out of his the way, the man moving so fast he's only a blur of plaid to us shirt and tan slacks as he headed into the thick of the battle. Then I grab the door a second timewe try to enter and again we end up almost being plowed into, this time by a woman followed by three younger women. They aren't moving as fast as the first person giving me time to recognize them. It's the Miller family, I turn my head. That first person who zoomed by us must have been Jakob's father. and

seeing them clues me who it was that first zoomed past us.

I turn my head toward the battlefield and can see himJakob's father pushing his way through the dueling forces.

"Honey, don't do this!" Jakob's mom screams. "We can't survive losing you, too." But the man continues running fearlessly through the battlefield.

"Harold Blitzengard?" the man roars upward amplifying his voice with the megaphone.

"Yes?" Blitzengard can't hide thethe curiosity in his tone in his toneas he response.

"You killed my son!" shouts Jakob's unarmed father.

"Ooohhh," Blitzengard says. "You must be what's-his-name's father."

"_Jakob_," says Mr. Miller. "He was just a kid and you _killed_ him."

"True," acknowledges the man above our heads in the helicopter. "But _unfortunately _the kids in DC don't seem to know their place. Just look at them… _savages_ every single one of them."

"You are in no place to cast judgement. You are a murderer and , a kidnapper!, Yyou have done unspeakable-"

Mr. Miller's words are drowned out by Blitzengard's begins laughterhing.

"Well, aren't you _begging_ to perish like your foolish son?" he asksAsks the leader of Avian Flu rhetorically.

"I'm not going to let you take any more of our children,." Jakob's father says it with such determination that I find myself forgetting that I didn't see any kind of weapon with him. I think all he's got is the stupid megaphone. His wife and daughters are sobbing and shouting at him to come back to them, but the grieving man refuses to back down.

"Oooohhhh, hoooo. My goodness! You don't really understand how this works do you? Let me educate you!" Harold Blitzengard shouts and throws something at the man challenging him. on the ground below.

Jakob's father leaps out of the way of whatever type of explosive Harold has hurled his way, and even this does not deter the determined man. "My son was an _amazing_ person. I loved him so much… and you took him from me. Do you have any idea of what that kind of pain feels like?"

"Not really," Blitzengard replies sounding entirely unimpressed by the father's passion for his dead son. "I have a daughter and she's _completely_ worthless. You lucked out with having a son. Women are such pointless creatures-"

Jakob's dad clenches his fists and screams,. "I have four daughters! And I love them, how can you be a dad and-And they are great-"

"Well, that's more children than any man requires. I'm surprised you even noticed one was gone!"

"You listen to me, Blitzengard. You _will_ be defeated. People will see through your lies."

"Ha! You actually think that people _care_? How quaint! You forget that apathy is the norm these days and _no one_ is going to care about your son's death except you and the assemblage here. Outside DC, the world is ready to bow down to me and so shall you-"

Mr. Miller throws the megaphone aside and emits a guttural howl. The sound reverberates and morphs into something different, something _rhythmic_, almost _mechanical_ in tone. It reminds me of something, but I can't place it. Curious, I turn to check it out and my jaw drops. Standing beneath Blitzengard's helicopter is the largest demon weapon I've ever seen, a red chain saw with orange and yellow flames painted on the side. The chainsaw spins itself round and round, it's blade pointed upward rising higher and higher into the sky like a corkscrew determined to drill into the underside of the .

I hear the chainsaw blade connect with some part of the chopper. It sounds like it's really hacking it apart. My heart leaps for joy! Victory is gonna be ours! There's no way between him and Kid that Blitzengard is going to get out of DC alive.

A bird swoops down toward Maka and I and I whack it with my scythe blade an optimistic thrill running through me. We could _end_ this _today!_ As we step into the academy,. The thought propels me forward. I hear a blast that has to be from Kid and the girls. They've got more firepower than anyone else.

I feel jubilant. I'm not even upset that I'm not helping to take them down Avian Flu because I'm so confident that our team's got this one!

Inside the academy, I don't take Maka down to the shelter as I can't bear to remove myself that fully from the battle. "Maka, I think-"

"_Retreat_."

I hear Lord Kid's voice and I can't believe it. Maka and I run to a window to see what is happeningturn back and we see the silhouette of a person falling from the careening helicopter. Kid and the girls are working to catch whoever it is, but the view is becoming obstructed by a purple fog. Damn it!

Everyone on the ground is beginningns to cough and I hear the crie shouts of weapons being pulled into human form against their will. This is bad!

I run to the door and motion to everyone to come in. Maka and I reach the door.

"Come on," I motion to the Millers. "You… don't… wanna… breathe… this shit." A few underclassmen come in their weapon partners still fighting the forced metamorphosis from weapon to human form.

"Mrs. Miller," I shout to her. "Get in here or you're gonna get trampled." She and her daughters follow my advice, but none of them seem happy about it as they keep looking behind them, presumably for Jakob's dad. I assure them in between pants. Maka is barely winded. I frown and I had thought this day couldn't get any worse, before Blitzengard crashed the party.

"What… what just happened out there?" Ms. Miller asks as she looks out the window.

"Purple fog…" Maka says. "It makes demon weapons transform back into human form."

"No, I mean, my husband… was… was that _him_?" she points to the sky.

I nod. "Yeah, pretty bad ass, huh? I didn't realize Jakob came from a line of weapons. You a meister?"

"But-" She appears confused.

"Don't worry. I think Kid's got him… Lord Kid, I mean."

She shakes her head. "But Jakob's dad _isn't_ a demon weapon."

"If he wasn't before, he is now," I say raising my eyebrows. I've never heard of someone's initial transformation occurring this late in life… but it's either that this was his first time or he's kept a mighty big secret from his wife.

Maka says.

"Don't worry. I think Kid's got him… Lord Kid, I mean."

Mrs. Miller cries and one of her daughters wraps an arm around her. "It's gonna be ok Mom. Dad's a chainsaw just like Jakob. I think it's really sweet."

"But we need him at home," she says as she embraces her eldest daughter. "It was so hard to let Jakob go and… now…"

"Mom, we should get back to the shelter. Grannie is gonna be worried," says another one of Jakob's sisters.

"I'm not going anywhere without your father," she says planting her feet stubbornly. "Go join the family. I'll be down after I find himyour dad."

"Don't worry. I think Kid's got him… Lord Kid, I mean," I say. "It looked like he was trying to catch someone who was falling…" My voice trails off as it dawns on me that may be all that reassuring, especially to someone who isn't used to the DWMA lifestyle.

The trickle of students and faculty has now swollen to a rush. Most

A rush of fighters comes through the door. Most are gashed up, but and there are a coupele with what look like some more serious wounds that are immediately taken to the dispensary for treatment.

Black*Star bursts through the door with Tsubaki. They're both calling for us in between coughs..

"Soul! You guys… are ok!" Tsubaki says straining her voiceshouts as she runsning to give us a hug. "What happened?"

Maka doesn't answer, but asks about Kid and the girls. She wraps her arms around my meister and hugs her.

"Are Kid and Liz-" Maka asks.

"TYeah, they're fine," Black*Star says putting his hands on his thighs and leaning over trying to catch his breath. assures us. "I saw… 'em… out there. I think… they're… checking the… field for wounded."

ThIn the end we four of stay in the foyer. Tsubaki insists that Black*Star and I help the underclassmen out while she consoles Maka so we end up wrapping a few wounds and listening to some war stories while we wait for our other friends to return to the academy. Eventually, instead of going to the shelter and eventually Kid comes walking through the door followed by Mr. Miller. BPatti bringings up the rear is Patti wielding a gun that must be Liz.

Mrs. Miller throws herself at her husband. "Don't ever scare me like that!"

He bows his head a little, seemingly embarrassed by all the attention.

"I guess we know where Jake got his stubborn streak," he tells her kissing the top of her head before limping over to a nearby bench.

"Hey,What'd you need, boss man!?" Black*Star shouts to Kid and the Lord of Death lifts his mask revealing a smileing.

"Liz, they are in here," he shouts toward Patti, and the gun she is holding springs into the air spinning before Liz appears.

Patti and Liz run to hug Maka and I shake my head as the girls are once again in a tangle crying..

Black*Star shrugs. "At least, _I_ can blame the pregnancy the hormones for _my_ partner with min's behavior. What's your excuse?" he asks me.

"That bastard Blitzengard," I say through clenched teeth and then moving closer to him I add in a soft voice, "She's blaming herself for Justin's death, because we came back without him."

"Doesn't she know that's playing into their hand?" he asks. "Maka's too smart to fall for that… isn't she?"

I shake my head. "It messed her up good today, and I don't feel great about it, either. I mean, normally we'd never leave a comrade behind, but…"

Kid puts a hand on my shoulder. "What's done is done. Let's say no more about it today. I don't know about you, but I'm beat," and just like that he sits down on the floor using the wall to support him.

We stick around the academy for a while for no other reason than we're too tired to walk home and it's nice to be with everyone, bute…" e

Kid smiles a little. "Hey, you think I could steal you two for a minute?"

I nod. Maka is well attended to so I slump off in the far direction.

Wow! Usually a person's first transformation happens close to puberty.

In the end the battle is more or less a draw. In the chaos, Blitzengard managed to get swept up by a flyer and fly out of DC with the rest of his regiment of bird people.

When the purple fog clears Blitzengard is gone and the street is littered with bird carcasses and wounded students.

"Are you ok?" Liz asks Jakob's dad.

"I'll be fine, but I'm not going back to Montana. I'm staying and fighting with you."

"We had no idea you were a demon weapon," Patti says rotating her shoulder which had been strained in the process of catching the man.

"I didn't know. That's never happened before," the middle-aged man explains.

"You mean that's the first time you've transformed?" Kid asks.

"Yes," the man says. "I guess my son and I had more in common than I thought."

"Let's get you to the infirmary," Kid says. "Just to make sure you're doing ok. Occassionally, people will spike an incredibly high blood pressure…"

A couple of young ladies walk up and lead Mr. Miller off.

We stand there stunned. Transforming normally happens around puberty. Brian was early at seven because of all the crap in his life, but it's unheard of for someone that old to have suddenly discovered their ability to transform, let alone be able to use their ability to do damage.

Weary from the fight which seemed to be more of a draw than anything I offer to help stretcher people in, but Kid shakes his head and I can tell he thinks I need to deal with my meister.

My meister and I stay at the school. Word reaches us that though Justin was already dead when he was thrown from the sky there's evidence on his body that he was tortured prior to his death. All this news does is make Maka sob even harder.

Eventually, my meister and I headwe go home. When we get there, I put some water on for tea and Maka sits on the couch pulling her legs up under her, and burying her head in her knees. I think she's crying again.

"I made us some food," I say setting the tray down on the coffee table. She lifts her head and glances at the food, but doesn't make any move to eat any of it. I had feared this would be the case.

I sit down next to her. "Maka, you can't let Blitzengard's words get to you. This is what he wants. You're smart, you know that."

"But we left him behind, Soul. He was from the DWMA and we left him behind."

"He was a Deathscythe. It's not a student's responsibility to save a Deathscythe."

"But-"

"Maka, I came to get you out of there and if we could have gotten him out, of course, we would have, but Maka that could have been _you_ today. I couldn't let that happen to you. Maybe I was selfish, but I love you." I move in to kiss her.

"And so Justin had to die." Her voice is emotionless, as though she's figured it all out.

"Justin didn't die because we love each other."

"Yes, he did. If you hadn't been so determined to get me back, Justin would still be alive."

"And living a life neither of you choose for yourself. You would be living a lie."

"But it would have been a _life_. Don't you see what we let happen?"

My heart aches. She can think it's my fault if she wants maybe it even is, but tainting the affection we have for one another because of what Avian Flu did to Justin, that's something else entirely. I can't let that slide.

"Maka, did you see that guy today?"

"Jakob's father?"

"No. ," I say. "I know you saw that. We allEverybody saw that-"

"He loved his son so much…"" she cries.

"I mean that guy who ran over to Justin's body. Maka, I think Justin might have been gay."

"What?" she says. "I never got that vibe."

"Maybe not, but I heard thatthat guy was his former 'roommate' and it would kind of make sense given what you've told me about…" I raise an eyebrow. I really don't like talking about her brief time with Justin, but if I can convince her that life with her would have been it'sits own kind of torture for him, then I should be able to get her to let go of some of this survivor's guilt.

She says nothing at first and then just shakes her head. "It isn't fair. Today we were supposed to remember the dead and move forward… now there's more death."

I nod. "Let's not think about it right now, ok? It's been a long, emotional day. Let's just sit here and," I pull her close so that she's spooned up next to me in between my thighs. Even as upset as she islike, this I find her to be incredibly sexy. I kiss the side of her neck., Nnormally this would elicit a pleased sigh or the tilting of her head to give me access to more of her sweet, soft flesh, but she's just sitting there. Hhhmmm. I give her a little squeeze around the waist. I love snuggling with her… we can just snuggle. Tthat's fine with me. I start to rest my chin on her shoulder.

"Sorry, Soul, I can't be that way after something like this! I'm not like you!"

I draw back from her, loosening the hug I hadve her her enveloped in. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can't just forget about Justin and get in bed with you, ok?"

"Excuse me?!" I reply angrily. "All I did was give you a kiss, meister."

"But, I know you. You _want_ more. It's never _just_ a kiss with you."

"What?!" Of , course, I would like more. Duh! But, what she's saying seems to imply something else… like I'm some kind of sex fiend that can't just enjoy an evening of just holding heron the couch with her. I do _not _appreciate the is insinuation.

"Soul, I need some space. I'm gonna sleep in my room tonight." She rises from the couch and heads to her bedroom just like that, despite the fact it's only two in the afternoon. .

I sit there waiting for aNo 'Good night, Soul' or 'I'm gonna turn in early, see you in the morning, Soul' but there is'. nNothing'. I watch her as she walks into her room and close the door behind her and all I can think is that life is crumbling around me. Blair's gone, people are dying, we couldn't pull our weight in battle today, and Maka is shutting me out. I close my eyes trying to ignore the intense feelingssense of loneliness and hopelessness that are making my soul ache. I feel.

I remain sitting on the couch unsure what to do with myself. I consider following Maka into her room, because I don't really think she should be alone. I'm sure she feels just as bad as I do right now, if not worse, but she told me she needs space. … I spend argue with myself whether or not to acquise to this request.

After about ann hour flopping around on the couch while doing nothing but brooding over whether or not to acquiesce to her request for 'space' before her attitude I decidinge that I need to get the hell 've gotta get outta of here for awhile for a while..

I knock on Maka's door.

I don't hear anything. I knock again. I still don't hear anything. I start to panic. Maybe Avian Flu lay in waieight here in the apartment. Why hadn't I checked her room before she entered it? I knock a third time, this time _pounding_ on the door.

"Soul, what part of leave me alone do you not understand?" I can hear the pain in her voice and I don't know what to say. "What do you _want_?"

"Nothing!" I shout back angrily. She really is impossible sometimes. "I… I…" I want to tell her how I don't feel like a whole person when we fight. How it's like half of my soul lives with her wherever she is.

I hear an exasperated sigh from the other side of the door.

"Sorrry! I just wanted to let you know that I'm going out for a while." She's silent. "Is that ok with you?" I ask in a small voice. A part of me wants her to say that it's not, that she needs me as much as I need her.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" she replies.

Now it's my turn toI sigh. She's so damn pigheaded. She's acting completely irrational right now!

"If you need me I'll be over at Black*Star's. Ok?"

"K, I'll see you later,." she says.

"Love you," I say walking away from her door before I succumb to the urge of slicing it open with my scythe arm and ordering her to let me hold her and kiss her and make things ok again between me what the fuck is wrong.

"Bye, Soul."

By some miracle, I've somehow managed to get through the day without crying, until now. As I walk out of the apartment the tears come and they aren't just because I had to talk to Maka through a god-damned door. It's cause of Blair and Lord Death and Jakob and _everything_.

I try to pull myself together before I get to Black*Star and Tsubaki's place and come up with a plausible excuse for why I've come over unannounced.

I and knock on the door.

"Just a second," Tsubaki calls.

The door opens a crack and the little chain preventings it from opening more.

"Oh, hey! Hold on," Black*Star says closing the door so he can detach the lock. "Come on in."

As soon asWhen I enter the room he can tell that something's wrong. I don't know if it's my expression or because Maka isn't by my side, but he immediately knows..

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Nothin'," I lie. "I just thought you might want to go shoot some hoops… like we were talking about."

"Oh, shit. Tthat's right! I totally forgot. Tsubaki?"

"If you're willing to leave me alone you can go now, just be back in an hour for dinner," she says checking the time on the stove clock. Reluctantly she adds, "Or you can wait till after dinner and I'll come with you."

"We'll wait," Black*Star says promptly. He still isn't letting her out of his sight..

Tsubaki rolls her eyes. "I _am_ capable of taking care of myself you know."

"I know," Black*Star says grinnsmiling. "But I gotta feel like I'm doin' something and since I can't cook…"

"You do plenty," she says coming out of the kitchen. "Here, try this. Do you think it's ok?" She raises a wooden spoon to his lips so that he can sample the marinade that's on has what looks like some kind of marinade on it.

"Hhhhmm. Yeah, that's real good."

Ugh, they're acting like such a couple. It's _disgusting_. I throw myself down on their couch.

"What's wrong, Soul?" Tsubaki saskays.

I grunt that nothing's wrong, but unlike her partner, Tsubaki doesn't take 'no' for an answer. "Is everything ok with you and Maka?"

I must hesitate for a second too long, because both of my friends come running over.

"Oh, my God, what happened?" Tsubaki asks.

I shrug. "I dunno. She said she needed some space." The looks on their face tell me that they do not view that as nothing. Once again, I attempttry to pull myself together. I don't want their pity. "Hey, I'm sorry. I don't want to ruin your evening. It seems real nice and for once it's just the two of you and-"

"Nonsense!" Tsubaki says. "You just relax and don't worry about any of that. You and Black*Star should do something fun while the steak cooks."

"Steak?" I ask. I can't remember the last time I had a steak.

"Yeah," Black*Star answers sensing my enthusiasm as he 's eyes scans the apartment for an idea of something we could do. "You wanna play some _Aggressive Tendencies_?"

"What?"

"It's this awesome game I got the other day. You have like hundreds of weapon choices and it's all customizable."

I don't really feel like it, but I'd rather do _anything_ than talk about me and Maka. So, I sit down and let my friend toss me a controller and I let myself get sucked into a much simpler world as the aroma of dinner begins to fill the apartment. Black*Star and I play video games as the apartment fills with the delicious aroma of dinner. Tsubaki joins us in the living room sitting in the recliner knitting something for the baby. It's all very domestic and peaceful and it makes me I begin to wonder what I've been thinking. Maka drives me nuts! How the hell could I think we were made for each other? She's _constantly _moody and _condescending_ and- I bash the hell out of some dude on the TV screen.

"How'd you do that?!" Black*Star asks shocked. "I haven't seen that move before."

I shrug. "I guess it's my lucky day," I say sarcastically and even I hate myself for saying it in light of all the real suffering going on because of the war, but dammit! I've half a mind to go tell off Maka. I want to yell at her _so bad_ ck. I want to tell her and just let her know she can't treat me like this, not after everything I do for her, n. Not when I'm crazy in love with her, but I just bash the skulls in of more digital combatants..

When dinner is ready Tsubaki calls us over to the table and serves each of us a heaping plate of steak and pasta and steamed vegetables that's to die for. I haven't eaten this good in months. Black*Star is so lucky. Tsubaki is gorgeous, a great fighter, _and_ an amazing cook. Granted that whole Kyo thing was a bit unexpected, but the two of them just seem so happy together now. to be made for each other. I'm so jealous that it comes as a great's a relief when dinner is over and Black*Star and I head out to play some b-ball in the park, because Tsubaki insists on walking apart from us in order for us to have some 'guy time'..

Black*Star wins every game, but because I'm not on my A- game he doesn't rub in his triumph over me,victory like he normally would.

After the games, we buy some drinks from a vendor in the park and sit on the bench and Black*Star asks me what I know he's wanted to all evening.

"Dude, what happened with you and Maka today?"

"She let Blitzengard get to her. She thinks Justin's death is her fault."

"Don't let her see the body."

"Why?"

"He carved into it… or someone did…"

"Carved?"

Black*Star nods. "Across his forehead. It says, 'left behind'."

I put my head in my hands. "That asshole! How could he do this to her? Black*Star, how? Are there no lines this guy won't cross?!"

Black*Star's brows are knit together. "Shit, I shouldn't have told you."

"No, I'm glad you did, because she probably _will_ want to see the body, i. If for no other reason than to torture herself. She thinks it's all our fault, because we didn't bring him with us, but how could we? Black*Star, we barely got Lydia out of there and _Blitzengard_ was there. Can you imagine what he would have done to her?"

"You don't need to explain anything," Black*Star tells me. "Sometimes shit's just happening too god- damned fast and you gotta do the best you can. Tsubaki says it's not good to dwell on the past. She says learn from it and move on and I think she's right.."

"That's great," I say scornfully. "What the hell'd I learn?"

"I dunno, dude.," Hhe leans back. "Now I really wish I'd written 'Fuck Avian Flu' on my reflection today like I'd wanted to, but Tsubaki said that wasn't good enough."

"_Women_," I grunt. "They make everything so much morefucking complicated than it needs to be. 'Fuck Avian Flu' is the perfect sentiment."

"Totally. I think we should have it printed on t-shirts and g. Give one to every student."

"Ox'd never wear it," I say.

Black*Star grows silent.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" I fish around. There's a reason he's shut his trap. I know there he's not telling me.

"Oh, it's nuttin'," he says kicking the ground.

I turn to look him in the eye. "If _Kyo_ were comin' around after Tsubaki I'd tell you."

His shoulders sag. "Well, you know how you told me once that you thought Ox had the hots for Maka?"

I nod. I think I know where this is going.

"You're right. Harvar let it slip today that it wasn't an accident that Ox was covering you guys today."

Officially the , worst day ever.

"Does he think I can't handle it?" I say outraged.

"I don't know, but it seems like he may have given up on beating her in class rankings and has-"

I hold put up my hands up to make him stop. I get the idea. I don't need him to go into the details.

"But, I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like we'll probably both be sent out of DC on missions soon and Kid knows better than to try to get you and Ox to work together so you shouldn't have to see him.."

He stands up signaling that it's time for us to head back and calls to Tsubaki who has been sitting on a blanket under a tree reading or knitting or something while Black*Star and I have been hanging out..

"I think I'll just go home from here," I tell him. "Thank Tsubaki for dinner for me."

"I will." He stands there awkwardly shifting his weight from foot to foot before saying, "It'll probably just take some time… with Maka, I mean."

"I guess," I say glumly.

"You want Tsubaki to talk to her for ya?"

I shake my head. "Naw, but thanks." I look at my watch. "I better get going. I don't want to leave her alone for too long."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he says smiling goofilywa as Tsubaki at Tsubaki who is laying on her back on a blanket on the grass. He smiles goofily.

"Oh, my _God_, Black*Star would you ask her out already?"

"Mmm. I don't wanna screw anything up. I'm gonna wait until after the baby's born. Black*StarI doesnn't want to rock the boat."

"Nine months is a long time, man. What if she meets someone else?"

"You think I'm with her twenty-four seven _just_ to keep her and the baby safe?" he says grinning devilishly. "I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice."

I shake my head. "Ok, if you think you know what you're doing, but-"

The ninja raises his hand to silence me. "Please, save your advice for Kid. He needs all he can get."

"Ain't that the truth?" I say laughing. "Catch ya tomorrow."

"See ya later, man."

I run over to Tsubaki and thank her for dinner before starting my trek home." He gives me a high five and I head out of the park headed home.

When I get to the apartment,home I find that the food I made us has been partially eaten and there are some dirty dishes in the sink, but . Maka is not in the living room or kitchen and her 's door is closed.

I get myself a glass of water and head to my room. I get undressed and climb into bed. It's the first time I've slept in my bedroom alonewithout her since we became boyfriend and girlfriend, and it sucks. I roll over and try not to feel entirely miserable.

I'm not having much success at ignoring her absence when I hear a soft knocking on the door.

"Hey," I say trying not to sound too eager for her company.

"Can I come in?" Maka asks in a soft voice.

"Course."

The door opens and she comes in slowly. I sit up in bed as my stomach does flips. I'm so nervous that it feels 's like it's the first time all over again. I know I should be angry at her for shutting me out all evening, but I don't care. I just want her to be here with me. I don't want us to go to bed angry at one another.

"Soul?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking." My heart has a sense of foreboding, but I try to continue to breathe normally. After all, thinking isn't a bad thing, right?

"'Bout what?" I ask trying not to sound panicked..

"_Us_." I swallow. This is a bad dream. She can't be doing this. "Soul, I don't think we should be together." I feel as though I've been stabbed.

"Wh…What? You can't be serious!" I jump out of the bed and become so tangled up in the bedsheets, that I narrowly managinge to not fall flat on my face.

"It's not a good idea for the two of us to be together."

"Says who? Blitzengard?!"

"There's just a lot going on right now and I think that having these feelings are a distraction-"

"Those feelings are not going to vanish just because you start sleeping in the other room again, meister,." I growl.

"I know that, but-"

I stoop and free my left foot from the bedsheetsbed sheets and step toward her. "Maka, don't do this," I beg. I'm not too proud to beg. I know this can't be what she _really_ wants.

"We've been really selfish and this is not the time for-"

"Not the time for what?" I shout angrily. " For us?! To be happy? What? Meister, take a look around! _We're living in hell_. What better time to make each other happy! You don't honestly believe-"

She cuts me off. "I still want you as my weapon partner. You and I work best with you as my . I don't think I could adapt fast enough to someone else-"

"Maka! _Listen_ to yourself. This isn't you! This is cause of Justin. Look, we'll get you some help. You've got a major case of survivor's guilt. I do, too-"

"Don't play shrink with me, Soul! Maybe I just don't want to be with you!"

"Now, I know that isn't true! Maka, we love each other! Have you forgotten that?"

I wrap my arms around her. "We'll get through this. I promise-"

"Soul," she pushes me away. I fight it… till she tries to knee me in the fucking groin.

"Ok, ok, fine," I say letting go of her and spreading my arms wide. "You need space. I get it. So, I'll just be over here, when you need me. Ok? Just don't do anything stupid-"

"Soul, I'll be your meister, but I can't be your girlfriend. Not right now. Not like this."

"Maka, you don't mean that," I say softly starting to cry..

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"But, I _love_ you, Maka."

"I love you, too, Soul. That's the problem," and with those cryptic words she walks out of my bedroom closing the door behind her, leaving me feeling _completely_ and _utterly_ shitty.


	80. Chapter 80: Coping Mechanisms

**Risenfromash: **Hi, everyone. Sorry there were so many errors in the last chapter. I'll go back and fix them eventually. My household has been hit by the flu and we've all been under the weather for weeks and I guess it showed in my writing. Hopefully you will find this chapter has less 'oops's.

_**Chapter 80- Coping Mechanisms; Does Maka Know the Truth?**_

I wake up and am immediately met by a horrible feeling of emptiness and a kind of nausea. Something bad has happened. The emotion hits me before the memories. Not yet entirely coherent, I roll over and then it all comes flooding back: the attack on the academy, my meister freezing up unable to fight, and, finally, the silhouette of her my darkened bedroom telling me she doesn't want to be my girlfriend any longer. I can't decide if all this makes me want to wallow in self-pity or get violent. A part of me wants to go Maka-chop my meister's head a few hundred times. What the fuck is she thinking? How can she let Avian Flu play her like this?

Reluctantly, I rise from my bed and head to the bathroom. Maka's in the shower, but I start to walk in like normal before remembering that's probably not ok anymore. Instead, I stomp into the kitchen, grab the milk from the fridge, and slump into a chair at our kitchen table. I angrily guzzle down the milk knowing that it will piss her off that I'm chugging from the jug.

Sure enough, my meister appears wearing her fuzzy lavender robe and drying her hair with a towel and crinkles her nose at the sight. "Gross."

"Morning, Meister," I grumble giving her the evil eye as I attempt to take an extra-large gulp of milk and end up dribbling it all down my front. Her face screws up in distaste, but she refrains from saying anything more. She steps past me to get herself something for breakfast.

"You want some eggs?" she asks me.

"No," I blurt out as though there was something terribly offensive in the question. "I mean, I'm not hungry… thanks," I mumble trying to suppress the anger and fear that just came through in my voice.

Maka stops to look at me, a frying pan in one hand and a carton of eggs in the other. "Soul, don't be mad. It's not like I don't love you anymore."

I chug the last bit of milk and fling the empty jug toward our wastebasket. I miss, but make no move to pick it up. "That's _why_ I'm mad! You make no fuckin' sense, Maka! How can you say you love me and then do _this_ to _us_?"

She grunts, turning toward the stove. "Because I don't only care about myself."

"What does that _even_ mean?!"

"If you don't get it now you never will, Soul."

"Ugh!" I say throwing up my hands in irritation as I get up and head to grab my clothes and take my morning shower.

In the privacy of the bathroom, I mutter to myself about how crazy she is and how I can't believe she's done this, but even as irritated as I am with her at this moment I am still incurably horny for her. Well, _almost_ incurably. Only problem is, as I stand in the shower fantasizing every vision I think of turns into _her_ and then I'm reminded how Avian Flu's manipulative tactics have successfully reduced her into a cold-hearted wench. After about fifteen minutes of struggling with the miserable cocktail of anger and desire, I decide to give up on the idea and get dressed, more pissed off then I was before.

I stomp back into the living room, plopping myself down on the couch as I check my watch. It's getting close to when we need to leave for our regularly scheduled war council meeting, so I shout toward her room, "So, are we walking to this meeting together or am I supposed to stay out of your sight when not throwing myself in front of attacks that save your sorry ass?" I'm once again using my loud _and_ annoyed voice.

Maka appears wearing skin tight vinyl black jeans, a _tiny_ little t-shirt with Lord Death skulls all over it and a black belt with a Death mask buckle. God dammit, she looks _smoking_ hot! That's really not fair. You can't dump your roommate and then dress like _that_. It really sends the poor guy mixed signals. Surely, she knows that.

In my head I imagine her talking to me in a ruthlessly sexy voice feigning naivety of what her tight pants and tiny t-shirt do to me. I can hear her laughing carelessly saying, "Oh, _this_? I just threw on any old thing. Tee, hee! Is something wrong? Why are you acting odd when all I did was claw your heart out and stomp on it leaving you to be alone with nothing but your anger which will slowly eat away at your soul until you turn to the dark side? Really, you're completely overreacting, Soul! Soul!"

"_Soul!_" She must have been saying my name for a bit, but I've been too busy paying attention to the crazy Maka-like person in my head.

"Uh, sorry," I mumble.

"Of course we're going together. I don't know why you're acting so weird. You need to calm down."

I frown. How can she be so callus after everything we've been through? "How 'bout I _refresh_ your memory? My girlfriend, that's you by the way…or _was_ you, anyway… dumped me last night for _absolutely no_ reason and now she's telling me to calm down, like it's no big deal."

"It isn't a big deal."

"_Yes_, it is! Maka, it's a big deal, a big fuckin' deal! Don't you see that? I love you!"

"Love you, too."

I grab my hair and yank it this way and that. It's official. My meister has driven me over the threshold of sanity. She's finally done it; I am now certifiably batshit crazy. "Could we at least talk about this? Because I'm-"

"Are you coming, or are you going to just stand here freaking out?" she asks as she grabs a hoodie and puts it on zipping it up over those perfectly pert breasts of hers.

I glare at her. Does she really not get how much she's hurt me? I throw on my jacket as I lock the door, following her out. _I'm so confused_. A part of me wants to pin her up against a wall, slide my hands under that t-shirt of hers and suck on those tiny little tits of hers… oh, God, I have to stop! Get ahold of yourself. It's just that I want to show her she can't get rid of me that easily, but that's the thing… she doesn't want to be _rid_ of me. She isn't disposing of me; she just doesn't want me to be her boyfriend anymore, even though she loves me. What the hell does that even mean? Does that mean that she wants everything to be the exact same as it was before except we don't get to mess around anymore? Cause that would suck, though I suspect voicing that sentiment out loud would make me sound shallow, and I really don't want to pull a Black*Star right now.

Or maybe I do! I resent being treated like a child, and even more than that I resent the fact that every few minutes I have the impulse to pull her close and kiss her and that now I'm apparently forbidden to act on that impulse, despite having basically admitted to her I'd marry her if given half a chance. I've devoted myself to her, and I _thought _we were on the same page. I _thought_ we had a mutual thing going on here, but now…ugh! Oh, but wait… she still _loves_ me. Riiigggghhhtt. She's gonna love my foot up her ass if she keeps this up!

On the way to the meeting, She stops to admire something in the window of one of her favorite clothing stores and I patiently wait while she 'ooohs' and 'awwws' over some stupid handbag that's caught her eye.

"Soul, I wish you'd cheer up," she says turning to face me once she manages to pull her attention from the ugly ass purse she was studying.

"Maka, I'm mad," I try to say it calmly, as though simply observing and noting the emotion.

"I know you are. It's because I can't find the right words to explain it to you, but I will."

"When? Because it seems to me you made a decision that affects both of us without _any_ input from me."

"Soul, you're so cute," she says looking pained. "This isn't easy for me either."

"Really? You _sure_ about that?" I hear my voice growing louder. "Cause it looks pretty damned easy for you. You just walk into my room and-"

"I know what I've said and done. I don't need the recap, Soul." I can sense the agitation in her voice.

"Ok," I say nodding. "So then you _do_ understand that you ripped my heart out and stomped all over it. I wasn't sure, because I _thought_ if you _knew_ something was going to hurt me you wouldn't have done it, but you did it anyway. Nice, Maka. _Real nice_."

She hangs her head in shame and a pang of guilt hits me, but isn't that the point? She hurt me so I _should_ get to hurt her. I mean, how could she be so _careless_ with my soul? She knows we belong together and that _together_ everything was going to be fine and now… well, I just don't know anymore.

This is misery. One day we're tight and now this. I'm gonna kill her. I want to throttle her… but when my eyes meet those gorgeous emerald orbs of hers, I can't do it. I feel bad. Even after last night. If I say anything more I think she's gonna start crying and then I'm gonna feel even worse, cause, of course, I can't stand seeing her sad. This sucks. Realizing that maybe I don't _actually_ want to hurt her (though a part of me wants her to know how much she's hurt me), I urge her onward to distract us from this obviously pointless conversation.

We walk the rest of the way in silence except for a brief moment when we both catch sight of a cat who from behind resembles Blair. We both dart after it, following the feline into an alley where it turns to face us and the disappointment sets in. It's just a normal cat, not our friend. We don't acknowledge the let down with words. Instead, we walk out of the alley silently. I should have known; it fits with the way the rest of my day has been going.

Entering the Death Room we find that we are almost the last people to arrive. Maka heads to a spot on the floor by Black*Star and Tsubaki, but I continue walking, deciding to give her the space she says she needs. Ditching my meister's side, I elect to sit by Stein instead. His eyes follow me as I part ways from my usual companion and pass by him making my seat to his immediate left.

"Trouble in paradise?" he asks me in a low voice an amused smirk on his lips. I almost tell him to fuck off, before I remember that he's a teacher so I probably shouldn't. Though, given that I'm already on academic probation, maybe I should go for it.

I can feel everyone's eyes flicking back and forth between me to my meister as they try to figure out what the hell is going on. With a sigh, Maka stands up and addresses the group, tears welling in her eyes as she announces, "I only want to say this once, so listen up everybody. Soul is _not_ my boyfriend, anymore."

I roll my eyes as everyone turns to stare at me in shock. I can almost see their speculations as to what I did to earn this demotion.

"But she _still loves me_," I say snidely before laying down to stare at the ceiling so as to ignore the prying eyes of my comrades.

Hurriedly Maka adds, "But don't worry, he's still my weapon partner, so it's not going to affect our ability to perform our duties."

Patti's perpetually perky voice says to Maka, "Let's grab coffee later and you can tell me all about what Soul did."

I sit back up and shout at Patti, "I didn't do a damn thing! She's just-"

Professor Stein leans over and clamps a hand over my mouth, shaking his head. I sink my sharp teeth into his fingers till I can taste a small trickle of blood. Stein says nothing, but continues to wear an expression of amusement as though my love life is some kind of Shakespearian drama performed for his personal entertainment.

The final people we are waiting for, Sid and Mira, scurry in, signaling that the meeting can begin. Stein withdraws his hand from my mouth but gives me a meaningful look that I suspect is a warning not to pick a fight with my meister during the proceedings. I frown. I'm more professional than that! I may not seem it, but I am.

Kid calls the meeting to order in a weary tone that tells me he probably didn't get much sleep last night. Patti sits on one side of him and Liz cozies up next to him on the opposite side, handing him a cup of tea which he gratefully takes sips from in between general announcements from the war's many fronts. As per usual, the meeting is boring as hell and without Maka's whispered commentary in my ear I find myself struggling to stay awake.

After the rundown, Kid is silent for a moment, his eyes glazed over.

"Kid, are you gonna tell them now?" Liz asks in a soft voice.

He nods. "I suppose I can't further delay it. It doesn't change what's happened."

Patti hugs him and says something to him that is inaudible to the rest of us.

"It's ok," Liz says encouragingly.

Kid nods again and then turns his attention to the assembled demon hunters awaiting whatever news he regrets having to share with us. "As you know, Avian Flu has been exterminating witches all over the globe seemingly without a systematic pattern to their targets, but they have succeeded in finding at least one that was allied with us. My father's old friend, Rax, is missing. Her house was burnt to the ground sometime in the last day or two. I received word late last week that the safe house's location may have been compromised, but by the time the Deathscythes got there yesterday they found that it was too late." His eyes close. "There appears to be no sign of her, so at this point I have no other option but to presume that she is dead." He looks away from the group his voice cracking as he says, "She never got to have that cheesecake I owed her."

Suddenly, I find myself regretting that I'm not sitting next to Maka, because I find myself wanting to hold her hand. I guess we have a habit of holding hands when we get bad news. I never really thought about it before… when did that start? I remember her asking me to be her weapon, extending me a gloved hand to shake. "I think you and I will make a really great team," she'd said as she took my hand and from then holding hands has been a thing we do. I lean back to see her since otherwise the professor obstructs my view. Her head is lowered and her eyes are closed. She's probably remembering our brief time in the safe house, how without Rax's aid she might never have regained consciousness.

I remember how the thought of losing her was devastating to me and I realize I made a mistake. It doesn't matter what we call it or how crazy she is right now. I belong with her. I get up, walk across the room, and tip my head to indicate to Tsubaki and Black*Star that they need to scoot over so I can join my meister. I sense my friends' relief at seeing me rejoining my meister, because like me they feel that's where I belong, too bad their opinions don't matter.

Quietly, I sit down by Maka. I'm still mad as hell at her and I feel as though a million emotions are swirling around inside of me, but I know she needs me, even if she doesn't want to admit it. I take a deep breath to try to calm the storm inside me before I take her hands in mine. Her eyes fly open and she gazes down at our clasped hands as though she doesn't quite believe it. Her eyes run up my arm to my shoulder and, finally, to my face where her eyes meet mine.

"Poor Rax," she mouths the words to me, and I nod.

I lean into her, whispering in her ear, "We'll make them pay. I promise, Meister." She nods and squeezes my hand.

"I apologize for getting emotional," Kid says his voice wavering. "But I assure you that I have thoroughly considered the next bit of news, a change in policy that I will be enacting today. Due to the genocide of witches by Avian Flu, I have decided that DC will welcome refugees and the DWMA will offer them protection. This includes people of every race, creed, or belief system… including witches and defectors from Avian Flu."

The room erupts in voices as everyone attempts to ask their questions at the same time. Lord Kid surveys his hand-selected team with the drained expression of one who is truly overwhelmed. Always eager to be of assistance to their partner, the Thompsons hop up to quell the frenzy.

"Lord Kid, welcomes your questions and concerns," Patti yells over the din. "But this is _not_ a proposal. His word on this matter is _final_; the decision has already been made."

"But witches?" Mira asks skeptically. "Kid, we're all aware that your father cultivated relationships with _some_ witches and a few have proven themselves to be valuable allies, but isn't it rash to invite sorcerers and enchanters to come to our city _en masse_ when we are already having trouble maintaining security?"

"She's right, Kid," Sid says nodding. "They aren't all like Rax."

Kid extends his chin and straightens his normally slouched posture saying, "I acknowledge that this policy is not without its risks, but I refuse to stand by as Avian Flu slaughters an entire group of people for their beliefs."

"But their beliefs are barbaric!" Spirit says laughing as though this must be a joke.

Kid ignores this comment and proceeds to tell us more of his plan. "Any refugee will sign a contract that states they will refrain from practicing certain forbidden spell casting while under our protection… except as a matter of self-defense, which brings me to the next thing we need to discuss. Safety-"

"I've told you that I think a city-wide curfew would be a good idea," Sid says.

"A good idea it is," Kid says stroking his chin. "But it is a solution that would mean victory for our enemy. Avian Flu's goal is to reduce personal freedoms; therefore, I refuse to restrict the movement of our people regardless of the time of day or the reason for their travels. I know that welcoming witches into our city will not be a popular decision, but I believe that we can succeed in doing this safely. So, you may as well save your breath. As Patti said, my decision on this is non-negotiable. However, I am in need of an individual to act as my Refugee Liaison. Your input on this important appointment as well as the proposed roles and responsibilities of this person _would _be appreciated. You can submit your suggestions in _writing_ this afternoon and we will discuss them at tomorrow's meeting. I have to get working with Ganglehoff on our broadcast. Good day." Saying nothing more Lord Kid walks out of the Death Room leaving all of us to sit there wondering if he's going to be coming back in a minute or if the meeting has concluded.

"What the hell was that?" Black*Star asks pointing after Kid.

"He's had a bad night," Patti explains. "After yesterday he really needed a break from bad news, but the very next report he got was from DeAhani and Zada reporting about the safe house. He's too proud to say it, but I think he thought of Rax as a mom-like figure."

Befuddled, I point out, "She _flirted_ with him."

Liz smirks crookedly, "Don't we all? I swear he's got some kind of enchantment on him that makes every girl just want to rip her clothes off whenever she's around him." Everyone stares at her and she laughs nervously, "I've developed immunity."

"Ya, right!" Black*Star shouts. "You're worse than all the others combined. He told me that you-"

Liz acts fast to stop the retelling of whatever anecdote the ninja is hoping to share. "Meeting adjourned!" She yells so loudly that I swear even people outside of the mystically reinforced sanctity of the Death Room will hear her. "Your _written_ input needs to be turned in no later than seven pm tonight. You can give them to me, Patti, or Kid."

"We will accept suggestions written in crayon," Patti says completely serious. "But please make sure they are legible and, if possible, symmetrical. On behalf of your Lord, I say thank you," she says bowing her head.

"That's seven pm, people. Got that?" Liz repeats. "We're gonna put the reaper to bed early tonight."

"I bet you are," Professor Stein says grinning at the Thompsons.

"Professor! Don't encourage Black*Star!" Liz squawks in outrage as our teacher shoves off flying down the guillotine hallway on his green office chair. Liz shakes her head. "See, it's shit like that that makes Kid do stupid crap like he did this morning," Liz complains.

"Sister," Patti says arching an eyebrow. "You're the one who's always telling people to cut Kid some slack. So why won't you?"

"Because I'm not a piece of his God damned _property_! That's why. I can do _what I_ want _when I_ want without _his_ permission." Liz glances over at Maka and me and snaps, "Meeting's over you can leave."

"Naw," I say. "I was enjoying hearing your team's personal drama. Makes me feel a little better about my life."

Maka rolls her eyes. "I gotta get over to Ms. Leech's class. I promised I would help her today with her lesson on long distance resonance."

"Lucky you," Patti jokes.

"I know," Maka grumbles. "I don't know what I was thinking when I said I'd help. I know that Ms. Leech is going to just contradict every piece of advice I offer. I swear she hates me."

"She hates everybody," Liz says. "Her and Bartholomew."

Patti groans in agreement.

Maka looks down at her watch. "Oh, crap. I've gotta get going. I reserved the gymnasium for training starting at one o'clock."

I nod. "I'll be there."

"Ok," Maka says and then waves at me awkwardly. It would seem she doesn't know how partners who are just friends are supposed to say goodbye to one another. I shake my head. If it weren't so gut-wrenching for me, it would actually be kind of funny. I also begin to head out of the Death Room, but Liz grabs the back of my jacket preventing me from taking off.

"No one said you could leave, Soul Eater," the elder Thompson tells me.

"Dammit," I mumble. "Whadda ya want?"

Making sure Maka is out of ear shot, Liz hugs herself, trembles, and causes her teeth to chatter. "Burrrr. You're gonna give yourself pneumonia from that cold shoulder you're giving your meister."

"That was not a cold shoulder," I say to her anything but humored by her little pantomime. "And if you're making me stay behind so I can confess to you what I did to get myself dumped, you're gonna be disappointed. I haven't cheated, come home drunk, or broken any promises... This is all fuckin' Avian Flu's fault."

"I get it. _Believe me._ Avian Flu isn't helping _my_ love life any," she says with a sigh as she picks up Kid's teacup and a few papers that have been left scattered on the floor.

"Really? Cause I heard Rodreeegooo was in town," I tease, a toothy smirk upon my lips.

My kidding only serves to provoke her and she slugs me. "God, you and Kid think so much alike. You know what he says to me this morning?"

I shake my head. She seems to not realize that the inner workings of the reaper's head are an anomaly, even to other males.

"He tells me that he told Rodrigo he could '_borrow_' me for the evening!" She huffs, outraged.

I don't understand what is wrong with this, but I don't dare admit this to her as she seems really upset. Instead, I nod sympathetically and hope I won't have to say anything that gives away my ignorance of my friend's faux pas. "It's like he thinks I'm some kind of _possession_! Just cause I'm his weapon-"

"That's not how he meant it, Sister," Patti says with a sigh.

"She's right, Kid isn't like that," I say. "You know he isn't a meister chauvinist like Ox. He probably just meant he was willing to let you have the night off… or at least long enough to…" My voice trails off unsure that the expression 'get your rocks off' can really be used for a chick. Liz glares at me homicidally. "Hey, you're the one who had sex with the guy the very first day you met him! Don't blame me!"

Liz frowns, "Yeah, well… when you could die any minute-"

"So _that's_ your excuse, huh?" I grin at her. "What was your excuse before Avian Flu?"

She slugs me again. "I've never moved _that_ fast before! But Rodrigo is _damn_ hot… you've seen him! I know you're a guy, but even you can tell that, right?"

I grimace. "I'd prefer not to have to access the hotness of other guys. If you don't mind."

"Fine," she concedes. "But he is hot. D_a-yam_ hot and he can do things-"

"Rodrigo isn't bad looking," Patti says frowning. "But Kid is far more attractive."

"No, he isn't! Kid's like a string bean and bendy in all kinds of _weird _ways," she says scrunching her nose in distaste. "And he's short and-"

"Attractiveness is about more than physical appearance," Patti says impatiently. "You only tell yourself Kid isn't hot because you can't stand how uptight he can be about sex. You would _love_ if he were like Rodrigo and would just bend you over and-"

"Patti!" Liz yelps. "_You're_ the one into Kid, not _me_! He's a total geek! Did you _see _how excited he got when his _Science Digest_ arrived in the mail the other day? He's such a dork."

"Not that this discussion isn't fascinating to a heterosexual male such as myself," I say sarcastically. "But did you keep me here for some reason?"

"Oh, yeah," Liz says laughing. "I almost forgot. Kid wants you to join him and Toefur."

"Uh?"

"Ganglehoff," Patti explains. "Liz and him started talking and after about five minutes he went from 'Christopher' to 'Toefur'."

I grimace. "I don't think I wanna know. So, where am I going?"

"Room two-thirty-one."

"Ok, see ya later," I turn to leave and then feel hands on me.

"Come back here, you're not leaving without a hug," Liz says pulling me into her and her sister's arms.

I raise an eyebrow. "Aren't you two supposed to be on Maka's side?"

"It isn't about sides," Liz says sweetly. "It's about what's best for both of you… and that's for the two of you to be together. Everybody knows it. Hell, even she knows it, but I can't blame her for falling for Blitzengard's mindfuck. I about shit myself when I saw Justin being thrown from the helicopter."

Patti and Liz hug me for a minute and while sandwiched between the Thompsons I find myself thinking what a lucky bastard Kid is. They smell nice and they're funny and the way Liz is rubbing my back makes me feel a whole lot better. No wonder he puts up with their antics. Not only are they excellent weapons, but they are _really_ good friends.

"Alright, you! Get outta here," Liz commands slapping me on the ass. "We've got a bunch of work to do."

As I'm making my way to room two-thirty-one, I see Spirit and Stein coming my way so I duck into the men's room figuring there's no good reason for me to have to deal with _two_ crazy Albarns in one day. I take my time in the restroom making sure to read the latest graffiti. After several minutes of debating if DWMA students really are as bad a spellers as the walls of our men's room would suggest we are, I venture from the bathroom, just to discover that Spirit and Professor Stein are standing in the hall directly opposite the men's room door. Shit! Are they waiting for me to come out? No way. It _must_ be a coincidence. They _just happen_ to be standing there. Cause what would they want _me_ for? I'm nobody. I exit the restroom and stroll past briskly hoping that I will not distract them from their business.

"Ouy! Don't walk off!" Spirit shouts after me. "Come back here, you little bugger!"

I freeze. _Fuck! _He's probably gonna kill me for angering his baby. Could this day get any worse? I turn around feeling like a criminal about to have their mugshot taken.

"I want to take you out to brunch," he says. My eyes dart to Stein's to gauge whether this is some kind of Deathscythe slang for stringing a person up by their toenails before bludgeoning them to death, but the Professor appears unconcerned so uncertainly I answer.

I manage to get out the words, "Uh… I'm supposed to be helping Kid and Ganglehoff with something."

Spirit frowns for a moment, then his face lifts. "Oh, _that_. I asked Kid and he said it would be fine if you helped him later today… when you get back."

"Really?" Shit, there goes my excuse.

"Yeah, he said it's no big deal. He can get you caught up later."

"Oh." Ugh! I can't think of a way to get out of this. "Ok, I guess."

"Wonderful!" Spirit says springing into action. "I know just the place," he says gripping the back of my collar and yanking me along with him.

"I'll catch you two later," the Professor says waving at me as Spirit quite literally drags me toward the nearest exit.

"You're not coming with us?" I shout to him trying not to sound as panicked as I feel. What a fucking bait and switch! I don't want to go anywhere with Spirit without a third party as a witness. For all I know, he could be planning to take me out into the Nevada desert to kill me and let the buzzards eat my innards!

"No, sorry. Marie and I have some stuff we've got to get done before the baby comes," Stein explains. I glare at him. It's not cool to use an unborn baby as an excuse! Maybe the mother can get away with it, but really isn't _nine _months long enough for a _dad_ to get all the shit done _he_ needs to do?

"Enjoy the male bonding!" Laughs my mentor as he places a cigarette between his lips and lights it. "Have a great time, and Spirit, try not to think about how this is the young man who took Maka's innocence from her." Hearing a growl from Spirit, I look back at Stein and flip him off. He grins broadly, the lit cigarette dancing around as if taunting me. The bastard is enjoying this. What it is with the Professor? He is always giving me shit! What the hell'd I ever do to him? I give him one last pleading look, but all he does is shake his head and then take off down the hallway in the opposite direction of us as though his shoes have rocket-propulsion.

Well, _shit_. I guess I don't have much to lose at this point… other than perhaps my life, but oh, well.

Once out of the academy, Spirit relaxes his grip on me and begins _gushing_ about the restaurant we're going to. He says it is one of the finest breakfast and lunch establishments in DC and that they have an _amazingly talented_ staff, which is odd because I've never even heard of the place. He plays it up so much I'm actually getting excited about it. The company may leave a lot to be desired, but at least it sounds like the food will be above average.

We walk at least a mile and a half, then turn a corner and emerge into a small dead end street where we are immediately greeted by a well-dressed man.

"Hello, there sir! I can see that you have impeccable taste. Let me recommend to you the food and companionship offered by _Angel's Resting Place_! Ask for Judy for a _special _treat!"

Spirit eyes sparkle. "We surely will, my good man! We are here to _enjoy_."

"Aw, you and the young mister, come with me!" The man ushers us past a few other cafes to a gaudy pink and purple building painted with flowers that have extremely sexual-looking architecture, all stamens and suggestively shaped petals. That's when it dawns on me that Maka's father has brought me to a hostess club. What is it with other guys dragging me to places Maka would bitch are degrading to women? Holy crap! Why does this keep happening to me?

The man who met us in the street must be paid to lure people to the establishment as they don't seem at all surprised to see him when he and Spirit swagger through the door merrily announcing, "Bring me and my young friend drink and a beauty to gaze upon!"

From another room a big breasted, wide eyed, small lipped brunette with glasses appears.

"Hello, I'm Angela," she says smiling at me in a sensual way. "I'll be your companion this morning."

"And I'll be yours," comes a voice from behind her, and a blonde with huge lips appears. "Oh, Spirit, it's so wonderful to see you again and you brought a friend, so adorable!"

I frown. I am many things, but 'adorable' is surely not one of them. On top of this obvious clueless assessment the woman has the most obnoxious voice I have ever heard in my life, but it seems to do something for Spirit as he is practically drooling as he moves to pull her close to him.

The two women lead us to a private booth and Spirit orders us a platter of bagels and crescents. Spirit orders strawberry crepes for himself and when the brunette leaves us to get our food and drinks, the blonde leans in close to him and tells him how much she_ loves_ whipped cream and how it drives her to literally lick the topping off of 'anything.' Maka's father sits there eating up her salacious crap with a dumb grin on his face. He really is an idiot. All she has to do is touch his arm and blush and he practically gets a nosebleed. Watching his stupidity is more than I can take.

"Deathscythe, is there a _reason_ you brought me here?" I ask grouchily as Angela returns with a tray of glasses and a pitcher of orange juice.

Spirit raises an eyebrow. "Other than to help you develop a sense of humor?"

"He does seem a tad wound up," Judy says sensually as she pours and hands Spirit an orange juice. "You want me to loosen him up a little?"

Spirit chuckles. "No, he's my daughter's boyfriend so I'd rather he be incredibly uptight."

"You're a little behind," I grumble. "I've been demoted. Remember, what she said at the meeting this morning. We aren't 'together' anymore."

Judy's head spins in my direction, "_This_ is _Maka's_ partner?" She studies me.

"What?" I snap.

"You're not at all what I expected," she says apologetically.

"I know, right?" Spirit says tinking his glass against hers.

"Well, don't worry she dumped me last night," I say bitterly.

"Oh, you poor thing," the brunette says. "Here. Have some juice. It's fresh squeezed. I made it myself." The way she says it all breathlessly you'd think she was describing something naughty instead of squeezing a bunch of fruit, but I don't want to hurt her feelings so I take a glass and bring it to my lips.

Oh, Shinigami! This is the _best_ juice I have ever tasted. I look down at it suspiciously. Does sex appeal make food taste better? Maybe there _is_ something to Spirit's notion that this place offers the best breakfast around.

Spirit smiles at his female companion. "I thought it would be a good idea for me to get to know him better."

"Oh, you're such an amazing father!" coos the blonde.

"Amazingly inept," I mumble as the brunette sits next to me.

"Is this your first break up?" Angela asks me placing a hand on my knee. "It must be so hard for you."

I know she's only saying this because it's her job, but I can't help myself. I tell her the truth. "It sucks. I _love_ Maka," I whine.

The two girls squeal creating a high-pitched frequency that I'm shocked doesn't shatter the crystal wine glass my juice is in.

"Unfortunately, it would appear that the sentiment is mutual," Spirit says and the frown on his face reveals that even though he brought me to breakfast he'd still rather I jump in a lake than be his daughter's boyfriend.

Spirit sighs and reaches into his coat, pulling out a piece of paper with notes scrolled all over it. He consults the document, front and back, occasionally rotating it as though the writing on it must meander in every possible direction. Seemingly satisfied, he slides it back into his jacket and looks me in the eye for what feels like an uncomfortably long moment. "Maka's pretty messed up over what happened to Justin isn't she?"

The girls gasp. "We heard about that. It's just awful," says Angela.

I nod. "Yeah, well, Maka and me and Lydia were the last DWMA fighters to see him alive. Lydia and I busted into the compound in Texas where they were holding Maka-"

"You rescued her?" Judy asks, apparently in awe.

"Yeah," I say with a shrug. "I'm her weapon. That's my job… and I love her. I wasn't going to stand by and let them hurt her." The girls squeal again, and I grimace; their ear-piercing reactions are getting old fast. "Anyway, we would have taken Justin with us, but he'd been so brainwashed that he was fighting us. He punched Lydia in the face and was restraining Maka. He had brass knuckles and was doing whatever Avian Flu told him to do. It was a mess… we just barely got out of there."

"And you left Justin behind," Spirit says concluding my brief summary of the entire fiasco.

"For the record, it's not _only_ Maka that feels crappy about what happened to Justin. What Blitzengard said is true. We _did_ leave Justin behind to fend for himself." I look down at my feet. I've been so concentrated on my meister I haven't really acknowledged how bad _I _feel about the entire thing. I shake my head. I can feel the tears starting to come. Holy crap, am I gonna start balling in front of two gorgeous women and Maka's dad?! Please, no!

Spirit pats me on the knee. "It's true that you left Justin behind, but I don't think either of you would have, if you had anticipated what Avian Flu would do to him. I think that had you known, you would have tried even harder to get him out of there… which is why I'm extremely thankful you _didn't_ know, because I'm so happy that my precious little Maka got out of there when she did, and, Soul, _I_ feel no guilt for that. I put family ahead of everything, even the DWMA."

My eyebrows rise. Spirit as a family man is a tough sell, but he _does_ love Maka…. even if he chooses to sometimes show it in highly inappropriate ways, like that time he bought Maka sexy underwear as a present. I _still_ don't get that.

"Soul, I don't see the point in second guessing the decision you made. Up until now, Avian Flu hadn't been killing their prisoners, merely attempting to convert them. How were you to know they would make him some kind of sacrificial lamb?" I nod, wishing Maka were here to hear him, but then again if she were she wouldn't be listening to him anyway. Instead, she'd be finding something to argue with him about.

"I wanted to talk to you, because… you and Maka have told me that you're… _serious_." My stomach flops. Oh, no! Is he about to ask me about birth control or something? I bet Tsubaki getting pregnant shook him up. God, I hope that he hasn't hauled me here to talk to me about _that_! I will _completely _lose my appetite if he starts talking about how to put on a condom, and if these women start talking about sex it's going to get damned awkward!

"I _am_ serious about her," I say nervously. "Or I _was_… til last night. Now I don't really know where I stand… or what I am."

"Pissed off," he says supplying me with the words, and I find myself nodding, surprised to find that, for once, Spirit seems to actually understand me. "I don't blame you, but on Maka's behalf I ask that you hang in there. I'm sure she'll snap out of it and take you back."

"But I didn't do anything!" I shout emphatically.

"You're thinking like a man," Spirit says. "Despite my daughter's brilliance she still has the brain of a woman. The female mind responds to emotion and its ability to reason ebbs and flows with these feelings." He leans in and inhales deeply the air by Judy's neck. "Isn't that right, lovely?" The hostess nods as she wiggles her neck flirtatiously. "And right now, I suspect a lot of the logical functioning of my dear Maka's brain is down. She's very much like her mother in the way she loses all sense of reason when upset."

I consider this. I'm not sure it's a woman thing, because Spirit may as well have just described his own psyche.

"At any rate, I thought it would be helpful if I told you the truth, a truth that Maka finds very painful."

I'm too intrigued to say anything. What in the world is he referring to? I glance at the two hostesses. They have paused their coquettish movements and teasing and, like me, sit expectantly.

"Maka's mother has a lot of problems," Spirit says. "You may not believe this, but I still care for Meredith a great deal."

"But-"

"I know, I cheated on her all the time. It's true, but I did it because being with her made me feel very lonely."

"Oh, poor Spirit!" Judy says pulling his head to her breast. He nips a little at her cleavage and then turns his attention back to our conversation. "I don't want to sound as though I'm blaming Maka's mother for our break up… but Meredith can get very depressed and withdraw, especially from the people who love her. That's why she selects such remote assignments and, maybe, why she struggles to be there for Maka. Meredith once told me she regrets having Maka… that motherhood and marriage felt far too restrictive for her. I'm not sure if that's the truth or just something she said in order to push me further away, because she knows nothing delights me more than being a father. There is no greater thrill than holding this beautiful little person in your arms." He pantomimes holding a baby, "And knowing they need you for everything. That level of trust is so beautiful. It truly makes life worth living."

"Oh, Spirit, you make me want to have a baby," Judy says batting her eyes wildly.

"Me, too," says Angela, squeezing my thigh.

"A baby is a lot of work," continues Maka's father. "But not nearly as much as a teenaged daughter."

I interrupt. "You haven't done-"

Spirit ignores my comment and continues to plunge forward with his story. "Maka's mother is an _extremely_ talented meister, a real _natural_, but motherhood and being in a relationship, _those _things didn't come natural for her at all. She really struggled with them, but I'm not here to put Meredith down. I'm here to tell you that I'm worried about Maka. I see her going down the same path as her mother."

"Maka is a very loving person, and I love her."

His nostrils flare as he takes in a deep breath. "I know that."

"Look, I don't care what you say," I tell him loudly. "You may think we're doomed to fail, but _I_ don't and I'm not going to give up on her and me."

He chuckles and smiles at the hostesses. "The lad is so mistaken!"

"What?" I ask, confused.

Spirit takes his time in responding, delaying his next comment by savoring his orange juice. "I don't want you to."

"You mean…?"

"Let me be clear," he growls. "I wouldn't have chosen you for my daughter. You can be _sure_ of that… but _she_ has chosen you and I shall try to do my best to respect that choice." He rolls his eyes. "As both of you appear to care for one another a great deal and Professor Stein has told me that _he_ thinks the two of you are great together," Spirit says frowning. "I'm going to _try_."

"That said, I think you deserve to know what you're getting yourself into. This little _hiccup_ you're having right now may be just the beginning. Maka's a lot like her mother and I _pray_ to Lord Death that you are better equipped to deal with those challenges than I was. Meredith and I failed as partners. We were supposed to share everything with one another and always be there for each other, but she started shutting me out, and I didn't fight it. I took the easy way out. I partied and had a good time without her and that led to Meredith turning to other things for support."

"Other things?"

He closes his eyes. "Meredith uses drugs."

The two hostesses gasp as I sit there expecting a punchline.

"What?!" I blurt out when I finally realize that he's serious.

"I know it's hard to believe. Normally, meisters can't function with an addiction, but she is _incredibly _talented, so she manages."

"Are you telling me that Maka's mom is _still_ using drugs?"

"I'm almost certain of it. She gets sad and instead of turning to friends for support she self-medicates with whatever she can get her hands on, drugs, alcohol, I even caught her huffing once. It's probably even worse now than when we were married, because now she feels guilt about abandoning Maka."

"Maka doesn't see it as abandonment," I tell him.

Spirit nods. "How do you see it, Soul Eater?"

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. Is this a trick question? "I think it's awfully odd for a mom to not want to spend more time with her daughter."

"Soul, how far are you willing to go to see that Maka doesn't go down the same path?"

"Maka would never use drugs!"

"No, I don't believe that she would, but there are many ways to be self-destructive, addictions are just one way. Sabotaging relationships is another way, and I fear that is exactly what my dear, precious, sweet Maka is doing. No amount of love has been enough to preserve my place in her heart. It pains me that she hates me so, but I understand. All she saw as a child was me running off, fooling around with other women, and her mother's tears. Poor, poor Maka. And now she's pushing away her partner…" He coughs and then in a low voice reluctantly continues, "I can't believe I'm going to say this to the little_ punk_ who _defiled _my beautiful daughter." I swallow. "But, it's imperative that you don't give up on her. She needs you."

"I'm not going to let her push me away," I say firmly.

"That's not how it looked this morning," he says challenging me.

I grimace. He's right. "I made a mistake. I was angry."

"It's understandable, but," he sighs. "She needs you."

"She doesn't see it that way. She thinks… hell, I don't really know what she's thinking right now. I used to know. We were on the same page, but now…"

"Whatever you do, don't let her insinuate that by caring for one another you are weak. Maka is strong, but she will only be strong as long as she doesn't doubt herself whenever she needs the love and support of others." Spirit hangs his head. "Soul, please, if you love Maka, promise me that you will not give up on her like I gave up on her mom. I didn't have what it takes… but I believe you do."

I nod. "Thanks."

He grunts. "You're lucky she loves you so much or I would-"

"Now, now," Judy says rubbing Spirit's shoulders. "If it hadn't been Soul it would have been some other guy and he actually cares about her. That's much better than I can say for my first."

Spirit takes a large bite of crepe and glares at me.

"I know this can't be easy for you," I say. "But I promise. I'm not going anywhere. I left once and it was the worst mistake I ever made. I really love Maka."

Spirit smiles. "Of course you do. What isn't to love?" I could name a few things, like her propensity for slamming books into people's heads, but I remain quiet. "She did a very good job choosing her weapon. I'm so proud of her."

Then without taking a breath he says, "But if you knock her up, I swear to God I will kill you. I know all you kids think about these days is getting into each other's pants!"

"What?!" I squeal. "You're the one who's slept with like half the women in DC!"

Spirit draws back in shock. "Not half the _women_! Half the _beautiful_ women," he says his eyes focused on the perfectly rounded butt of one of the hostesses across the restaurant.

"Some of us can show some restraint," I mumble.

"Is that what you call making out in janitor's closets and billing the school for a night at a honeymoon suite?!" Shit! How the fuck did he find out about that? "I'm not stupid. I've got my eyes on you. This time the problems between you and Maka aren't your fault, but _when_ it is, you won't need to fear Maka. You'll need to _run_ from me."

I know that ordinarily a warning like that from Maka's dad would terrify me, but it doesn't right now. Maybe it's the amazing orange juice or the confirmation that the nagging suspicions I've had about Maka's mother weren't completely unfounded or maybe it's that Spirit is finally willing to admit that I'm good for his daughter, whatever it is, as he and I leave _Angel's Resting Place_ I find myself feeling a whole lot better. Now, if only I can get Maka to feel better, too, we'll be back in business.


	81. Chapter 81: Needs and Desires

_**Chapter 81- Needs and Desires; Where has the Paradigm Gone? **_

When I return to the academy I'm feeling less in the dumps. Maybe it's because I managed to be alone with Spirit without it resulting in my untimely death, or maybe it's what he had to say about not wanting Maka and me to be apart, or maybe it was that special orange juice fresh squeezed by fine looking women, but whatever the case I'm feeling a lot less depressed and I'm excited to learn what our next assignment will be.

I actually had a good time with Maka's dad. I never thought that would happen in a million years and other than the cautionary threats at the end of our meal, I think he has actually accepted me as part of the family. It's ironic that he's doing this _now_ that I'm not actually dating her, but Spirit always seems a little behind. All that time chasing women must not leave him much time to actually be aware of what is going on. Really, the only thing that drove me nuts during brunch was him trying to slide his hand up the hostess' skirts the entire time. Give it a break, already!

Back at the academy, I head to the gym. Maka reserved it for a while so we could do some training. When I get there I check my watch and discover I'm early, but I figure I'll just take snooze on the bleachers till my meister shows up, but when I see that Kid and the Thompsons are there practicing I know I'm gonna end up watching them instead of catching some z's. I never get tired of watching Kid's technique and lately I don't get to because we're always in battle together. I tiptoe into the bleachers not wanting the three of them to know they have an audience.

Kid is holding a gun in each hand with the barrels pointed directly toward his face as he shouts at his partners. If I didn't know they were demon weapons I'd think he was some kind of looney with a death wish.

"Pat-ti! For _Shin-i-_gami's sake you are _supposed_ to already be in the air when my elbow extends!" He complains.

"I know, but you still caught me," his younger partner replies.

"But it throws off the _symmetry_! I can't have Liz jumping a half count _before_ you… then the attack is all lopsided. See!" He stomps over to a target attached to a mannequin. "It hit the _edge_ of Blitzengard's heart, not the center. We need to hit the bull's-eye every single time. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Kid," Patti answers. "I'm sorry, I'll try harder."

"Thank you. Now, let's try it again."

Kid tosses his guns behind him and his partners materialize as he walks over to a boom box on the floor. He proceeds to push some buttons on it while the girls run to what must be predesignated spots on the floor. He then strolls back to his spot which is, of course, equidistant from each of them.

"Now, ladies, let's do this right. Nothing less than perfect symmetry is acceptable. You know that."

"Yes, Kid," the girls say in unison in what sound like less than enthusiastic voices.

Music begins to flow from the tape player and our current Lord Death taps his foot in time with the weird hip hop/country beat of the song. Then the three of them simultaneously strike some kind of martial arts pose.

"And now!" he shouts and the girls each leap from their spots, transforming while spinning in the air. Kid catches both guns and shoots them in one fluid movement, but even I can tell that they aren't perfectly synchronized. Again, Patti's side seems off by a millisecond. Most people wouldn't notice it, but with my musical training it's obvious to me, as it is for a perfectionist like Kid.

"Patti! Why are you in my hand _after_ your sister?" he asks as she reappears. "I don't understand how that keeps happening."

"Kid," Liz appears and walks over to the target to examine it. "I think we can work with this. They both hit the heart."

Kid and Patti follow her.

"But, they aren't both perfectly centered! This is what I'm talking about." Kid's puzzlement is evident as he stands in front of the target stroking his chin deep in thought. After pondering the mystery for a few moments, he turns to Patti and grips her shoulders. "Patti, I need you to reach deep down within your soul and think about what is happening-"

Liz glares at her male partner. "Hey, lay off Patti, Kid. How 'bout you look deep into _your_ inner self? You might find that the problem is _you_."

Kid appears startled and looks at his taller partner in surprise. "_Me?_ What are you insinuating? I extend my arms at the exact same time."

Liz sighs. "Yes, Kid, you do, but then you don't _reach_ for us at the same time."

"Yes," Kid says indignantly. "I do."

"_No_, you _don't_." Liz pauses for a moment as though trying to decide whether to continue or not. "Kid, you get caught up checking out Patti's butt while she's in the air. That's what's making her a half count late."

Kid gasps and throws his arms up. "I am _not_ checking out Patti's butt!"

Patti grins at him and wiggles her ass. "It's ok if you are. You know I don't mind," she says flirtatiously. "I'll show you anything you want. You can even touch." She takes the reaper's hand and holds it on her rear, smiling. "But it would be much better if we attend to those kind of desires when we're not in battle, you know."

Kid, with his hand held on Patti's butt, attempts to somehow discredit Liz's claim, but all he seems able to do is stutter.

"Maybe we should dress you in something a little less cute," Liz says to Patti.

"No, this is comfortable! We'll just make sure we attend to Kid's needs better. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" She says while moving his hand around on backside. "You want to squeeze it? There you go."

With the aid of her hand she makes him grip her ass in his hand and his entire body tremors before, like a stopper shooting out of a bottle of champagne, Kid explodes, "What?! I am _entirely_ focused on the attack and resonating with both of you. I am not ogling any part of either of you. I… I wouldn't do that."

"Hhhmmm," Liz says narrowing her eyes. "Do you really believe that, or are you too embarrassed to admit that you think Patti is hot?"

"This is an _entirely_ inappropriate conversation for right now. _Ladies_," he says, desperation in his voice. "_We're training_!"

"Maybe we should take a break," Patti says releasing his hand so she can place a hand on either side of his face as she kisses him on the lips. He meets this sign of affection with sputters and a crazy amount of arm waving.

"Ladies, allow me to make one thing clear! I would not sacrifice a chance to bring down Blitzengard due to some kind of _carnal _desire to admire Patti's backside. I have many perfectly good opportunities to do that throughout the day when we are not mid-attack."

"So, you admit that you've been checking her out," Liz says triumphantly.

"Oh, God," he mumbles. "Yes, ok. Sometimes, I can't help but notice how attractive you _both_ are so, _sure_, I guess I check out Patti sometimes." Waving a finger at Liz, he continues, "And, Liz, I check you out, too. I'm a Shinigami, but I'm also a man, so you don't need to read something big into it. It's just normal guy stuff. It doesn't mean anything, and it is _not _affecting our attacks."

"Oh, poor guy," Patti says turning to her sister. "He actually thinks he is in control of those raging hormones of his."

Liz shakes her head. "Kid, if you don't get laid, you're gonna get us all killed."

"Excuse me?!" The appall in his voice makes it bounce twice as often from the walls of the gymnasium. "A half beat late and getting killed are two completely different things."

"You still missed the bull's-eye," Liz points out.

"Don't you think I know that, Liz?!" Kid shouts. "But missing the bull's-eye and risking endangering the two of you-"

"Ha! He just admitted it. It isn't that big a deal as long as we hit the heart," Patti says happily hopping up into the air and clapping.

Kid's eyes bug out as he realizes he has been tricked. "Liz!" he whines. "It's about the symmetry."

"Mmm hhhhmmm, I'm sure it is," she purrs wrapping her arms around him in something I would definitely characterize as being non-platonic. "Would it be ok if I tried something?"

Kid gives her a nervous glance before nodding.

Liz walks over to the tape recorder and rewinds the tape. "Ok, let's do it one more time, but this time Kid does it with his eyes closed."

The reaper balks at this. "Fine, but it'll be the exact same result. It has _nothing_ to do with the fact you're both pretty to look at. I assure you that I would never let anything like that distract me during battle."

"Shut up and close your eyes, reaper!" Liz orders rushing to her spot on the floor.

The music starts again and they repeat the move and again with one fluid motion Kid grabs both guns and shoots.

"Ok, open your eyes, Kid. Let's see what we got," Liz says marching over to the target. "As I thought. Two _perfect_ bull's-eyes."

"Sure," Kid says sarcastically as he saunters over to look at the target. He freezes when he sees it.

"Look, Kid, you did it. Liz was right," Patti says leaping onto him as he reflexively grabs her without even looking her way.

"I… I wasn't checking you out… I swear," Kid says slowly.

"It's ok. You can't help it. You're in love with me," Patti says. "And all the sexual tension is getting to you. I understand. It's driving me nuts, too." She says unbuttoning the top fastener of his shirt. "I wish you'd just throw me down and-"

"Oh, my God," Kid says sounding scared.

"Come on, Kid. We'll figure out what to do," Liz says as she walks over to grab the boom box.

"I guess," he says weakly. "I just can't believe this. Men and women are partners all the time and this doesn't happen to them!"

"I think it does," Liz says. "It just doesn't get talked about. Don't worry, Kid. We'll figure it out, but you gotta be honest about what you want."

Kid turns bright red as he sets Patti down. "Come on, it's almost time for us to get out of here."

Liz gives him a kiss which I'm pretty sure is on his lips, though I can't be entirely sure from my angle. "Don't worry. We'll figure it out and we'll get Blitzengard."

As she pulls away from the kiss Liz spies me and shouts at me angrily, "Hey, Buttmunch! What the hell are you doin' _here_?"

"Maka reserved the gym. I guess we must be next."

"That's not what I mean," she says charging over to me. "You stood up Kid! What? You get lost on the way to Ganglehoff's?"

"What do you mean?" I ask confused, and then I remember Spirit telling me he had gotten Kid's permission for me to go out with him.

Kid's nostrils flare as he glares at me. "I know you're having a bad day, but Christopher and I waited for you for a half hour. I was actually getting really worried about you-"

"Spirit is such a fuckin' liar," I growl through clenched teeth, my hands balled into fists.

The trio freezes. "What does Spirit have to do with it?"

"He took me out to brunch. I told him I needed to go help you and Ganglehoff, but he said that he'd okayed it with you."

"You went to lunch with Maka's dad and you're still alive?" Liz asks incredulously.

I grin. "I know! It's a shock to me to."

"He tell you to keep away from Maka?" Patti asks concerned.

"No, which really surprised me. He just wanted to talk to me 'cause he's worried about her, same as me," I study Kid's face. If Maka's mom is still operating with an active substance abuse problem I don't see how he, as her commanding officer, could not be aware of it. Has he known this the entire time and kept it to himself? Has he been covering for her?

"Well, I'm glad you're alive," Kid says. "The gym is all yours. You want us to leave the mannequin?"

I shake my head. "We'll hack it to bits in a minute," I tell him with bravado.

"My, aren't you confident," he says walking over to grab the target. I walk with him hoping to ask him about Maka's mom, but he speaks first. "How long were you watching us?" He sounds embarrassed.

"Long enough to know that it looks like you need to get laid."

"Dammit! It isn't about that. They're hot, but I'm worried about-"

His concern is interrupted by the calling of my name and I turn around to see Maka entering the gymnasium.

"Hey, Maka," Kid says tucking the mannequin under his arms. "The place is all yours. See you this afternoon."

"Ladies," he says and Patti and Liz rush to his side waving goodbye to us.

I turn to my meister. "So, Meister, what's the word?"

"We practice Genie Hunter till it comes to us as easily as Witch Hunter and we try to put the flames to good use."

I nod and walk up to her and transform. The touch of her gloved hands on my handle brings me comfort. She's right, despite everything we can still be a damn good team. After all the years, all the disagreements, and all the fights we can get through this and still be a force to be reckoned with. Only problem is we aren't as great as we should be. I'm finding it hard to resonate with her, because her soul wavelengths are inconsistent. Sometimes they're short and stubby like when she's being silly, and sometimes they're long and pointed like she is when she's trying to outdo someone like Ox. The constant variability is wearing both of us out. My meister's giving it everything she's got, but her determination isn't enough to make up for this handicap. Her attempts to compensate by increasing our attack speed and making each swing broad and decisive just aren't enough.

After an hour and a half of this, we're both so exhausted that we collapse on the floor, my sweaty body falling on top of my meister bringing my lips dangerously close to hers. She must not have expected me to transform when I did, but I don't change back. I like feeling her under me.

"Soul, we can't," she says softly. She's so close that I can feel the heat of her breath on me. She sounds really broken up, nothing like the condescending bookworm who made the announcement about our relationship status at the meeting.

I slide off of her and sit next to her, taking her hand. "Maka, will you _please_ talk to me? Everything was fine yesterday morning and then- Maka, I'm sorry, but I can't keep up."

"I know you're frustrated," she acknowledges. "You have every right to be."

I blink and look at her. Maybe she is hurting more than I thought. Maybe somewhere hidden under all those layers of toughness she's really broken up over this. Then why the hell is she putting us through this?! Is this some kind of challenge to be endured or something? This better not be some kind of twisted training tool they taught her at the annual meister retreat. It would be just like meisters to come up with something masochistic like this to do to their weapon all in the name of 'improved performance'.

I try to collect my thoughts. It isn't easy, especially when I can't decide if I want to smack her or kiss her. "Meister, I thought you and I were a '_for sure_' thing and something we both wanted… _a lot_… like… _treasured_, I guess, and now…" I'm not good with words, but until this moment it's never really bothered me. Now, I wish I was a walking dictionary like my meister, because then maybe I'd find the words to express what I'm feeling. I sigh, trying to exhale my frustration. "Maka, I thought we were together for life. I thought that no matter _what_ life threw at us we would be together, but now… was I just being stupid?"

"Soul," she cries my name, tears flowing from her eyes. "I don't _want_ to do this, but being with you clouds my judgment and I can't have that right now."

My eyebrows furrow as I consider this. My meister looks to be a real mess. Does she actually think this is _better_ than the way we were before? "What about all those times when you doubt yourself and I'm there to encourage you? Don't those times count, too? We're a good team."

She smiles a little even as the tears continue to fall. "We do make a pretty awesome team and you do support me, I know that." She squeezes my hand. "You do it more than I care to admit. I need to make myself stronger. I need to not rely on you so much."

"Na uh, none of that now," I say immediately rejecting this line of thinking. "That's why meisters and weapons have each other. That's why partnerships are important. No one should do this shit alone. Come on, Maka. We make a great team in life, not just on the battlefield. I don't want you to push me away like this!"

"I don't want to," she says. "_Believe me_, I don't."

"Then tell me why you're doing this," I say firmly. "Make me understand what has changed."

"Soul, I have to get my priorities in order. I have to do the _absolute_ best that I can to fight Avian Flu-"

"And how don't I help you to do that? Maka, I'm your weapon. My whole purpose is to aid you in your mission."

"I know that, but what if we mean so much to each other we ignore what's best for our comrades and the world? We should have fought yesterday, but I couldn't-"

"Maka, it was _one_ day. Please forgive yourself," I pull her toward me, hugging her to my body so her head rests on my shoulder. I want to kiss her so badly I swear my lips ache.

"It _wasn't_ just one day. It was when you came to the ranch! All I could think about was running away with you, and it was when we you got thrown from the train… I shut down without you."

"No, you didn't. You gathered intelligence-"

"No, I weakened myself just so I wouldn't lose the memory of you. I just can't do this. I have to be one hundred percent focused on defeating Blitzengard."

"I get that," I say my face approaching hers. "But, even Kid isn't on duty twenty-four hours a day."

"I know, but-" My lips don't give her the opportunity to make more excuses. I channel all my passion for her into that kiss praying that it will do what my words cannot. It works. Her soul wavelength begins to return to a more natural, relaxed rhythm. I release her lips and make my way down to her neck.

"Soul, this is _exactly_ what I'm trying to stop," she says as I prick her neck with my teeth and then suck on it causing her to pant. "We should… be concentrating… on training."

I grin. I think I'm winning. My mind is filled with images of carrying her under the bleachers and pulling down those tight little jeans that leave so little to the imagination, but I know I need to support my desires with a logical argument. "If what you say is true, then why is your soul wavelength matching up with mine more at _this_ moment than it has in the last hour and a half while we've been training?"

She blushes so badly that I can feel the heat radiating from her skin. She wants this as much as I do.

"Maka, quit overthinking things and worrying about the shit that's happened. No matter what you and I do we can't change the past." This isn't the first time Maka has attempted to martyr herself, though previous attempts usually involved something far less dramatic, something like studying for a test or training, not a basal desire like she and I have for one another, but talking her out of this paradigm shouldn't be too hard. I've done it before… so I should be able to do it again. I just have to be _real_ careful about how I go about doing it.

"Maka, I _have_ to have you, always. It isn't optional for me anymore."

"Soul, it's a bad idea," she says trying to push me away.

"It's way more than an idea, Maka. It's too late. It's a _thing_. We've both experienced it. We can't shut it off."

She pulls herself away from me. "I'm going to try."

I stand up and pull her close to me sliding my hands under that t-shirt of hers, a starving man doing anything to reach water and every time my fingers contact her skin she trembles with pleasure. I think she's suffering more than I am. What a crazy person she is. Who is she trying to impress by pushing me away?

"Soul, please stop. It's too hard for me. I have to strengthen myself. I can't give in to what I want," and with that she turns and runs out of the gymnasium. I try to follow her, but I can never catch up to Maka when she runs. Those long muscular legs of hers have carried her away and I know she's not stupid enough to go to the library or to our favorite bench in the garden. She's going to want to be hidden for a while, which means I won't be able to find her.

I groan. Now I'm hopelessly horny, angry at her for being so stupid, and, on top of all that, I'm really worried about her. This is not how you strengthen yourself. I shake my head and decide that the only thing I can do to make myself feel a little better (besides maybe whacking off) is playing piano. With the war and the loss of my guitar to the chick at the café I haven't been getting much creative time and I've been missing it. Luckily, when I get to the music room I find that I have it all to myself. I get comfortable at the grand piano and let all the longing and anger seep out of my soul into the notes. A song starts forming… something beautiful and somber in parts, frenzied with anger in others. It's the soundtrack to the last thirty six hours of my life.

I lose track of time as my mind and fingers create this melody of madness, but as I reach my right hand across my left my eyes happen to read the time on my wristwatch. It's unintentional so it takes a bit to sink in, but then it dawns on me. I'm gonna be late for our meeting with Kid. Shit! I hop up pull the cover down over the keyboard, push the bench in neatly and fly out of the room because I have to get myself all the way to the other side of the campus.

I'm out of breath when I get to the Death Room and discover that there is a horde of people here. I find a line of Deathscythes, meisters, and demon weapons stretching the length of the hallway.

"What's this?" I ask one of the underclassman in line.

"We're all waiting to see Lord Kid to get our assignments."

My shoulders sag. They must have given everyone the same arrival time instead of giving us each individual appointments like they normally do. _Great_. I survey the line. It doesn't look like Maka is here yet, so I head to the back of the queue to grab us a spot. None of the people at the back of the line are from the Crescent Moon class so I'm pretty bored. The only entertainment comes when a couple dudes come out complaining about being sent to Iceland, because their last assignment was in Costa Rica and they have no cold weather clothes and why the hell was Lord Kid sending them to Iceland?! I wish that was my problem. I'd buy Maka and me some parkas, no problem. Instead, I'm standing here checking my watch _again_ and wondering where the fuck she is.

I'm sort of spacing out when I hear Tsubaki's voice calling to me from somewhere in the crowd and I see her and Black*Star making their way over to me.

"Where's Maka?" She asks.

I shrug. "She's gonna meet me here." A look of concern crosses my friends' faces. "Don't worry. She'll be here. She's a little messed up right now, but she's not about to abandon her duties."

"But yesterday," Tsubaki whispers softly.

"Yesterday was a fluke," I answer back angrily. "We trained for hours today and she's back in the game. She probably just went home to have a shower."

"So, you two are still ok working together?" Black*Star inquires slowly. I think he's worried I'm gonna slug him.

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Cause, to be honest, it didn't look that way this morning," he tells me.

I nod and stuff my hands in my pockets. "Yeah, I know. I was still angry."

"And you're not angry anymore?" asks Tsubaki.

"No, I'm still angry… but… I dunno… I guess even though I'm angry I can forgive her."

"Oh, yeah!" Tsubaki says giving me a big hug. "I just love how under that tough guy exterior you're such a sweetheart."

"I don't know about that," I grumble.

"I do. You two are meant to be together. I _know_ it, but anything good has to be worked for. So, you just hang in there and like me and Black*Star things'll get back to how they should be."

"She's right," Black*Star says grinning at his embracing friends.

I nod. "Thanks, guys. So, what's your next assignment?"

"Southern California to take out some birdmen," brags Black*Star.

"Cool. When do you leave?" I ask.

"Tomorrow, but it shouldn't take too long. We just gotta transfer supplies from one safe house to another location in case the original safe house has been compromised," Tsubaki explains.

"Who's going with you?" I ask.

"Oh, it's just us," Black*Star says giving me a look that indicates his excitement about getting to have a few days alone with his partner. "Don't you think team Tsubakastar can handle it?"

"'Tsubakastar'?" I ask eyebrow raised.

"Being the powerhouse that we are we were overdue for a team name. We needed something catchy," he explains. "So I took Tsubaki's name and mine-"

"I get it," I say nodding.

"You and Maka should come up with one. Tsubaki and I had a lot of fun doing it."

Putting together my meister's name and mine I frown, "Yeah, but 'Albarneater' doesn't-"

Black*Star waggles his eyebrow. "I think that's more of your team name in the bedroom, bro."

My eyes get wide and I blush. I stammer out something unintelligible as Tsubaki and Black*Star laugh.

"Don't worry, man. You two are gonna be fine," he says thumping me on the shoulder with one of his enormous hands. "But we better get going. We gotta get packed."

"How bought you and Maka stop by tonight? You could come over for dinner," Tsubaki says.

"You sure you'll have the time to cook?" I ask. I don't know about Tsubakastar, but for the rest of us the day before leaving on a mission is usually a clusterfuck.

"Oh, yeah, I want to make some extra food for the train," Tsubaki says.

"We've gotta make sure she gets good nutrition for the baby," Black*Star explains. "It's not a good idea to just fill up on chips and shit when you're eating for two."

I nod. How can they seem so damn happy? How can they be like that when they aren't even officially 'together'? Don't they experience that _horrible_ longing I had before I confessed my feelings to Maka, and again now that she's called 'us' off? I want to ask them what the deal is, but I don't want to risk rocking their boat in anyway. Black*Star needs Tsubaki, that's for sure. So, all I do is agree and tell them I'll see them later.

"Great, swing by about six, and don't let Maka say she's too busy packing for your assignment to come, kay?"

"I'll try my best," I assure her. I don't know what Tsubaki's worried about. No one turns down an invitation to dinner when she's cooking.

The shadow weapon gives me a goodbye hug. "Do me a favor and invite Kid and the girls, too."

"No prob. See ya," I say as they head out of the academy, discussing what all they need to get done before leaving town.

I sigh and check my watch. I'm starting to get annoyed that Maka isn't here yet. She's probably obsessively drilling herself on some meister technique or another totally oblivious to the passage of time, but even at the piano _I_ saw the time on _my_ watch.

And whose _brilliant_ idea was it to have all of us arrive at the same time? This is fuckin' ridiculous and I got enough of crowds and standing in lines yesterday at the memorial.

As time drags on and I get closer to our turn to enter the Death Room I begin to get worried. Maybe something's happened to her. Maybe she's angry or depressed somewhere and she needs a friend. I debate. Do I leave the line and try and go find her? But then if she is just running late and gets here and doesn't find me she'll be pissed. Fuck, what the hell am I supposed to do?!

I'm only three teams away from the door. I glance down at my watch. She should have been here half an hour ago and Maka is _never_ late for an appointment… except for when I make her late. That happens sometimes, I'll admit. But _I'm_ here, so where is she?

I turn to the Deathscythe behind me and tell him he can go in front of me. I really don't want Kid to know my meister's so out of it that she's actually running late. I don't think that will make a good impression, especially after yesterday.

I let a few more teams go ahead of me and I'm really starting to freak out when I hear my meister calling my name. She is running full speed down the hallway.

"I'm here! I'm here!" she shouts panting.

"Thank, Shinigami! You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She doesn't look fine. She's all sweaty and disheveled like she's run for miles or just been in battle.

"Did you run all the way from home?"

She nods. "Yeah, I went home for lunch and I got delayed."

"Next!" says a couple of Shooting Stars coming out of the Death Room.

"Is this us? I got here just in the nick of time, huh?" she asks proudly.

"Actually, I had to let some people go in front of us. I was getting worried. You sure you're ok?" Maybe it's because of my conversation with Spirit this morning, but I feel like something is a little off. Is it her soul wavelength or the way her shirt is untucked and she isn't wearing her gloves?

"Soul, I'm fine," she says tucking in her shirt and smoothing her skirt as though she senses that I'm giving her the once over. I'd ask her more questions, but we're almost to the end of the guillotine hall, so I drop it. The less Kid knows the better at this point. He's such a fucking worrywart he's liable to send Maka and me to some kind of couples counseling if he thinks things are getting weird with either of us.

"Hey, man. So, what's the plan for us? In what exotic locale will we be fighting the forces of evil?" I ask cutting right to the chase.

Kid smiles, "Actually, you and Maka are going to be staying right here in DC." I can feel Maka's soul wavelength go erratic.

"Kid!" She begins her defense. "What happened the other day was-"

"Not factored into the decision," Kid says calmly. "I have an extremely important assignment for you. I need you-"

"Kid, Maka says she's fine, so _she's fine_. It's not going to happen again!" I shout it rather than saying it.

"And the _two_ of us are fine," she says grabbing my hand and holding it on her lap. "We're a great team. There's no problem there."

"Right," I agree emphatically. "You need to send us somewhere where we can make Avian Flu _pay_!" If he thinks that he can get away with lying to our face about his plans he has another thing coming. There is no way a fighter like Maka should be kept at the home base. She needs to be out there on the offensive.

Kid's lips twitch with irritation. He doesn't like being argued with. Everyone else lets him get his way, but I'm not about to take this lying down. "I _told_ you. Yesterday's events have not factored into this decision."

"That's bullshit!" I shout jumping up and leaning toward Kid in anger.

"Soul, you're not helping your own argument. You're incredibly volatile and if you weren't my friends I would page Joe right now to come escort you out of here, but since I _normally_ like the two of you, you can make your way to the exit of your own volition. I'll fill you in on your assignment tomorrow morning. Be here at seven and be more reasonable and prepared to work."

"What?!" I thunder. "Maka and I can take whatever is thrown at us! I swear! We trained-"

"Go work on accepting the fact you're not leaving town and then-"

"You sent a _pregnant _woman out on assignment with only Black*Star," I roar. "And you're keeping _us here?!"_

"Tsubaki and Black*Star are not the topic of discussion," Kid says. He's starting to lose his cool. "You assume you are being punished when you aren't and you won't give me a chance to explain myself. Therefore-"

I cut off my friend. I'm so filled with anger I'm not even thinking straight. "Blair is missing. DWMA students are getting killed and you're telling me that there's something so fuckin' important you'll take one of your best teams-"

"Soul, don't," Maka takes my hand and lowers her head in shame. "If Kid thinks this is for the best… then we'll just have to accept it. This is my fault for letting Blitzengard get to me. It was foolish and-"

Kid tosses the papers aside and stands up. "I can see _just_ _how fine_ you two are right now," he says with the authoritative voice of a teacher or parent. The fucker is acting like he's better than us! "You're _so_ fine that you're not willing to listen to _anything_ I have to say to you. Be here at seven tomorrow. _Now, leave my sight_."

I stand there fuming and shout at him, "You really become an ass when the girls aren't around." Maka gasps and the reaper's eyes widen either from the shock of my words or because I've hit him where it most hurts.

"I could have you expelled! Now get out of here. I have more professional people to meet with!" He screams as he chases us out of the Death Room.

As we emerge from the guillotine hallway I find myself blinking as though I've just stepped out of a dark cave into the light. What just happened? Did Kid just threaten to _expel_ me?

"We should have listened to him," Maka's voice is practically dripping with regret.

"_Screw him_. If it was really that important he should have told us what the assignment is, but he didn't because there's nothing important enough to justify keeping a team like us from the front lines."

"Do you think we should go back and apologize?" Maka asks.

"No," I answer bitterly. "Besides, I think we'd get lynched if we tried to cut in line."

Maka shakes her head. "Yeah, why were we all told to be here at the same time? The lack of efficiency around her really gets to me sometimes."

I nod. "It seems like a waste to me. So, what now?"

She debates and I find myself praying to Lord Death that she doesn't suggest we train more, because I'm spent. Fortunately, she's also worn out and tells me that she'd like to go home to read. I nod.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Tsubaki invited us over for dinner at six." Shit! I was supposed to invite Liz and Patti and Kid! I glance back at the Death Room. Oh, well, too late now. I'll say they were busy. They're usually busy, anyway.

"Are Tsubaki and Black*Star really going out on a mission?" my meister asks.

"Yup. That isn't gonna make it weird to be around them is it?"

"Naw. I'm just worried for Tsubaki. I'm not sure that's the best idea, in her condition."

I shrug. "Black*Star's done a pretty good job so far of making sure she's taking care of herself. I still don't understand how they didn't get captured after the train crash."

"I know," she says her face scrunched from deep thought. "It was crazy. Sometime we'll have to ask him how he managed that."

She starts to walk home and then notices I'm not beside her. "What's up?"

"I'm gonna go help out at the Dispensary for a bit," I say.

"You're…?" She gives me the incredulous look I would expect her to give me were I saying that I was going to do volunteer work for no other reason than the joy of doing good.

I explain, "I'm knee deep in crap I have to do as punishment for breaking certain rules."

"Oh," she says seemingly relieved to learn that I haven't suddenly changed into someone who is altruistic. I smirk at her. She loves me even though I'm no Jakob. I love it. I don't have to pretend to be anything I'm not with her.

"Academic probation really sucks," she comments lingering in the doorway.

"Like you would know," I say grinning at her. "But it was worth it," I whisper in her ear as I snake my arm around her waist and move in to kiss her on the neck, but she steps away evading my lips as if I'm diseased.

"Meet you at Black*Star's at six, then?" She confirms as she steps through the door.

I nod. Damn, I love her, but how long can I take this craziness about not being able to kiss my girlfriend. Oh, that's right she says she's not my girlfriend anymore… yeah, right! Whatever. At least my love life isn't as screwed up as Kid's. No wonder he was in a foul mood. He's such a fucking liar, claiming he doesn't totally want in the Thompsons' pants. I bet he dreams about it every night. He's started to get a desperate look in his eyes whenever he's around them.

I get to the dispensary and Mira immediately puts me to work inventorying a bunch of medications and supplies. Then she has me fold surgical towels and do a bunch of other lame stuff, but I don't complain. In actuality, I've probably gotten off light considering some of the shit I've done. All in all, it's fairly boring, though there seems to be a hell of a lot of coming and going on the part of Mira and Joe and the other faculty members while I'm there.

When my stomach starts growling, I head over to Tsubaki and Black*Star's place. Before even entering the apartment complex the aroma of Tsubaki's cooking greets me as it wafts its way out into the early evening air. I smile dopily as I knock at the door marveling how I have never tasted a dish made by Tsubaki that wasn't absolutely out-of-this-world spectacular.

Maka opens the door and I'm immediately met by a hug from Black*Star who I realize isn't wearing a shirt.

"Dude, I wish you and Maka were coming with us," he moans. "It doesn't seem fair that Kid's making you stay here."

I shrug. "I know, but according to him it's important. It better not involve straightening any picture frames."

"No shit," Black*Star says as he catches my quizzical glance at his chest. "Oh," he chuckles. "It's laundry day and I got so few shirts when we do wash I've got hardly anything to wear. Sometimes, I have to walk around in nothing but my boxers."

I open my mouth to ask the obvious question of why he doesn't just buy more clothes, but Tsubaki glares at me while brandishing a wooden spoon in a very threatening manner, and I realize that a polite guest probably doesn't take away the cook's eye candy.

During dinner the question of why Kid and the girls didn't make it comes up, and I spout some b.s. about them being busy with 'war stuff' while distracting everyone by passing the mashed potatoes. The strategy works on everyone except Maka, but beings as she's like my own personal polygraph machine I didn't expect it to. Thankfully, my meister doesn't call me out on my lie, instead choosing to roll her eyes and mutter something under her breath about what a 'boob' I can be, which actually makes me feel better because _that_ constitutes _normal _Maka behavior and right now I welcome _anything _typical from her.

After dinner, Maka helps clear the table while Black*Star and I examine a map trying to plan the best route for him and Tsubaki to take to the safe house. We are arguing about which way is north, because Black*Star's a fuckin _moron_, when Maka tells us, "I'm gonna go. I've got a headache." Hearing this, I rise from my squat over the map, automatically assuming she and I will be leaving together.

"No, Soul, you stay here and hang out for a while. I'm just gonna turn in early," she tells me.

"You haven't had a migraine in a long time. You sure you're ok to walk home by yourself?" I ask her.

"Yeah, no worries. I'll just take some medicine when I get home and turn the lights out in the bedroom and I'll be fine." She gives me a kiss on the cheek, hugs Tsubaki and waves to Black*Star before departing.

I stay for about an hour before I feel as though I'm getting in the way of my friends' packing for their expedition and their flirting, if you can even call Black*Star's clumsy attempts at flattery flirtations. He's lucky that they've been friends forever because if he was trying to pick her up with the behavior I was witnessing… well, it just would _not_ happen.

When I get home, I walk into the apartment trying to be extra silent so as not to disturb Maka, and, evidently, I manage to do it, as I can hear audible sobbing coming from her room. She must not realize I'm home, because it's not like Maka to let people know she's upset. I stand in the living room debating about what to do. Do I give her privacy and ignore it? Do I march in and demand to know what is wrong, hoping that it's something I can make better? Do I leave and come home again later hoping she will have stopped by then?

I give it a few minutes, but she's continuing to cry so I tiptoe across the room to her door and silently open it a crack. Peering into the room, I can see that she's curled up on her bed and the floor is littered with what look like chips of porcelain.

"Maka?" I ask softly, trying not to startle her. She sits straight up, her eyes wide. It's obvious I wasn't supposed to discover what a mess she is. "Maka, you gotta talk to me. What's going on? What is this shit?" I ask as I step over the bits of shattered whatever that are all over the floor.

"I… had an accident," she says.

I nod, examining the pattern the shards are in on the floor. "Yeah, I hate when I accidentally smash things against the wall, too. It sucks."

Even with tears streaming from her eyes she cracks a smile. I take it as a good sign and proceed to sit down next to her on the bed.

"Maka, I'm sorry that I was kind of an ass this morning."

"No, it's me… I'm just…" She surveys the chaos of her room. "I'm not doing very well…"

"Oh, I dunno. Your floor's a mess, but I think you're doing ok. There is a war on," I say with a shrug. "No one threatened to expel you today, so you're doing better than me." She smacks me in the arm, but before she can withdraw her hand, I grab it and hold it on my leg. "Maka, we're in this together. You can change the label if it makes you feel better, but I'm not going anywhere, ok?" I pause to give her a chance to say something, but she makes no response. "You understand that, right?" She nods. "Good. Now, we should talk about this slamming doors in my face thing, 'cause I _really_ don't like that. It's kind of-"

My words are smothered by her lips as she knocks me over climbing on top of me. Her lips taste salty from tears and it makes me want to kiss her even more. I want to make her feel good. I want to stop the tears. She's pulling my shirt off. I want her so bad. I'm so desperate for her touch.

"Meister…" I moan the word into her neck as she presses herself into my bare chest. It's like our bodies are moving on their own. We're on fast forward speeding toward gratification clawing and tugging at the clothes that form the barrier between our bodies.

"Soul, I… I can't rely on you," she says as she kisses my bare chest.

"Why not? What did I do wrong?" I ask as I kiss her neck. "I don't understand."

"You didn't do anything wrong," the words are stretched with lust and she slides a hand under me to grab at my ass. "It's just. What am I gonna do when something happens to you?"

"Don't you mean 'if'?" I say before crashing my lips into hers as I lift up her shirt and press my groin into hers.

A part of me thinks having this conversation right now can't be a good idea, but she's finally attempting to explain to me what nonsensical thoughts are gripping her mind and I know I need to try to understand, because I need to forgive her. On top of that, I feel driven to make love to her, like if I don't do it right now I might never get another chance.

"Everyone leaves me, Soul," she says and looking into her eyes I realize that abandonment _is _her truth. She's not playing the martyr, she's just stating fact. Never before has she been able to rely on anyone but herself. She had lousy parents and no brothers or sisters. I'm an orphan, but at least I had Wes and Grandma when I lost Mom.

"Maka, I'm not gonna leave you and its ok to rely on me. It isn't weak. Everyone needs someone." I kiss the top of her breast as I reach around to unclip her bra. "I need you."

She slides down my body and unties my shoes and pulls them off, flinging them across the room before reaching up to unbutton my pants. In one motion she yanks both my pants and boxers down to my ankles and then climbs on top of me her lips locking with mine as I work to get my clothes the rest of the way off.

I lay there naked, my cock standing straight up practically begging for her attention. Her eyes meet mine as she grasps it, giving it a squeeze in that same strong hand that holds me in scythe form. I moan as she stares at me sensually before bending over to wrap her lips around it. I yowl with pleasure as she takes me into her mouth. I watch her as she slips my cock in and out of her mouth spreading her glistening saliva all over me. Just _seeing_ her like this is enough to make me cum, but I feel headed to orgasm hopelessly fast when she begins to run her tongue all over it.

Oh, _fuck_, that feels amazing! I groan out her name and in response she increases the speed with which she pumps me in and out of her. It isn't just her doing it now; I'm thrusting along with her our two bodies moving like one. I lean back gritting my teeth and groaning from the pleasure.

She releases her mouth's grasp on me, coming up for air, her mouth hanging open as she raises herself up to a seated position. Seeing her topless and panting from the exertion of going down on me is more than I can stand. I roll her onto her back madly reaching for that Lord Death Mask belt bucket as though my life depends on it.

She's lying under me as I pant like some kind of animal. I'm gonna have her. I am going to cum in her like I've never cum before. She is gonna scream my name and her eyes are going to roll into the back of her head and still I won't be done with her. I won't be done until I make her cum a second, a third time. I thought that it wasn't possible to desire her any more than I already did, but somehow I've found new levels of want for her, for her body, for her soul. I want to be one with her more than anything else.

I let my eyes meet hers for the briefest of moments, giving her one last chance to change her mind before the frenzy she's created within me is outside of my control, and thankfully all she does is shout at me to get inside of her.

I smirk at her, more than happy to obey my meister's command. I pull her jeans off and then lean close over her panties inhaling the intoxicating scent of her. I slide my hand under the white cotton that conceals her womanhood and she spreads her legs welcoming my touch.

"You're so wet," I tell her as my fingers tease her entrance. She nods and brings her opening toward my fingers.

"Please," she begs as she lifts her hips, throwing her head back, letting my fingers slide into her wet crevice as far as they can go. She lets her hips rise and fall as I take my hand back for just long enough to whisk away her panties before offering her my fingers again while I begin to kiss the inside of her thighs. She moans and squirms, a look of ecstasy on her face as I pull my fingers out swiftly replacing them with my tongue which I swirl around inside of her as she wails and reaches down to grip my hair.

I play with her like this for a long time till she's wearing a pouty expression that tells me that I need to do it harder to satisfy her. I throw her legs over my shoulders and dive into her deeper with my tongue. I hear her appreciation in the form of sexy, little vocalizations and low, rumbling groans that are unlike anything my meister makes at any time other than when she's giving herself over to me and her most animalistic desires.

Oh, Lord Death, how I want to tell her just how fucking sexy she is and how I swear I'm harder than I've ever been before in my life, but I can't stop. I'm working her up to climax and I want her to cum like she's never cum before. I want her to never forget the screaming orgasm, I give her tonight and I can tell she's close, and oh _God_, how I want to hear it. I want to _taste_ it. Her panting increases and her trembling grows into all out thrashing. I have to hold her tightly to keep her from pulling herself away from me and then I hear the gasp… that first little gasp that signals she's dangling over the edge of the ultimate release. She's on the brink. All I have to do is push her just a tiny bit more… and the breath gets caught in her throat and is followed by a scream that seems without end, but still I don't stop. I keep using my tongue to lap at her insides and I begin to feel her moisture increase and she's panting like crazy when she lets out another scream and it's like a floodgate has been opened. The wetness pours from her as she goes limp in my arms. I lay her down and gently slide each leg off my shoulder and withdraw my tongue. I gaze down at my meister completely naked, unable to speak, and glassy eyed and I grin evilly. I have done _very_ well and my fun is only beginning.

I worm my way up her body and take a look at her slack jaw. I kiss her lips and slide my tongue flavored by her orgasm down her throat. I continue to kiss her all over as I rub the head of my cock at her entrance. Her mouth parts more and her eyes grow wide as I enter her. I go slow at first and then speed up because she's so wet and open that I can slide my full length into her in one motion, easily slamming myself into the back of her pussy. She shouts as I grit my teeth. How can she be so open and wet, in yet so tight at the same time? She sighs seductively as I slide myself back and forth harder than I ever imagined she could withstand. Then she closes her eyes and the sides of her pussy squeeze down on me, compressing me and making me groan with pleasure. It feels amazing. I moan her name… and maybe some other nonsense, I don't even know anymore. All I know is that I fucking love her and I love fucking her.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her up to a seated position our legs wrapped around one another as we move in sync with one another till I can't stand it any longer and I suck on her breast as I lay her back down and thrust into her with such speed that I know in a matter of moments I will cum. With a few more thrusts I reach the point of no return and feel as though I'm bursting at the seams as I shoot my cum into her. The room is spinning and I'm panting insanely, but continue to slide myself back and forth, only more slowly now as I ease myself down from my peak.

"Soul, I love you," Maka whispers in my ear.

"I love you, too, meister," I say in between breathes as I pull out of her and roll onto my back beside her already drifting into a post-orgasmic slumber.


	82. Chapter 82: Unexpected Honesty

**Risenfromash:** I am indebted to _Fanus Obscurus _for making a comment in Fanus' review of the last chapter which inspired a comment from Soul in this one. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing as each review brings a smile to my face and makes it all worthwhile.

_**Chapter 82- Unexpected Honesty; A Reason for Thanks?**_

I wake to a pounding that I can only assume is coming from our front door. I grumble, wishing it would stop, but it continues relentlessly.

"Fuck! I'm coming! I'm coming!" I yell angrily as I get out of Maka's bed wrapping my naked body in one of her bed sheets. I step off the bed and immediately feel like I've been stung in multiple places on the bottom of my foot. Fuck! I look down to see pieces of the broken shit on Maka's floor have partially embedded themselves in my foot. I lean over and pull the chips of whatever out while the pounding continues. "Ugh! I am _coming_!" I shout as I hobble to the front door leaving little bloody spots on the floor. Still the pounding continues. "Are you fuckin' _deaf?!_ I said I'm coming."

I fling open the door ready to chew the hell out of whoever is so god-damned impatient, but standing there is, in fact, the only deaf person I know, Nikolas. I bust up laughing as he looks at me befuddled.

"You-e and Maka beeoth heer?" he asks leaning in to survey the apartment.

"Yeah, where else would we be?" I ask annoyed.

"Oh, gwood! I was afreed I'd hafe to gow chewck the bars, and I've never been in one, so I was nwerwous."

"No, Maka and I are here, not out boozing. Is there a reason _you're_ here?" I ask scratching the back of my head.

"Oh, yeah, sworry. Kid sent me becauwse you and Maka arree alwready tweety minwutes late for-"

"Shit!" I shout. "Maka, we're late!"

"Dammit!" my meister shouts from the other room. "I'm coming! I just gotta get dressed."

At this Nikolas' eyes trail down to my makeshift garment. Calculating that I must be naked under the sheet, and seeing that the sheet is _incurably_ girly what with all the hearts, birds, and peace symbols on it, he seems to put two and two together and looks at me in awe. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be so innocent as to be shocked that the upper classmen at the DWMA have sex lives.

I head to my room to grab some pants, Nikolas following behind me.

"Do you know that you're bleeding?" he asks observing the little spots of blood I'm leaving behind me.

"Yeah, I stepped on some glass or something," I mumble.

"Oh." He pauses for a second and then leans forward to whisper to me, "Deeid you and Maka…?" Off-handedly, I nod as I open my dresser looking for clothes. "Oh, Shiwnigwami!" He squeals and then whispers to me. "I can't beeeleve you two arre acttaly dowin' it!"

"Yeah, it's a little weird… I guess, since she just told everyone I'm not her boyfriend, but you know how it is with partners," I say. Usually when I talk to Nikolas I work hard to make sure he can see my lips, but this time as I feverishly rush around to get dressed, it's all up to his hard-of-hearing ass to figure out what I'm saying.

"My meeistr is my _swistur_," he says frowning.

"Oh, right. How does that work?" I ask.

"Ok… till now."

"Oh?" I don't know Nik and Magumi well, but I'm pretty confident that they don't usually argue with one another.

I plop down on the edge of my bed to pull on my socks as Nikolas tells me his tale of woe. Apparently, normally the two of them would go together to school dances and functions like many teams do, but Magumi got asked out by some dude named, Jacque, leaving Nikolas without a date to the upcoming Winter Wonderland dance.

"I'm nout upset she gwot a dat. I'm happ-e for her, but she's being no help in getting one for me. So, I was wondrin' if youw could hewlp me out?"

I stop moving for a moment. Dealing with the drama of teenage live while also dealing with the perils of Avian Flu… well, it's kind of amusing sometimes.

"Sorry, Nik. Just cause I'm gettin' some doesn't mean I'm much of a matchmaker. I don't really know that many girls. Maka is kinda… possessive." I say as I run into the other room to retrieve my shoes that I vaguely recall Maka flinging across the room when we were getting it on last night.

"It's ok," He calls after me. "Ywou only gootta kwno one. I'm gownna ask Leeydia and I want you to pwuot in a good word for me." I walk back out of Maka's bedroom, a sneaker in each hand staring at the young man in front of me.

"Are you _serious_?"

"Yeah, Leeydia's swuper awesome. Only thwing is dow you thwink she can get past miy voice? I've never asked a girl out 'cause I'm so 'barrassed about it," he says looking down at his feet. "But if I don't ask her out Magomoo wants to set me up with Pateeca." Despite his funny articulation it isn't hard to tell that he does not want to go with whoever this Patricia person is.

Maka comes out of the bathroom madly brushing her hair before putting it into her signature ponytails.

"Patricia?" She asks. "Is that the girl with the twenty-four cats?"

"Yes," Nikolas moans.

"Oh, _her," _I say. All I know about the girl with all the cats is that her weapon is the _only_ student who is _not _forced by the academy to live with their meister; for Patricia's partner a special exception was made. The popular Speculation around campus being that it had a little something to do with her insane posse of felines. "Yeah, you don't want to do that… I heard she smells."

Maka glares at me. "She's very nice."

"I didn't say she wasn't nice," I say defending myself as I walk into the kitchen. "I said rumor has it that she reeks of cat piss, and I suspect that is not on Nikolas' list of things that attract him to a chick."

Nikolas grins, "So, you'll put in a good word with Lydia for me?"

"No, sorry man," I say tossing Maka an apple to munch on the way.

"You think she's out of my league, don't you?" Nikolas whines as the three of us head out of our apartment.

"Dude, she's so far out of your league, she's not even in your country," I tell him honestly.

"I kwnew wit," he hangs his head.

"It isn't that she's too hot for you, it's just she's…" how can I put this delicately? "Really _experienced_… you know that, right?"

"Did you have sex with her, _too_?" he asks wide-eyed. Maka glares at me.

"_No_, Lydia and I are just friends. But I'm sure my meister and I can come up with another girl for you to take to the dance."

On the walk to the academy, Maka and I toss out what seem like a million and one suggestions of potential dates for Nikolas, but he shoots them all down for one reason or another. So, as we enter the hallowed walls of the DWMA, I admit defeat, "Fine, if you want to go out with Lydia so bad, I'll tell her you'd be interested in taking her, but she sees you as a boy… and she's-"

"Into Toefur. I kwnow. Everone says thwey have 'cemistree'. I think it's bwullshit. I dun't care that he's a vwirgin. He's still way too old for her, and I'm nwot a little kid and now that Lydia's not pwaired up with Ereeka, she's actually a nice person and I can't hang out with my swistur for the rest of my life."

I survey the boy in front of me. He's brave and compassionate and fairly cool… for an underclassman.

I grin. "Well, I'm not wild about her obsession with Ganglehoff, either. So, sure I'll put in a good word for you, but don't be surprised if she turns you down."

"I understand," he says. "Thanks!" As he scampers off, I shake my head. How can such an innocent, sweet soul be into _Lydia_? Does he even have the concept of the level of depravity, sarcasm, and bitchiness she still houses, even without Erika's influence?

My thoughts on this matter come screeching to a halt when I realize that the youth in front of us who is propping himself up against the wall reading a magazine is Kid.

"Good Morning," he says from behind the skateboarding periodical. "Do I need to give both of you watches for your next birthdays?"

"No," I say. "Maka and I were-"

He throws up his hand, magazine and all, "I don't want to know. Just come with me. We can't discuss your mission here and considering the way our communication went yesterday it is perhaps best that I just _show_ you rather than attempt to explain myself, as you are clearly too impatient to allow me the _decency_ of speech."

"We're really sorry," Maka says. "We shouldn't second guess your wisdom."

Kid throws his head back laughing and places a hand on her shoulder, "Maka, you and Soul are my advisors. I _welcome_ your challenges and input. I'm not angry because you would second guess a decision I make. I do, however, become _livid_ that you refuse to _listen_ to me. You jump to conclusions and assume you know the truth before you have gathered all the information. Your insistence on approaching everything half-cocked-"

"Kid, I assure you I am fully cocked at all times," I say grinning at him.

He shakes his head at me. "Well, then it explains why you were a _dick_ to me yesterday." Maka's jaw drops open and he shakes his head at her. "What? Is the Demon Weapon Meister Academy's Lord Death not allowed to say something so vulgar and colloquial?"

"No," Maka stutters. "I've just never heard you-"

"Talk like a teenager? Yes, well, perhaps the Thompsons are rubbing off on me." This thought seems to amuse him as he smirks. "They are _very bad_ girls, after all." He steps in front of us as he makes this remark, which is fortunate so that he can't see the look my meister and I exchange.

"Despite my skills on the battlefield, my medical knowledge, and my strategic expertise which have all been instilled in me by my father and the talented teachers here at the academy, I find it hard not to be discouraged at times. This conflict is so much larger and more multifaceted than _even you_ can image. It's so challenging for me to keep it all balanced… symmetry must be restored." Kid continues his diatribe about balance and order and the _chaos_ that is asymmetry. I spin my finger near my ear to indicate to my meister that I think he's a tad more loco than usual today and she nods in agreement.

"But, I have faith that we will eventually gain the upper hand. This evening's simulcast should be the ticket to gaining attention to the conflict and the atrocities of Avian Flu. Witnessing the perfect symmetry of myself with Liz and Patti will impress upon the world the power and determination of the DWMA and leave Blitzengard trembling in his shoes."

"Where are the girls?" Maka asks and I know that she's probably wondering because whenever Kid is teetering on the edge of obsession or madness they can pull him back from it better than anyone else and he is definitely seeming a little unbalanced today.

"Getting ready for the broadcast," he answers. "They have to get their hair done and the final alterations to their dresses must be done. I'm lucky. All _I_ have to do is don my reaper robes and mask and I'm good to go, but my ladies require considerably more preparation."

At this point, I realize that I have no idea where Kid is taking us. But that's become fairly common place, lately, I guess. Though, I am startled when he opens a janitorial closet and looks around the hall as though to assure himself he is not being spied upon. Apparently satisfied that he has not been followed by anyone besides me and my meister, he slides a mop and bucket aside and lifting up a bucket of paint from on a shelf of various housekeeping items, reveals a keypad. He punches in a code and the wall opens like a door. Another secret passage?! Are his shoes telegraph machines, too?

We step into the corridor and he pushes a button which causes the door to seal behind us before leading us down a series of stairs.

"You remember how that water main broke in the cellar and flooded a large portion of the academy's basement?" Maka and I nod. "Yeah, well that never actually happened," Kid says flatly.

"You lied?" I ask quirking an eyebrow.

"And this surprises you why?" He asks grinning at me. "Reapers _have_ been known to create subterfuge on occasion. We are not in the most honest of professions."

"Yeah, but why would you lie about _basement plumbing_, of all things?" Maka asks.

"Because I needed an excuse for contractors to be coming and going from the school as we had a great deal of work to be done and a flood creates a hotbed of mold and bacteria which creates the perfect excuse to restrict access to an area. It would be unethical to allow members of the student body or faculty to be exposed to such a health hazard."

"So, what you're saying is that you've done a bunch of shit to the basement you didn't want people to know about?" I ask.

"Precisely, and the cover story of a flood has worked even better than I could have hoped. Unfortunately, the rest of this project has not been going as well. But I believe if anyone is capable of getting us the results we need, it will be the two of you. You see, for the last few days we've starting working to rehabilitate P.O.W.s."

"You're trying to rehabilitate birdmen?" I ask intrigued.

"No, the birdmen are adults, and they have made a choice to turn to evil. I feel no guilt in claiming their souls, but I don't feel the same way about the 'munchkin' type demons."

"You captured a bunch of them?!" Maka asks.

"Yes. Allow me to present to you, the DWMA's special guests, eighteen munchkin-type demons."

He opens a door and we see a large room designed like an old-fashioned prison with thick iron bars separating the prisoners from a narrow passageway. Maka and I survey the first of multiple cells. This one holds three demons. One is coloring, one is in the corner snarling at us, and another seems to be playing hopscotch even though the floor lacks any marked squares. This must be fairly normal behavior for our captives, as Kid continues talking without any real acknowledgement of their actions.

"Once you solved the mystery of why their souls did not have the qualities of a traditional kishin egg, I knew that we would need to attempt rehabilitation of their souls. Though, as far as I know there has never been such a feat performed previously, but as I am also unaware of successful youth to demon conversion I am hopeful."

"Avian Flu is the first group in history to convert kids to demons?" Maka asks.

"It would appear to be so. Even the Salem Witches' results were disastrous. From what I've uncovered previous attempts at such forced transformations ended with the rupturing of the soul and death of the child in question."

I shake my head. It's horrible to think that these kids might be the lucky ones. How disturbing is it that other wackos throughout history have tried to do this as well? I wonder why Harold Blitzengard was successful when others failed. What's so special about that bastard? That's what I'd like to know.

"But, Kid, you're keeping them behind bars…" Maka says slowly walking up to the wall of metal rods separating them from us. Our friend quickly grabs her by the arm, pulling her back.

"You must be careful. They are still very much our enemies. They did _not_ surrender to us. Your father and Professor Stein rounded them up from a kid-to-demon conversion facility near San Francisco."

Grimacing, my meister asks, "You mean my father wasn't spending that time gallivanting with cabaret girls?"

"Well," Kid laughs. "Knowing Spirit there _may_ have been a _little_ skirt chasing in there, but we used your father's hobby as a convenient cover. Everyone just assumed that's what was taking Spirit and Stein so long on their trip, that… or that the two of them were finally giving into their latent homoerotic desire for one another."

Maka shakes her head. "Those rumors are no truer than the ones about you and Soul."

Smirking Kid says, "Perhaps, but desire is a very complex thing; I make no claim to be able to judge affairs of the heart."

"Dammit," my meister says hanging her head. "I think I owe my dad an apology."

"He left yesterday in search of Blair, but I'm sure that when he gets back he would love to have a father-daughter heart-to-heart. He's been very concerned about you. He's even gone so far as to reach out to Soul."

Maka looks at me in shock. I shrug. "I wasn't sure that mentioning it would be a good idea, but he took me out to breakfast yesterday."

Shocked, her eyebrow arches. "And you survived?"

"Yeah, he's coming around," I admit.

Her face assumes the puzzled expression of one trying to pick out an individual instrument in a symphony of sound. I'm unsure what she's thinking, but I'm _sure_ there is something on her mind.

"We can talk more about it later… if you want," I tell her awkwardly.

She nods and sighs, "As if I needed another reason to feel bad right now. It's hard for me to imagine him treating Soul with any respect. It's just so hard to take my dad seriously."

"He has a weakness for beautiful women, that's for sure," Kid acknowledges. "But I think many men do, myself included."

"He's much more blatant than most," Maka tells Kid as she gazes at the demons.

The reaper nods. "I would _definitely_ agree with that."

"And," continues my meister turning to look at the reaper, "_You_ seem to be under the impression that being honest about your attractions would bring shame upon your family name."

Kid freezes for a moment before bringing his hand up to stroke his chin. "Do I _really_?" I take the question to be rhetorical until he says my name. "Soul, do I act that way?"

"Uh," I think about it for a moment. "Yeah, bro, you kinda do. I don't think the girls take it personally, though."

"You mean that, _hypothetically_ speaking, I might appear to be _ashamed_ of the attraction I might, _hypothetically_, have to a member of the opposite sex, were I to have one?"

"That'd be one way of putting it, yeah," I say nodding. "Another way would be to say that you have a _stick_ up your _hypothetical_ ass."

His eyes grow wide. "A _stick_ up my ass? Are you saying that because I called you a 'dick'?"

"No," I tell him. "I'm saying it because all the Thompsons want to do is love you up and down and sideways, and you keep coming up with excuses why you aren't taking your relationship with _either_ one of them to the next level."

As soon as I utter their surname Kid becomes agitated. He would much rather Maka and I pretend that we don't know who it is he desires.

"Hmph!" he says glowering. "No one has any patience these days. No one knows how to tend to something and let it grow and-"

"Patti's ripe and ready for the pickin'," I tell him. "And I don't know how long her patience with you is gonna hold out."

Maka nods. "Kid, everyone's nerves are worn thin, and you _really_ should act a little more grateful for all the attention and affection Patti bestows on you. She really does love you, you know."

Kid hangs his head. "I'll take that into consideration in the future, but I have my reasons." He appears so downtrodden that I think we better drop the subject. There's never much point in badgering Kid about anything, anyhow. He always does things the way he wants to, regardless of what would make sense to everyone else.

"Speaking of Patti," he says suddenly striding to the next enclosure and staring at a demon in the back corner. It is blue and grey all over with a scaly texture to its skin and it appears to have scissors for hands. "Snip, I have a bone to pick with you. Snip! Don't pretend you don't know I'm talking to you. I know you know that's what Patti and Liz are calling you." The demon raises his (or her?) head. "You hurt Patti, and I do not like people who hurt my partners. I ask you to kindly remember that you are a guest here. If you did not like _Grumpy Rabbit and Happy Bunny_ you could have just handed her another book to read to you. It is _not_ OK to slice her. You got that? _No cutting or slicing_. You are a _guest_." The demon sulks a little and hisses at Kid, but Kid ignores this and turns to converse with us. "Stein and Spirit got them here by using their combined Soul Suture technique. That immobilized them effectively for transport, but without something akin to that level of restraint they can be very dangerous. They were implanted with the command to kill us. Their primary goal does not appear to be their own survival, but destruction of those they perceive as enemies of Avian Flu."

He walks us along the narrow path next to the cells and tells us the nicknames that his team or Spirit and Soul gave to each demon. He knows a little bit about each one's likes and dislikes and he assures us he has a more thorough description of each one written down for us to review. When we reach the end of the ward he raises his voice and addresses the eighteen demons.

"Everyone, please listen up. This is Maka," he says taking my meister's hand and holding it up. "Next to her is Soul. They are going to be in charge of you from now on, and I warn you that you cann_ot_ try any funny business with them. Maka, Soul, assume your battle stance." I transform and Maka grabs me, flipping me around with the ease of meisters twice her age. A couple demons applaud or wobble like Jule does when he is excited. "I am sure that you can get along with Maka and Soul. They are nice, but if you try to hurt them or each other they are under orders to attack." I'm more than a little startled by this threat to them, but Maka and I stand firm. "They'll be coming here daily to assist me in taking care of you. You can expect them to be here bright and early tomorrow." At this he gives my scythe eye a warning look that tells me I better not forget to set the alarm two days in a row or Maka and I will be on his shit list for sure.

He then leads us back out of the ward and opens one of two nearby doors. "We built in a little studio apartment down here. While you're working on rehabilitating them you may at times find it more efficient to stay here than return home and that's what this space is for. Also, if there is a security threat from Avian Flu I may order you to stay underground in order to protect and preserve this sanctuary." He straightens the Death Mask brooch at his neck, "That's what I've been calling it, 'The Sanctuary.'"

Maka smiles. "It kind of is, isn't it?"

"There's also a gym for their physical health and another room for playing games or playing music or whatever activity you might want to try to engage them in, but sadly at this time, I don't feel we have good enough security to take them above ground. I would like to keep some mystery about what we did with them and their location."

"You think we're still under surveillance by Avian Flu?" Maka asks.

"I'm sure of it," Kid says with flared nostrils. "Though, I think they won't dare make a move after we almost took out Harold."

"Who knows about the sanctuary besides your team and Spirit and Soul?" I ask.

"Mira and Sid and Joe and Jule, though I fear I completely botched telling him about it. I tried to show him that demons like him were here, but I think he misinterpreted my motives. Now, every time he sees me or the Thompsons he takes off running. I think he believes I want to lock him up in here." Kid appears very disappointed. "I would greatly appreciate if you can clear that up. I feel really terrible about it, but he won't give me a chance to explain myself. I was actually hoping he would show the others that they could be free of their cells if they learn to behave themselves."

"Sure, I can talk to Jule. I've been thinking I should stop by and say, 'Hi,' anyway. Is he still staying with Marie?"

"Yes," Kid says. "But Marie does not know about any of this. Professor Stein and I thought it was best to keep her in the dark, at least for now. She's even more high strung than normal, what with all those pregnancy hormones coursing through her."

Maka makes what sounds like a disapproving grumble, so I decide it would be prudent to change the subject before she accuses us of being insensitive to females.

"What exactly are we supposed to be doing with these…" I pause, unsure of what to call them, "Kids? We're fighters, not prison wardens."

"Well, the goal would be that they would eventually not require a warden, and I selected the two of you to work with them because you've shown an affinity for compassion toward the munchkin-type demons that I haven't seen from other weapon/meister teams."

"Just because I figured out that they were children forcibly changed into demons doesn't mean I know what to _do_ with them or how to change them back," Maka says nervously, as her soul reaches out toward mine. "And neither one of us is experienced with younger kids."

"Yeah, totally. What good am _I _gonna do? I don't know shit about little kids," I tell him honesty.

"You both sell yourself short. Soul, you are the only one who has elicited a munchkin to have a change of heart mid-battle. By examining how that happened we may gain an understanding of how to convert them back to their former selves, or at least how to make them more benign in nature."

"Jerome is the one who reached Jule, not me," I say. "If I'd been alone-"

"If you think you need a child as a partner for this project we can arrange for that. Whatever you need, whatever you want to try, I will support, because we can't keep them like this indefinitely. If we can't convert them," the reaper's yellow eyes look as though they are welling with tears. "I'm going to be forced to order their deaths."

Maka gasps and grabs his arm, gripping it with enough force to cause him to grimace. "Kid, _you can't do that!"_

The reaper's eyes meet hers not with the hardened look of a general giving orders, but instead with eyes pleading for help. "Maka, I may _have_ to; I don't _want_ to, but I may be forced to execute them. It isn't fair for them to spend the entirety of their lives in a cage, and I am duty bound to do what I deem to be the most humane thing for them and for the safety of Death City's people. Some of these munchkins are quite violent and still have murderous intentions. Besides that, due to the brainwashing they endured they are in a constant state of excitation. They barely sleep and some of them barely eat. Were they to learn to relax it would be different, but-"

My meister takes my hand as she cuts off Lord Kid's words, "If there is _any_ way we can save these kids we're going to do it." I nod, immediately knowing the words to be true as I can already sense the determination in her soul and it is that strength which I will always follow. Sure, it's more of a babysitting mission than a kicking ass mission, but I was wrong in thinking that there couldn't be important business to be done here in DC. It doesn't get much more important than saving lives, especially lives like these, innocent victims of Harold Blitzengard's vision for worldwide domination.

Kid smiles, "I'm sorry to put all this pressure on the two of you, but I felt it best to be honest with you."

"We'd have it no other way," I say. "Now if we could only get you to be honest about a few other things…"

He frowns at me and mouths the words, "We'll talk about the Thompsons later."

I grin. Maybe what I told Nikolas is wrong, maybe I am kind of a matchmaker.

Kid straightens his back and clears his throat, before dramatically stating, "Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans, your assignment is to oversee the care and conversion of these demons to, if not productive members of society, at least less homicidal community members."

"Oh, Kid. Thank you so much," Maka says throwing her arms around our friend. He stands there smothered by her embrace, a befuddled expression visible on his face.

"For what?" he laughs. "I've stuffed you in a basement with a bunch of kids who would like to kill you and a task that may not even be possible. Most people would want to annihilate me for this."

She laughs as a tear or two falls from each of her eyes. "We're not just anybody. We're resourceful, creative, hard-working-"

"You are," I agree. "Me? Not so much."

Maka whacks me gently on the gut. "Kid, thank you for giving us this chance."

"Of course. I only wish there was more I could do." He smiles at Maka's tear-streaked face. "Come on, let's get some fresh air."

We step out some kind of emergency exit into the sunlight and I see Kid reaching into his coat for a cigarette. Fresh air, my ass. Maka excuses herself to go to the restroom and Kid happily turns the corner into an alcove to light his cancer stick. Holding it like a cigar, he breathes in the smoke as though it makes him whole.

"You doin' ok?" I ask him. I'm a little worried about him today… he doesn't seem quite like himself.

"Sure. Other than a couple of my friends were real assholes to me yesterday."

I grimace. "Dude, that was my bad, and Maka and I are really sorry."

"Why is it _so_ hard for you to trust anyone other than Maka?"

I drawback. "I trust you."

"You have funny ways of showing it, though you aren't the only ones."

"Being Lord Death is hard work, huh?" I ask leaning against the wall and looking up at the clouds in the autumn sky.

"It's not as glamorous as it may sound."

"At least you get to have some very pretty companions."

He smiles and his eyelids lower in a lustful way. "I have no complaint there." After another puff of smoke he asks, "So, did you and Maka make up, or are you still in the doghouse?"

"I'm not sure. I think I got used for sex last night."

Kid laughs, coughing out clouds of nicotine-scented smoke. "You don't _know_?"

"Well," I say debating. "We _had_ sex…"

"I'm relieved to hear that you know that much for sure," he says shaking his head.

"But I don't think we're officially back together. She's convinced that I 'cloud her senses' or some shit, like I distract her from being the best demon hunter she can be."

"What a load of _bull_," Kid says. "You want me to talk to her?"

"Naw. I think I just gotta wait it out till the guilt of Justin's death isn't at the forefront of her mind."

Kid shakes his head. "That was not your fault or Maka's. For all we know he could have taken a cyanide pill and _then_ had his body desecrated. The autopsy was inconclusive on that point."

We stand in silence for a time. "Can I tell you something?" he asks.

"Shoot."

"I am horny as hell," Kid grumbles. "I'm in agony."

I burst out laughing. "I don't think I've ever heard you use the word 'horny' before." I pause. "Wait! Why are you telling _me_ this?! You don't expect me to do-"

Kid kicks dirt toward me. "Ewww! _No!_ I just have to do something."

"Well, I know of _one_ hot chick who wouldn't think twice about jumping your bones."

Kid grins widely. "Ah, Patti. Yessss…" He blows a long stream of smoke from his lips as if kissing a lover.

"So, what's the problem? I know you like her."

He sucks in the smoke, taking his time before answering. "Yeah, I do…"

"But, you like her _sister_, too… don't you?"

He nods and leans his head back pouring smoke upward like a geyser. "I can't do anything till I can make a move for both of them."

I raise my eyebrows. "You serious?"

"Absolutely. I can't image being with one without the other."

"Holy crap! You're way kinkier than I thought."

"What's wrong with wanting to be with the people I love?" he says to me earnestly.

I narrow my eyes and examine him. He's playing himself up as being awfully innocent and charming for a guy who wants to make it with two chicks at the same time.

"It's called polyamory," he explains. "It's defined as the loving of multiple people at one time. You can look it up. I'm not the only person like this. It's not that weird."

"It's weird, Kid."

"It's not weird," he says shaking his head with a hint of a smile.

I shrug. "I'll be honest. _I_ think it's weird, but I don't think there's anything _wrong_ with it." He smiles triumphantly as though he has won me over to his point of view. "But _you_ must think there's something wrong with it or you would have made your move by now."

Kid frowns at me. "I'm not ashamed of my affection for my ladies-"

"Or the X-rated fantasies you have about them?"

He blushes. "I have _no_ shame… no wait… that doesn't sound right. I mean, I'm-"

"Get off your ass and do something, Kid!"

"You act as though I've been sitting on my laurels! I've been capturing children turned into demons, managing a worldwide offensive against a sadist and you expect me to somehow manage to work in securing _two_ girlfriends? Those are unrealistic expectations, even for a Shinigami."

"Ok, I get your point, but you know, you could use this to your advantage. Emotions are running high. It's a good time to make a move."

"Giving love advice?" Maka's voice makes me jump ten feet in the air, I swear. "Don't worry, I didn't hear anything I couldn't surmise on my own."

"Please don't tell the Thompsons anything, ok?" Kid asks nervously.

"Of course," Maka says sweetly. "But you might want to do something soon. The natives are restless, if you get my drift."

Kid smiles. "Yeah, it won't be too long. Demon Twin Pistol Day is fast approaching."

"What? Is that a thing?" I ask confused.

"For them it is," Maka answers. "Every year Kid and the girls celebrate the anniversary of them forming their team."

"Or rather, I take the girls to do whatever they want and buy them whatever they want," he says.

"How come there's no Soul Eater Day?" I ask turning puppy dog eyes toward my meister.

"Because you should just be thankful I don't fire you!"

"That is so unfair, Maka," I shout. "What's with the hate all of a sudden? After everything I've done for you!"

"You let us oversleep!" she wails, waving her arms franticly.

"_You_ jumped me last night and _rode_ me till I passed out! Sorry, for not remembering to set the alarm, but I wasn't exactly expecting the girl who dumped me twenty-four hours earlier to order me to give her sex!"

Our friend must have forgotten whether he was inhaling or exhaling as he is now choking himself on his cancer cloud and coughing like crazy.

"That's not _exactly_ how it happened," Maka says blushing from embarrassment.

"Close enough," I say with a grin.

"You say _one thing_ about me not being able to control myself and I will hit you so hard!" my meister threatens.

"You wanna try it?" I say switching to my scythe arm. "_Really?_ Cause I could be a really good paper shredder for some of those prized books of yours."

"You wouldn't!" She shrieks.

"Oh, I so would, Miss I-Still-Love-You-So-Let's-Have-Sex-Even-Though-I-Dumped-You!"

She gasps. "Don't be like this in front of Kid! He'll probably never want to be alone with us again!"

"Yes, you're soiling my virgin ears," he says dryly before suddenly cracking a wide smile reminiscent of my favorite teacher. "But, Maka, I _do_ believe that you owe Soul an apology."

"You're not the boss of me!" she shouts. Then quieting down she continues, "Well, you are sort of… but what happens between me and Soul is-"

"Not _that_. You gonna tell your scythe why you were late to meet with me yesterday?" Kid's grin is wide.

I glance at him and, as usual, I can't read anything from him, but Maka looks shocked.

"How do you…?" She asks nervously. "You haven't set up surveillance in our apartment or something have you?"

Kid laughs. "No, I'd be scared of what I might end up seeing. No, Harvar was bitching out Ox about it and I overheard."

My head spins from the reaper to my partner who says weakly, "I would have told you _eventually_, I just thought it would be better to wait. We're both going through so much right now-"

"_What_ did _he_ do?"

Maka sighs. "You were right. I was wrong. Ox does have a little bit of a thing for me, I guess." She says the corners of her mouth curling downward. "He came by because he heard we broke up."

"Thoughtful, really," Kid says with such subtle sarcasm you wouldn't catch it if you didn't know him. "He waited, what… three whole hours?"

"That fuckin' bastard!" I shout, and Maka laughs.

"It doesn't matter. You know I don't like him and now I _really_ can't stand him."

I remember her running up to me looking disheveled; her shirt was untucked.

I put my hands up. "Wait a second! Did he, like put the moves on you or something?"

"Sort of," she admits. "But he stopped as soon as I told him to and then he started crying like a blubbering idiot-"

"An act, I'm sure," I blurt out.

"I don't know about that," Maka says. "He was very apologetic about the entire thing." I cross my arms and glare at her as I press my lips into a thin line. "Soul, don't make that face. You look like your eyeballs might pop out when you do that. You don't have anything to worry about," she says taking my hand, forcing me to uncross my arms. "I made it _very_ clear that I was not in the market for a new relationship and that my heart still belongs with you, and he promised not to bother me again."

I want to ask more. I want to ask why I should take the word of a bastard like him, but instead I squeeze her hand.

Giving her a toothy grin, I request, "Say that I was right one more time."

She groans, "_You were right_, _sort of_, he admitted he was only going after me because he's heartbroken that Kim isn't into him."

Kid smiles at us, his cigarette at its end. "Maka, why don't you just admit it? You can't stand not having Soul as your boyfriend and the only clouded judgment you've made was when you broke his heart."

Maka's so shocked by the frankness of his words that she stands there frozen, unable to come up with a retort. "Maka, the two of you love each other. You should be together." Then his tone changes abruptly. "You should also get to work. Here is the key code for the entrance we used. Inside the drawer in the desk in the studio you'll find the codes for the alternate entrances. Please use a different one every few days. Profiles of each of your new friends are also in the desk. I've gotta go, but feel free to stop by the mansion in a couple hours. You can check out the Thompsons get ups."

Before taking off for whatever other pressing thing is next on his agenda, he sprays his mouth with some kind of breath freshener and gives us each a hug. "Remember, you two, you only live once. I know that much for sure. So, please don't force me to order you to kiss and make up in front of the entire student body. Have some dignity and do it on your own, ok?"

Maka sputters and spits as he hoverboards off. "Since when are you some kind of love expert?" she shouts after him.

"Watch and you'll see," he says never turning back. "Don't worry, I will be taking my own advice very shortly. I promise." Then he leans down and zips off at full speed.

"Can you believe that?!" Maka asks me.

I tip my head. "He does have a point, though. Don't you think?" I say sweeping stray hairs from her face before kissing her.

"Sooouuullll," she whines my name. "I'm sorry. I made a mistake and-"

"Let's not worry about any of that right now," I say wrapping my arm around her. "Kid gave us one hell of an assignment, and I think we better get to know our new friends."

She smiles. How did I know hours of research and work would delight her? Shinigami, she is _such _a _nerd_! But, god dammit, I love her.


	83. Chapter 83: Shrouded Intentions

**Risenfromash:** This story has been recently honored with a number of people binge reading it from the beginning to its most recent installment. I'm glad that you find it entertaining enough to devote the time to. Hopefully, the continuity isn't too terribly bad that way. Thank you for the reviews!

_**Chapter 83- Shrouded Intentions; Whose Perspective is Accurate?**_

Maka and I hunker down in the Sanctuary's studio reading to one another the descriptions of each demon, trying our best to commit to memory the little the DWMA knows about them. There's Grace a quiet one in the corner who likes to paint and color, but shrieks at anyone who dares to study her artwork for too long. No one seems to have identified her attacks. There's Charley with whip like arms and a nasty temper, and Saber who refuses to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and has a sharp birdlike beak with razor edges. It's like reading about a bunch of b-level comic book villains only I can't make fun of any of them, because that would just be awfully mean.

I'm lying on my back on the bed, Maka seated at my feet as she reads Viper's file, this child earned the nickname because of her split tongue and lunging attacks.

"Maka…?"

"Hhhmmm," she replies. She must be reading to herself as her eyes don't rise from the page.

"I've quit absorbing," I admit. "I know there's only eighteen of them, but they're all starting to blend with one another. And I'm starving."

She sets the file down. "Thank, Shinigami. I thought it was just me."

"Nope. We should take a break. We could pop over to Kid's and check things out before the broadcast and make Bartholomew feed us."

"Sounds like a plan."

I'm surprised my workaholic partner agrees to this, because we've only been at this for a couple hours but the task assigned to us comes with some pretty heavy ramifications and I suspect that is what is making us both feel drained. That and there's no natural light down here. I feel like we're underground in some post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, two people responsible for repopulating the planet. I grin. I wouldn't mind the fluorescent lights nearly as much if Maka were naked.

"Soul?" My meister looks at me. "What are you doing? I thought we were going."

"Oh, sorry," I mumble. Thank God she didn't know I was thinking about sex she probably would slug me if she knew I was totally imaging her on her back, her hair down, giving herself to me over _and over_ again all in the name of saving the human race.

Damn it! I'm all hot for her again. _God damn_.

Less private thoughts, Soul! More focus on life as part of Kid's inner circle of confidants! Ugh! Why will my brain not do what I tell it to? Hhhmm, maybe it has something to do with how adorable Maka looks in that V-neck sweater and pink and purple plaid skirt and those tall knee high purple socks that I just want to peel off of her… oh, my _god_ I have got to stop. There has to be something I can think about to get my mind off of sex. The demons. Yes, the poor munchkins. It's horrible what happened to them and I have to show Maka that I don't cloud anything. We have to be an entirely unified team one hundred percent focused on rehabilitating them. If I can show that my head is in the game and just how much I aid her she'll back off on this whole stupid thing she's on about me 'clouding' her judgment.

Reaching the home of Kid and the Thompsons, Maka rings the doorbell as my stomach growls almost as loudly as the doorbell's chime. The door is opened promptly by a man who looks familiar to me, but is most definitely _not_ Bartholomew, the Death family butler. _This_ man greets us warmly. "Howdy. Nice to see you guys. I think Kid's in the sitting room. They're setting up the cameras in there. Can I get you something to drink?"

I'm stunned. I don't think the Ol' Fart Bart has _ever_ offered me a drink without Kid having to order him to do so. Instead, he usually stands in the corner awaiting instruction and frowning.

"I could use a soda if you got one," I say.

"Certainly, Soul. Anything for you, Meister Maka?" The friendly man asks politely. She tells him she'd like a water and he excuses himself to go to the kitchen. I know I know that guy from somewhere. He's in his fourties, maybe mid-thirties, glasses… where do I know him from?

"Maka, who is that guy?" I ask her squinting my eyes as though that will somehow help my memory.

She laughs. "You're kidding, right?"

"Uh… no. I can't figure out where I know him from."

She shakes her head. "You only see him after every mission."

"I do?"

"It's Louis… the accountant," she whispers to me.

Of course! The school's bookkeeper dude! I knew that! "What? I didn't recognize him without the desk," I explain defensively.

"Or maybe it's because he's not frowning at you for filling out your paperwork illegibly," she says winking at me. This could also be true, because Louis has never seemed this nice when I've been turning in my reports. With him every 'i' has to be dotted and every 't' crossed. Come to think of it, that would probably make him the perfect butler for someone as anal retentive as Kid.

"You think the Thompsons bumped off Bartholomew?" I whisper to my meister and she gasps. The girls have been joking about killing Lord Death's faithful manservant for as long as they've had the 'pleasure' of knowing him.

"I was only kidding. Mr. Symmetry would never let them do it."

"I don't know. I think they've cast a bit of a spell on our friend," she says as she watches Kid pacing out something on a sheet that has been draped up to act as a backdrop while he and his ladies are filmed.

"They aren't witches, he's just horny is all," I whisper back.

"How romantic," she says with a frown.

"He can't be Prince Charming all the time," I tell her before greeting Kid.

"Why's the school's accountant answering your door?" I ask him.

"Bartholomew has been transferred to another assignment… for a time, and Louis graciously agreed to act as the estate's new butler in his absence."

I grin. "Finally stretching your power, huh? I tell ya- if I were Lord Death the first thing I would have done was get rid of him and Ms. Leech." Joe snickers from the opposite corner of the room where he is setting up a shit ton of audiovisual equipment with the assistance of Lava Snake. "It's only temporary. I just thought a change of pace would do him some good."

Joe laughs more as he walks backward unrolling some kind of power cord from a large spool.

"You keep telling yourself that, Kiddo," Joe says with a grin at the young Lord of Death.

"What's so funny?" Kid asks. "I merely-"

"Kid!" Liz's voice shakes the room from somewhere down the hall. "Lord Kid, get your scrawny ass out here."

"Oh, dear," mutters Kid under his breath. "What now?"

Liz stomps into the sitting room wearing what appears to be a black evening gown that is not entirely secured to her body as it has a number of pins sticking out of it.

"Death the Kid! Did you tell Ms. Vanderlume to pad the bust in my dress?!" Liz shrieks at him.

Kid smiles and nods. "Yes, _of course_, I did. We need you and your sister to be perfect-"

"You say 'symmetrical' and I'm going to hit you in the face," she says sneering at him as he gazes back at her with a charmed appearance.

"Now, Liz," he says. "You don't hear Patti complaining about having to wear those three inch platforms-"

The older Thompson huffs in the manner of an angry bull about to charge. "There's a big difference between wearing platforms and having someone tell you that your _boobs_ aren't big enough."

"Liz, I never said _anything_ about the size of your bosom other than that it is obviously smaller than your sister's. I assure you that I find your breasts _equally_ lovely, but as they need to match, it seems easier to augment yours than to _bind_ hers to her like Joan of Arc."

"Ugh! You don't get it do you?" she says marching up to get an inch from his face.

"Get what?" he asks still seemingly unaffected by her anger. "Why are you taking it so personally? You look _absolutely_ gorgeous." He reaches toward her and begins arranging her hair into ringlets on her shoulder as if he were playing with a doll. "Such perfection," he murmurs as he stares at her.

She glares at him. "I hate you."

"You do _not_," he says smiling a little before shouting down the hallway, "Patti, back me up here. Tell your sister how much I adore her."

"She's not there," Liz says rolling her eyes.

"What?! Where is she?" I can immediately sense the fear in the reaper's voice.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Patti's voice drifts down the grand staircase in the foyer from somewhere above our heads.

"Good grief," Kid says as his other partner comes into view at the top of the stairs. She's wearing pink flannel pjs and bunny slippers which force her to walk in a funny high step to keep from slipping on the smooth marble floor.

"Did you just _now_ get out of bed?" He asks, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, I was worn out," she says yawning and stretching. "But I feel better now."

"Maybe if you hadn't stayed up all night flirting with Kid you could have gotten up at a decent hour," Liz complains.

"He told them to pad your bra, didn't he?" Patti asks reading right through her sister's comment to the real cause of her upset.

"_Yes_," Liz answers rolling her eyes. "And don't you _dare_ compare that to you having to wear those stupid shoes."

Kid smiles at the both of them and then brings his hands together in front of his chest as though in prayer, "Perfect symmetry will enable our message to-"

"How'd you like it if I said you had to have your _crotch_ padded?" Liz shouts.

To my surprise Kid takes her threat in stride. "That's just _silly_, Liz. You and I both know that no padding is necessary for _me_." My jaw and my meister's fall open in shock, but the reaper continues, "_I_ am _perfectly_ symmetrical-"

Patti closes one eye and taps her lips in thought with one of her fingers. "Except for that _one little_ mole. On the left-"

Kid's eyes grow to the size of saucers and he runs over to her clamping a hand over her mouth to quiet her. What have those two been up to? I'd swear they were doin' it except it was pretty clear from my conversation with him earlier that he wasn't gettin' any.

"Princess, how about you and your sister get back to the fitting before Ms. Vanderlume gets upset?" He suggests forcefully as he pushes the younger sister down the hall.

"What? You didn't think me and sister were gonna look? Why else would we play strip poker with you? Gotta check out the merchandise, you know?" Patti says giggling and winking at him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Kid says flatly.

"Quit being a sore loser," Liz tells him.

Kid lets go of Patti and whips around to face the older Thompson. "You _cheated_! Who puts more clothes _on_ during strip poker?"

Liz and Patti grin devilishly. "Of course we cheated. We weren't about to let your little plan work the way you wanted it to."

"Plan? What _plan_?" Kid asks. "As I recall all I said was, 'Let's stay in tonight and have some fun and you said 'Ok, let's play a game,' and the next thing I know you have me stripped naked-"

Patti yawns. "Let it go, Kid. We beat you."

"Only because you _cheated_! I demand a rematch and we'll see who-"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind watching you undress again," Patti says smiling. "But not right now. _Now_, I'm hungry. Kid, get me a snack!"

Kid's nostrils flare as he listens to the girl's demands. "You wouldn't _need_ a snack if you got up and had breakfast like Liz and I. Now scoot! Don't keep Ms. Vanderlume waiting, _please_, she's a bit of a witch."

"Literally or figuratively?" The younger of his two partners asks.

"Figuratively and in her youth, literally."

"Intriguing," Patti comments as she gives Kid a peck on the cheek. "If you want to see me naked you could just ask you know. You don't have to make everything so complicated all the time."

He stands there flabbergasted as she dashes up the grand staircase.

"_Now_ what are you doing?!" he asks exasperated by his partner's lack of discipline.

"I gotta get the shoes. Otherwise, they can't make the dress the right length."

Kid nods. "Oh, ok."

"I'm telling her to pad your crotch," Liz mutters bitterly.

Kid sighs. "Ms. Vanderlume isn't making me an outfit. I'll be wearing my reaper regalia, but if you must you can find some other demeaning thing to do to me. I'm sure you have a list of possibilities in your head."

Before she can reply, a blood-curdling scream is heard coming from somewhere upstairs.

"Patti! Patti, what's wrong?" Kid shouts as he runs through the foyer and up the stairs toward the girl's bedrooms. "Are you alright?"

Maka and I are right behind him practically flying up the steps two at a time. I can feel his soul wavelength reaching out to support Patti as he attempts to keep his cool, but there's no denying the level of fear he's in; it's nothing short of panic. His relationship with his younger gun may seem oddball and goofy on the surface, but there is a very deep bond there. One I would venture to say rivals my feelings for Maka.

We find Patti standing in the doorway of her bedroom hyperventilating.

"Patti, are you OK?" he says pulling her into his chest.

She points across the room and with effort gets out the words, "Mr. Longneck!" My gaze travels to one of Patti's prized possessions, a stuffed giraffe that stands over four feet tall, or rather did as I see that Mr. Longneck has been beheaded and his neck slashed into coin like sections that are scattered on the floor. A knife is stuck in his chest and something red has been smeared over the entire mess to simulate blood. As if the massacred stuffed animal isn't disturbing enough, on the wall next to the giraffe smears of the fake blood substance are formed into the words, "Patti Thompson, you'll be next."

Liz gasps and Kid springs into action. He barks at Joe, who apparently came upstairs with us, I had no idea he was here till now, to protect and care for Patti and he gently hands her off to Joe and she awkwardly finds herself clinging to the chest, not of her partner but of the gadget guru.

"Liz, assume weapon form. We're going to check the perimeter," Kid orders as he runs to the window while summoning Beezlebub. "Maka, Soul, search the house. Make sure the perpetrator is not still inside. If you find anyone sound the alarm immediately."

I run over to unlatch the window just in time for him to go flying out it and over the edge of the balcony on the hunt for the guilty party. I'm not sure what he would have done if I hadn't opened it.

We run across the hall to check Liz's room and the guest room at the end of the hall, but we come up empty.

"It could have been an inside job," I tell her as we check what we consider to be easy hiding spots: in the closet, under the bed, behind the curtains, and behind the door.

"Bartholomew?" she asks.

"Maybe… He could be using Avian Flu as a scapegoat when he's just mad at Kid."

"Hhhmmm. I don't think so. He's a crotchety old fart, but I don't think he's maniacal. You know what I mean?" she says. "Well, nobody here. Let's go check Kid's wing."

We do the same for Kid's section of the house, but find nothing, so we head down the stairs to check out the kitchen and pantry. It seems unlikely that the guilty party would have managed to elude Lava Snake and Ms. Vanderlume _and_ Louis as they've been moving around the other parts of the downstairs, but you never know.

We're in the kitchen nosing around when Maka who is standing by the sink says, "I think I saw something. Outside. Come on."

I follow her out the door that leads from the kitchen to the outside.

"What'd you see?" I ask swapping my forms as we run.

Catching me with ease, she says, "Not much. Just movement, but there's someone here. I can sense a soul I don't recognize. It feels like a weapon."

I consider this. If it feels like a weapon that probably means it is someone with the DWMA. Was this really an inside job? Who could be so brutal as to be mean to _Patti_? Could some jealous girl be using this as an opportunity to hurt Kid's main squeeze?

"Maka, we've gotta catch whoever this is!" I don't know why I say it. I know she knows, but sometimes I just say shit. I think it makes me feel like I'm helping when there isn't anything else for me to do but play lookout. Speaking of which, I think I see something. It could have been the brisk wind. It's hard to know, but you learn to trust your instincts when you're a demon hunter.

"Maka, over there by that bush."

"Which bush?"

"That one with the bigish leaves."

She runs in the general direction and I have to correct her movement when she veers to the wrong shrub with large leaves. "No, not that one! The one on the ri-"

"There's someone."

We see a figure running away from us. The person is short and dressed in a long green cloak that camouflages in with the foliage. My meister takes off in hot pursuit of the assailant while I scream to Kid that we found something, though I'm not confident he's within ear shot.

Maka runs and begins to gain on the person in the cloak, until she trips on a tree root. She loses her footing and stumbles, practically falling face first.

"Whoa, you ok?"

"Transform- run!" I switch to human form and take off running, but it's already too late. I've lost the person. Maka catches up to me and proceeds to cuss like crazy as she clutches her side from the pain of sprinting.

"It's ok, meister," I tell her as I pant. "Let's get back to the house and make sure they haven't found any other suspects."

We hobble back to the house entering through the kitchen and as soon as we enter the foyer we can hear that Liz and Kid are in a heated argument with one another.

"What the _hell_, Kid? You _said_ you had security under control," Liz screams.

"I thought I did," he admits.

"_Thought_ is _not_ good enough," Liz says cruelly. "You _swore_ to me that you'd protect her and-"

"Don't you think I know that?" He sounds ashamed.

"Kid, if you can't protect her-"

"You'll do _what_? Try to do it without my help? That's what you were gonna say isn't it? That you're better off without me? I'm not an idiot, I know that as long as you remain here she's their number one target, but it's not going to stop if you leave because they know how important you two are to me. Besides, they are also doing this in a strategic effort to break up what they recognize as one of the DWMA's greatest teams. We can't have a kneejerk response to their attempt to unnerve us."

"'Attempt'? This is not what I'd call an 'attempt', Kid. _They got in_. They were _here_ in her _bedroom_. Kid, I don't know if we can trust that-"

We enter Patti's room just as Patti appears to have had enough. "Stop! Stop fighting. Of course we trust Kid. He's doing the best-"

"Patti," Liz says loudly. "Someone got into the house. _This is _not_ good_. We don't have second chances at this, Kid. You told me that you were doing everything you could to keep my sister safe!"

"I am."

"Then your best isn't good enough," Liz says taking Patti by the shoulders.

I can see the hurt on Kid's face. "I'm sorry," he says humbly. "We'll get to the bottom of this immediately. Please, give me another chance."

Patti pulls herself free of Liz's grasp and throws herself into his arms.

"Don't let this happen again," Liz says. "Or I'm taking her away from here."

Kid nods. I want to ask where Liz thinks they could go; it seems foolish to think that anywhere would be safer than with Lord Death, but I keep my mouth shut, because Kid is turning to address me and Maka as well as Joe and Lava Snake who have reappeared from wherever they were.

"The good news is that Patti is alright," Kid says addressing the group. "But we have a lot of investigating to do. We need to figure out how they got in and when and we need to ensure that they haven't tried to bug the house or planted anything else on the premises."

Kid kneels in front of Patti. "Patti, when were you last in here?"

"You just got up right?" Maka adds.

"Yes, but I haven't been here since yesterday. Sister and I slept with Kid last night."

Kid turns a little red. I suspect he wasn't intending to have it become public knowledge that the girls were sharing a bed with him. "Right, both of you were with me from about seven o'clock on last night. So when did you come in here yesterday?"

Patti squints as though her memories are stored in a very bright star. "After we ate dinner. I came in here to get those earrings Liz and I were thinking about wearing for the broadcast and to grab my pajamas. I haven't been back since then. I was up in the middle of the night 'cause I had nightmares, but I just used your bathroom to get a drink of water and came right back to bed."

"And we wonder why we can't stop her nightmares," Liz fumes.

"Liz, this is the action of a desperate group of people who are doing anything to turn us against one another. We need to stand firm together and show we will not be intimidated. And when I find the person responsible, they _will_ be _made an example of_, you can be assured of that," he says sternly.

Patti says nothing but gathers up the slices of giraffe neck placing them in a wicker basket she's grabbed off her bookcase.

"Patti, sweetheart. I can get you another giraffe," he says sweetly, but Patti shakes her head.

"Then it wouldn't be Mr. Longneck. I'm gonna ask Tsubaki if she'll stitch him back together."

"I'm sure she will," Maka tells her. "But it may not be pretty. You'll probably be able to see the damage."

Patti smiles. "It's ok. He can have scars. It'll be like when you sees Soul's scar and remembers how much he loves you and all he's sacrificed for you."

I grin at my meister. _Someone _appreciates all I do for her. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"You sure that's what you want?" Kid asks. "I'm not sure all this red stuff is going to come out. I think its paint or nail polish." Patti nods her understanding. "Very well. Joe get that knife out of him and dust it for prints. Princess, how about you and I find Mr. Longneck's hospital gown and get him dressed for surgery?" Kid catches my smirk. "What? You don't think giraffes just walk around naked do you?"

"I'm pretty damn sure they do," Lava Snake grunts.

"Not ones that live indoors," Patti explains. "Oh, let's put his slippers on him, too. He'll like that. It'll distract him from the fact his head isn't attached."

Kid walks over to her dresser and opens a drawer and begins rummaging around among its contents. "What a mess. I think Mr. Longneck has more clothes than I do."

"He probably does," Liz comments. "You buy her something for him on practically every occasion."

"It makes her happy," Kid says smiling. "Oh, here it is." He pulls out a small bluish garment, holding it up in front of him before realizing it's actually a pair of ladies' panties. He turns bright red, but before he can toss them back in the drawer Patti squeals. "I've been looking all over for those. I was beginning to think I must have left them in your room!" She pulls the panties from his hand with a come-hither grin before giggling and running away.

Lava Snake watches this with amusement and crosses the room to stand next to the reaper whistling as he watches Patti's ass as she dashes away.

"You're an idiot, Kid," he whispers to him.

"Thank you," the reaper replies sarcastically. "I really need that today."

"I'm just saying you need to quit screwing around and start screwin' that chick or I swear I'm gonna take matters into my own hands."

"Carey, the only reason you are in my home is because the DWMA requires your assistance with the worldwide broadcast not because I consider you a friend or confidant. I can handle my ladies without your assistance." He pauses. "Ahhh…. Here they are one hospital gown and one… two… three… four booties."

"Excellent," Joe says as he drops the knife into a Ziploc bag. "Hopefully this will have some clues."

Kid turns. "Good, after you're done checking it for fingerprints I need you to review the surveillance tapes from post 142B, 143C, 147D, and 158AA."

"Very good, Kid. I'll get right on it. You just take care of Patti."

"Thank you," he says. "I will be needing you to stretch your technological skills for me, but for right now let's start there."

"Certainly. Do you want Ganglehoff to come get some pics?" he asks.

"Hhhmmm," Kid considers this. "I think we better not. If he sees this he is bound by his oath as a journalist to share this incident with the general public and I'd rather keep this private. You can use my camera to snap a few photos for archival purposes before the maids come in here to clean this place up. And, Liz and Patti, I'm sorry, but I'm just not going to be comfortable having you alone in this wing right now. I know that you're very strong together, but I fear I'll still lose sleep if I don't have you with me."

"That'd make me feel better," Patti says. "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to sleep in here again."

Kid nods. "We can convert one of the guest rooms into a personal chamber for you in the future. In the meantime, Maka, Soul, would you mind staying with us here at the mansion to help with security? I know it would make me feel better knowing that the two of you are close. I have some real concerns about who may have done this." He gives Maka and I a look that tells me he has more to communicate, but doesn't want to do it at this time and my meister nods.

"At this time, we've confirmed there is no one in the house or on the grounds other than those with the proper security clearance to be here, so let us return to our duties. Liz, that means you need to get back to Ms. Vanderlume. I'll escort Patti there in a few minutes."

Liz says nothing creating a silent stand-off between the older Thompson and her meister.

"Is there something else you would have me do, Liz?" The reaper asks. "If you think I am not doing enough-"

"Liz, please don't be angry at Kid." Patti's eyes are bloodshot, her face blotchy. "I wasn't hurt. This is actually a really _good _sign! If Avian Flu is so desperate that they're attacking stuffed animals that means Kid's turning the tide of the war and the DWMA is-"

"But, this is your room!" Liz shouts tears beginning to pour from her eyes. "Patti, you could have been-"

"But I _wasn't_," Patti says taking her sisters hands. "I'm freaked out, but I wasn't hurt and that's all that matters, sister. Besides, I'm not some china doll. I'm _tough_. I could have taught those ass holes not to come between a girl and her favorite stuffie."

Patti looks at the threat painted on the floor. "It's so weird to think they want me dead so bad. I mean, I know I'm Lord Kid's partner, but I'm just a weapon."

"There's no such thing as 'just' a weapon," Maka says. "'Meisters are forged by the blood and sweat of their weapons.' That's what Sir Judas Lancaster said when he fought the onslaught of bloodsuckers in Northern Europe in the seventeen hundreds."

I quirk an eyebrow; this sounds like the dorky kind of thing Kid would say. She flashes an embarrassed grin back at me, intuitively knowing my thought.

"But, besides being my weapon, I think there's another reason Blitzengard isn't a fan of you, Princess," Kid says smiling at her as he takes each hand in his.

Startled, she says, "Oh?"

"You find joy and love everywhere and in everything, and you are a beautifully free spirit. You won't let anyone tell you what to do, even me. That makes you the antithesis of everything Avian Flu stands for."

She stands there staring into his yellow eyes as he closes his eyes and kisses her and this is no little peck that can be played off as a sign of brotherly love. This is all out frenching in front of all of us. If Black*Star were here he'd be telling the two of them to get a room, for sure.

Kid whispers something in her ear and she blushes before running over to her sister. "Come on we gotta make sure our dresses get done."

Liz sighs and wraps an arm around her sister. "You'd tell me if this was some crazy scheme you came up with to get Kid to share his bed with you every night, right?"

"Oh, that would have been super sneaky," she giggles. "But I could never hurt Mr. Longneck."

Kid watches them leave and once everyone else clears out, he reaches over to turn the radio on. He motions for Maka and I to sit down on the bed next to him and he whispers, "I think someone we know did this. Someone who knows their way around the house and the campus."

I nod. "Maka, sensed a weapon outside. They gave us the slip, but there was definitely a short person in a green cloak out there."

"Keep your eyes open and trust no one. Hopefully, the security cam footage will give us some more clues."

I grin. "Maka and I are always willing to help. As long as that invitation to stay at your place includes a room with a Jacuzzi tub."

Playfully, Maka punches me in the arm. "Didn't I break up with you?"

"Supposedly," I say grinning before taking her hand. "But I think that's kind of like how Liz and Patti _aren't_ Kid's girlfriends." Kid frowns at me, but I continue undaunted. "_Technically_ it's true, but the feelings in the soul indicate something entirely different."

Kid makes no comment, but turns from us, saying only, "I'll let Louis know to prepare a room for the two of you."


	84. Chapter 84:Spike Heels, Cloaks & HandCuf

_**Chapter 84- Spike Heels, Cloaks, and Handcuffs; Kid's Incredibly Amazing Abilities?**_

Maka and I hang out at Kid's debating different theories about who got into the house as Lava Snake and the others prepare for the recording. They've turned one corner of the sitting room into a temporary studio. It's draped with grey and white marbleized fabric and they've positioned a variety of different lamps around it, some of which look like they might have once been used at _Hottie's_ for illuminating the stage. Half way across the room there is a huge stack of computer components, speakers, and other crap that presumably is what Lava Snake needs in order to hack into media feeds.

When Ganglehoff shows up to help out Joe and Lava Snake all of us abruptly drop the subject of the break in and giraffe bludgeoning, because Kid forbid us from telling him anything about it. I keep a close eye on Christopher out of fear that I will screw up and let something slip.

Around noon, Cherry arrives to bring her boyfriend lunch, which appears to be nothing more than a clever excuse for coming by to ogle Kid during the filming, and just as at the memorial her outfit is over the top. She is wearing a tiny denim mini skirt, a purple tank top, a jean jacket and mile high stiletto-style boots.

"Oh, Kid," she says after handing her man his lunch. "Is this broadcast really going to be seen the whole world over?"

"If your boyfriend does his job right." Kid says not allowing her to break his concentration as he pulls a tape measure from his pocket to reevaluate the 'x's he's put on the fabric floor to mark where he and his team are supposed stand.

"Are the girls about ready?" Lava Snake says as he chomps down on the hero sandwich Cherry brought him, resulting in some of the sandwich's contents spilling out onto the computer below him. "We should get 'em in place and make sure their makeup and everything looks ok while I'm working on getting past the encryption codes."

Christopher nods in agreement. "Yeah, have them come in and get in place and I'll check how things look through the camera."

"Ladies," Kid calls toward the room next door. "Are you about ready?"

"Not quite," Liz shouts back. "We're still powdering Patti's cleavage. It takes a while. Hey, wipe that grin off your face, pervert!"

Kid freezes and studies the wall separating him from his partners as though expecting to see Liz has some kind of periscope she is using to spy on him. Abandoning this thought, he says, "I suppose I should get dressed, too." He nonchalantly holds out his hand making his Lord Death mask and robes materialize and Cherry vibrates with excitement. He grabs the mask and places it on his head in a raised position and unfurls his cape with a flourish causing her to make a little breathy noise as she swoons. Maka rolls her eyes at Cherry's fangirling and I grin. I sometimes think that Maka and Tsubaki are the only chicks immune to the Shinigami's sex appeal or whatever weird charisma he has with women. I've always figured it's because they know what our friend is _really _like and how he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, but if that's the case then there'd be no reason for Patti's to have such intense desire for him.

Kid adjusts his garments and finds his spot, oblivious to the effect his every movement is having on the stripper. "You don't have any shadows falling on the mask, do you?" he asks Joe and Lava Snake. "It _must_ look _pure_ white. It needs to be in perfect contrast to the black for the mind to register on a subconscious level that there is no grey area that would excuse the deplorable actions of Avian Flu-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lava Snake placates our Lord, waving his hand in the air, never once raising his head to actually pay any attention to him. "Me and Joe have got the lighting covered, pretty boy."

Lord Kid cocks his head to one side. "Did you just call me 'pretty boy'?"

"Yup, and it ain't a compliment, but don't worry 'bout it," he says tearing off another hunk of sandwich with his teeth while he pushes buttons on his keyboard.

Kid stands there confounded. He looks over at me and I shrug.

"There's worse things he could call you," I assure my pal.

"The albino has a point," Lava Snake says pointing his finger in my direction, again, not raising his head from his work. "But if all of you could shut the hell up, it'd be super fuckin' awesome, 'cause I'm doing some _real_ difficult shit right now. Thanks."

Kid walks over to Maka and I who are sitting on the floor off to the side of the makeshift stage snacking on some barbecue potato chips.

"I really dislike that man," Kid says softly to the two of us as he watches the club owner stuff the final third of his sandwich into his mouth in one go.

Cherry walks over to her boyfriend and tries to begin a conversation about what he's up to. "Damn, woman. Did you not hear that I'm busy?" he barks back at her and she hangs her head. It's awful how he treats her and it's awkward for all of us to be witnessing it.

Joe stops fiddling with the microphone-like contraption he has been messing with and says, "How bout I get you a chair and you can sit over here by Soul and Maka?"

"That'd be nice," she says smiling gratefully as Joe runs off to retrieve a chair from another room. Quickly, he reappears carrying one of the chairs from the Death family's antique dining table. He sets the chair next to me and my meister, giving a sweep of his hand to indicate it is hers, before he returns to his work. Cherry starts to walk over to us, but the spiky heel of one of her black boots snags a power cord, and she begins to fall face first.

Kid leaps forward catching her mid-fall in what ends up appearing to be a very cozy embrace.

"Are you alright?" he asks as she rights herself her breasts inches from his face.

"Just fine, thanks to you. You have _very_ fast reflexes," she coos her eyes wide as though she's trying to take in every inch of him. I swear I see her squeezing his arms to access his muscle mass.

"Well, I'm a meister. I train hard to be fast. You didn't twist your ankle did you?" he asks. "We ought to have you sit down and make sure you didn't sprain it. Come on." With his arm draped around her waist he supports her as he leads her to the waiting chair.

"Those spike heels can be deadly. Most impractical," he comments as he kneels in front of her.

"I know," she giggles. "But I think they look so sexy, I can't help but wear them."

He nods, "Sexy, indeed, but let's get them off you so your foot can swell if it needs to." He crouches in front of her and she extends her leg and he reaches up the inside of her leg to find the top of the zipper that is resting just south of her knee. I see the Thompsons enter the room like two incredibly attractive clones in identical black satin and lace dresses each with a mask that conceals only half of their face Phantom of the Opera style. For Liz it's her right side and for Patti it's her left. I'm studying the intricacies of the white and black designs on the mask when I notice the expressions the two girls are wearing and realize that if I'd been on my A-game as Kid's right hand man I would have gotten him the hell away from the stripper before they got in here. I would have told him to have Cherry undo her own boot and to back away from her if he knew what was good for him, but I wasn't thinking about it till this second when I witness his partners' reaction to seeing him on one knee in front of the stripper. They observe as he talks to her softly and gently removes her knee high black leather boot from the foot she twisted. I grimace. This looks bad no matter how you slice it, and Kid hasn't even noticed that Liz and Patti have entered the room.

"The things you ladies do for fashion," Kid chuckles as he removes the boot and sets it side. , gently grasping her foot in his other hand. "Excellent. Does it hurt when you move it?"

"What's going on?" Liz demands walking over to oversee what Kid is up to, an even bitchier look on her face than usual. I suspect that between this and the giraffe incident she's about at her tolerance limit as it is never very high to begin with.

"She tripped and almost bit it. Kid's worried she might have a sprained ankle," I say rushing through the explanation hoping to lessen the number of daggers Liz is sending Kid's way with her unrelenting gaze.

"And she is?" Patti asks confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Kid says popping up from his knelt position. "Patti, Liz, this is Lav-Carey's girlfriend, Ch-Sherry. Ch-Sherry, these are my partners, Liz and Patti Thompson."

"Yes, we met at the memorial the other day," the stripper says politely standing up like a flamingo on her one unhurt foot which is still wearing a shoe.

"Oh, yes, of course," Kid says. "You'll have to forgive me. I had a great deal on my mind that day. Now, about your foot," Kid kneels back down, but he does it before Cherry anticipates it, leaving Kid in a position where he can essentially looks up her short skirt, the lucky bastard, when he speaks to her.

I hear a grumble from Liz as she watches her partner fawning over the girl's foot.

"You know, I think your foot might be about the size of Liz's. Perhaps you could borrow a pair of shoes from her. They probably won't be as sexy as your boots, but I think at this point function should be-"

"I can't share shoes," Liz says flatly. "I have athlete's foot."

"Oh," Kid says looking up at Liz with a befuddled expression on his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize. Why didn't you ask me to make a poultice for it? You know that the dispensary has some herbs that could get it cleared-"

"I've been too busy to worry about it. I guess some of us have more free time than others." She glares at her meister before turning her back on him and walking away. Patti, however, does not leave, but continues to stand there watching Kid as though her heart is breaking. Maka springs up and goes over to Patti whispering something to her as she leads her friend away from the vicinity of Cherry, but even as Maka walks with her Patti looks back over her shoulder at the reaper a forlorn look on her face.

I sigh. Kid's such an idiot. He isn't doing anything wrong, but he's still an _idiot._ Does he not know that the Thompsons' hackles rise anytime he's within five feet of another woman who is not a teacher or Maka or Tsubaki… or Krona, if he counts, I'm never sure about that.

"Hey, uh, Kid can you, uh, help me over here?" I ask unable to come up with even a lame excuse to get him to leave the attractive woman's reach.

Kid nods and excuses himself from his spot directly in front of Cherry's snatch. "What's up?" he asks as though he has no clue that he has upset his partners, which I fear is probably the case.

"Uh, Kid," I whisper to him. "I don't think the girls like you being so friendly with Cherry."

"Really?" he says glancing over at them. "But she's injured."

"Yeah, and she also has the hots for you."

"Oh, she does not," he says laughing. "She's far too old for me… and too, er… knowledgeable."

"You don't believe me?" I ask.

"No, I think you're on crack," he says grinning.

"Fine, turn around and look at her."

Kid shrugs and turns around and Cherry immediately smiles from ear to ear and waves moving each of her fingers in these little movements that seem somehow erotic and suggestive even though I'm not sure why.

"Oh, dear," Kid says. "I didn't realize. What should I do?"

"I don't know. But try not to look right up at her fun parts again. That's for sure."

"What are you insinuating?!"

I roll my eyes. "You saw her panties, didn't you?"

Kid turns red. "Yes, but it wasn't intentional. It was an innocent mistake."

"What'd they look like?"

"Red thong, why?"

"Just curious," I say grinning devilishly.

Kid frowns at me. "Soul, need I remind you that you have a girlfriend?" He pauses. "Kind of."

"Don't judge me," I retort. "You're the one wanting to make it with two chicks at once."

Kid holds his chin high. "It has _nothing_ to do with sex. I care very deeply for the two of them-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," I say dismissively. "And if you really feel that deeply for them than you need to get your ass over there and pay some attention to them, and if Cherry has any other fashion malfunctions let _Maka_ help her." The image of Maka assisting Cherry with a broken bra strap that…oops, just made her bountiful breast fall out… appears in my mind's eye and I let it stay there for a moment enjoying its simple beauty.

"All right. I think we're ready to do this thing," Joe shouts. "This time we aren't gonna run any film. We just need the three of you to practice. Remember Kid starts with- 'I am Lord Death and I'm interrupting media feeds worldwide to notify you of the atrocities of the organization, Avian Flu.' Then he continues blah, blah, blah, freedom, blah, blah, sworn to defeat, blah, blah. Then he's going to extend his hands like this," Joe demonstrates Kid's signature arms on either side open handed stance that leaves him ready to receive his partners. Then on the count of three, Liz and Patti will be in his hands and then Kid'll bring them in front of him and bang! He shoots and then we cut to Lava Snake's logo. Got it?"

"We've hopped into Kid's hands before, believe it or not," Liz says sounding annoyed with Joe's directing.

"Yeah, well some people get nervous in front of the camera," Lava Snake says as he feverishly types on the keyboard in front of him. "You should have seen some of the men who've been in movies with Cherry. They could hardly get it up."

Every head in the room other than Lava Snake's whirls around to look at Cherry. She waves again and smiles with a tip of her head, "I guess I'm a bit intimidating, but Kid's never seemed to have a problem."

Oh, my god, Hot Chick. Shut up! That sounds _totally_ wrong! I don't know what you mean, but I know you don't mean what it _sounds_ like you just said.

Whether it is the revelation that there is a porn star in our midst or just normal nervousness the threesome botches the dress rehearsal and the first take with film, and it only seems to get worse as the more things go wrong, the more flustered Kid gets, and the more he tries to get it right, the worse it becomes. On take five he actually says 'Avian Poo' rather than 'Avian Flu'. It's so bad it's laughable. Thank, Shinigami that Lava Snake told them that they needed to broadcast a prerecorded segment and not do the thing live like Kid had originally intended to.

"Kid, honey, you need to loosen up," Cherry says limping over to him. "Relax, just pretend the cameras aren't here and you're just hangin' with Liz and Patti having a good time. I know you can do it." She smiles at him and then makes a little clucking sound with her tongue. "Your collar's bent funny. Here, let me fix it," she says reaching toward the back of his collar so that his face is right in her cleavage.

"You look great," Cherry says happily to Liz and Patti as her tits dangle right in front of Kid's face. The girls respond with an icy 'thank you' but say nothing else. Recognizing that the Thompsons are not appreciating Cherry's help, Maka steps forward and takes Cherry by the hand.

"I think we better let them get in position for another take," my meister tells her kindly.

"Yeah, Cherry get the hell out of the way," Lava Snake shouts. "And get me something to drink."

"But, his robe is rumpled. I was gonna smooth it," Cherry pouts reaching her hand out in the direction of the Lord of Death.

Lava Snake grunts, "Honey, this isn't like one of your films. It's all gonna be from the waist up." He laughs at his own crude joke, and Maka glares at him. Kudos to me for telling Maka he was an asshole as soon as she met him so that me knowing him doesn't make me guilty by association.

"Whadda ya want? I'll grab it for you," I say to the rude bastard.

"Whatever's cold… but make it big. I'm gonna start sweatin' like a pig over here from the heat of all this equipment."

I tromp out of the sitting room and into the kitchen and open the fridge. Milk… a pitcher of some weird ice tea with freaky looking flowers floating in it… beer… orange juice… root beer. I grab three cans of root beer and close the door of the fridge and about jump out of my skin when I see that there's a person on the other side of the door.

"Hey, Soul! How ya been?"

It's Brian. I guess he's still staying in the mansion.

"Ok, how 'bout you?" I say after my heart regains its normal rhythm.

"That's good. I heard that Maka dumped you. I was worried about you. I know you two are kinda codependent."

I crack open the root beer. "At least I have a partner." Last I heard about Brian, was when the Thompsons told me that Kid was still struggling to find someone to pair with the little punk.

He shrugs. "I haven't found a meister yet, but it's not like I'm not doin' my part. I was on guard duty all night."

"Where were you watching?" I ask wondering if he might have seen anything near the mansion.

"East sector, by the bakery. It was boring as hell, except for when this totally hot chick was getting undressed."

"You were spying on some chick when you were on lookout duty?"

"It was an accident! At first, anyway. She had fine tits," he says as though this should serve to make his voyeurism completely permissible.

"Brian, you can't keep doing that shit. You'll get kicked out of the DWMA."

"Naw," he says opening the fridge and pulling out a string cheese. "Kid wouldn't let that happen. He knows I don't have anywhere else to go."

"You might be surprised. On one level Kid's your friend, but he's also Lord and headmaster and he takes that pretty damn seriously. 'Sides wouldn't you feel a little violated if you found out someone were checking you out when you were changing?"

"Not really. I'd be flattered, unless it was a dude. _That_ would be creepy."

I'm not sure there is any point in lecturing him, but I continue. "All I'm saying is you gotta cut it out. I know a couple guys who got _expelled_ for sexual harassment."

"You serious?" I nod. "That's crazy. The Thompsons are _always_ doing shit to Kid."

"He likes them so he doesn't report it."

"Yeah… about that," he says. "Which one is Kid into? I can never tell."

"Why? You think you've got a chance with his runner-up?" I ask sarcastically.

"Maybe," he says as he swaggers over to the kitchen counter trying to look like some kind of sensual badass as he approaches the fruit bowl to grab himself an apple.

"In your dreams," I mutter before slurping some of my soda.

"Yeah, ok, but like, I don't wanna say or do anything that'll piss him off."

"You already piss him off."

"Shit, I do?" He says looking concerned.

I laugh. "Don't worry about it. Everybody pisses Kid off. He pisses himself off."

"But, seriously are he and Patti an item now? 'Cause I don't think _either_ of the girls were in their beds last night..." His voice trails off as though he's trying to figure something out.

My eyes narrow. The doubt that had overtaken me back when he took off with the motorcycles comes creeping back.

"How do you know that, dude?" I ask trying not to sound accusatory.

His eyes shift guiltily. _Fuck_, if he's working with Avian Flu Kid is gonna be more than _pissed_. He's gonna be homicidal. He opened his home to this little motherfucker and _trusted_ him… shit! I want to threaten the punk and get him to tell me everything I need to know, but I tell myself that it's better if Maka and I do it together that way if he's the one responsible there will be one person there who has a more forgiving nature.

"I don't know nothin' for sure," he yawns. "That's why I'm asking."

Even if he isn't the culprit he may have seen something that would help us in the investigation. What bait could I use to lure him to somewhere my meister and I could rattle the truth out of him, I wonder. What would keep him from hittin' the hay when he's been up all night and is obviously tired? Then it hits me. Heh, heh, I know just the thing.

"You wanna check out a porn star?" I ask casually as though it's totally typical for me to be hanging out with women who fuck on film.

"You serious?" I nod. Bingo! It's like taking a camel to water… or a bottle from a baby or whatever the fuck that expression is. "Oh, man, totally!"

I smile slyly, "The dude whose hacking into the television feeds for the broadcast has a stripper for a girlfriend and I guess she's done some movies, too. She stopped by to deliver him lunch."

"Awesome."

"Come on and I'll introduce you." He looks at me as though I'm a god, and I can't help but be proud of my cunning. We walk together to the sitting room and as soon as we get there Brian scans the room for his prey and quickly identifies Cherry as being the lady I was telling him about. The sad thing is that even if the Thompsons weren't the only other chicks in the room it would have still been obvious who's the porn star. Brian forgets all about me introducing him and swaggers over to her with a level of confidence I've never displayed in front of any female.

I set Lava Snake's sodas down on top of some computer equipment next to him just as Joe shouts, "Places," and I motion to my meister to come talk to me in the hall before they start recording again. She dashes from her side of the room, barely out of the way before they shout, "Action."

"What's up?" Maka asks sounding puzzled once we're alone in the hall.

"Brian knows the girls weren't in their beds last night."

"So?"

"So, think about it, Meister, why would _he_ know that? It was obvious Kid hadn't intended to let that become common knowledge; you know he likes his privacy when it comes to him and the girls. So, what reason would _Brian_ have for being in the girl's wing?"

The implication sinks in to Maka. "You don't think…?" She turns and gazes at the boy.

"I don't want to," I admit. "But he won't tell me how he knows, and it _would_ make sense. He wouldn't have had to force his way in."

"The person we saw in the garden was taller."

"Not by much _and _he's a _weapon_."

"I think I would have recognized his soul, Soul. I _did_ use him as my weapon back in Mexico, remember?"

"Oh, yeah…" That's a relief. The twerp is an A-1 pervert, but I can't help but like him.

"Then again, he could have had an accomplice and it could have been _that_ person I sensed." I frown. If there's one thing I hate it's considering that a friend might have turned traitor on us.

"Do you really think he'd be capable of it?" Maka asks hesitantly.

"I don't know. I can't imagine him actually hurting the girls, but mutilating a toy and leaving a message like that? Yeah, I think it's possible."

She nods. "I hate to say it, but it sounds like the kind of immature thing he would do…"

"Maybe he isn't conspiring with Avian Flu, maybe he has some other reason to be pissed at Patti," I say, knowing that I'm just throwing out the idea because I'd rather accept any other excuse for him doing this than that he has actually turned to the dark side.

"Yeah, maybe she kicked him in the balls one too many times," Maka offers.

"Or maybe he's jealous of Kid 'cause he has a thing for Patti."

"And took it out on Patti?" Maka asks skeptically.

I shrug. "I dunno. He's young and dumb and I think he's scared of Kid."

"At this point I think he should be. If he did this we may have to stop Kid from killing him. For real."

I nod. I've seen the Shinigami rage take hold of Kid more than once and this whole thing with Patti hits him very close to home.

"So, what do we do, meister?" I ask.

She studies the young man for a moment and then proclaims, "We start by peeling him off Cherry's tits, for one thing." I glance over at him. He's standing next to the blonde blatantly staring at her chest; I'm surprised there isn't a puddle of drool at his feet. "Then, we take him outside and we question him. You got any rope?"

"Yes, _in my pants_. I have fifty yards."

She rolls her eyes. "Soul, you don't have to get sarcastic with me. You had some at the hotel and I didn't expect that," she says defending her absurd question.

"We were on the road then. We had _bags_. I'm not even sure I brought my god damned wallet with me this morning."

"Nikolas was very distracting," she agrees. "I don't think I managed to get my ponytails even."

I throw my hand to my forehead. "Arrrrrggggghh! You're not symmetrical," I moan, pretending to twitch.

"Be serious. Find rope or handcuffs. Oh, I know! You can borrow Liz's."

"I'm _not_ asking Liz for manacles."

"Why not?"

"I don't know what she's used them for!"

"God, you are such a baby. Here, I'll show you how it's done."

Maka dashes back to the door to the sitting room and waits till in-between takes and shouts, "Liz, can I borrow your handcuffs?"

"Sure, they're in the nightstand by my bed. Have fun," she says and I can hear the laughter in her voice.

"Ha, ha," I say frowning. Then to Maka I whisper, "See, they're in her _bedside_ table. I bet they're covered in Rodrigo juice."

"Oh, for Pete's sake. I'm not going to report to Kid that you let a turncoat slip from our grasp because you were worried that there were bodily fluids on Liz's handcuffs."

"Fine, we can use them. Just grab a pair of rubber gloves for me to wear."

"You're pathetic," she says shaking her head. "For someone so obsessed with sex you sure get grossed out by it awful easy."

"That's because it's beautiful when you and me do it and disgusting when anyone else is doing it."

She sighs. "What an in-depth analysis of human sexuality, Soul. I'll be right back."

I walk back into the sitting room and watch Kid and the girls as they do take after take. Even Joe who is normally laid back is starting to lose it. How hard can it be to say a few lines about how shitty Avian Flu and Harold Blitzengard are and how their souls are rotten to the core? I'm really beginning to wish we had that tape Lydia and I made.

I'm grimacing from the latest mishap, a lamp crashing down mid-take that sends Kid's team dodging lightbulb shrapnel, when Maka comes back, the handcuffs swinging from her waistband and I find myself getting incredibly turned on as I think about unclipping them from her belt and tethering her to a bed and stripping her…

"Soul, find an excuse to get Brian to come out to the garden with us. We'll take him out to the gazebo and question him there."

"You don't think you're _super_ obvious with the cuffs?"

"No, whispering to Liz would have attracted _more _attention. This way he probably thinks we're borrowing them for our mission."

"I could see that."

"So, how you gonna get him out to the gazebo?"

I shrug. "I'll figure it out. We'll meet you there in a couple minutes."

The sitting room is a mess when I return. Joe and Christopher are scrambling to clean up the shattered lightbulb and repair the lamp while Lava Snake spews a seemingly endless slew of cusswords as he alternates between pounding his keyboard with his fingers and his computer components with his fists. Meanwhile, Brian is having what appears to be a one sided conversation with Cherry who is gazing at her crush in the Lord Death Mask.

"He's just so… you know what I mean?" she whispers. "Did you see how he positioned his body between the lamp and the girls? He's so protective of them, such a _gentleman_."

Brian grunts. "Meisters _are_ pretty cool, but weapons are a lot more versatile. We can form our bodies into all kinds of different shapes that are useful for all _kinds _of purposes," I hear him say it, but I can't believe he went there. Is he seriously hitting on Cherry with the old 'I can become a giant dildo for your pleasure' line? Oh, my God!

I grab him by the collar. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Talking to the hottie," he says winking and licking his lips in a manner that completely grosses me out.

"She's like twice your age, Brian, and her boyfriend is right over there." I gesture toward Lava Snake who looks like such a slub at this point with crumbs from his sandwich clinging to his sweat soaked t-shirt that I almost regret having called attention to him.

Brian whispers, "_He's _her boyfriend? Is she blind?"

Across the room Lava Snake still seems totally engrossed in his cursing and button mashing, which is apparently how hackers perform their craft, but he scolds Brian. "Hey, pipsqueak. You quit gawking at her, or you owe her some money. She normally gets paid for that."

Cherry squirms awkwardly on her chair. "Sweetie, I've told you I'd rather you didn't say stuff like that. I'm not a call girl, you know."

"Close enough," he says still not stopping his work.

"I guess you're right," she says with a weak smile.

"Come on, Brian," I tell him and he begins following after me without argument.

"What we doin'?" he asks.

"Maka likes an audience when we fuck," I jest.

"All right!" He's so sex obsessed he didn't realize I was joking, but if that's what I need to say to easily lure him to the gazebo, I'll just run with it. It's not going to be a cover story Maka will appreciate but if it works, so be it. The story is I'm going to handcuff her to the gazebo's railing here and we are going to have sex right there with Brian watching. Wow, this kid really has grown up without _any_ kind of moral upbringing, hasn't he?

"Hey," I say walking into the gazebo.

Brian claps his hands and sits down eager for us to get started. "Alrightee, I'm here. You can get busy now. Maka, if you need any help unbuttoning, I'd be more than happy to assist." He waggles his eyebrows and looks at her smugly.

"Soul! What did you say to him?!" Maka says aghast.

"He told me about your fetish for doing it in front of an audience," Brian says grinning. "Oh, handcuffs, too, naughty, naughty-"

"What?!" she shouts.

I shrug, and explain to my meister, "He can't read my sarcasm."

He looks back and forth between the two of us. "Wait? What? I'm not gonna get to watch the two of you do it? Dammit!" He says slapping his thigh in disappointment as Maka positions herself over him with me by her side ready to swap my form at any moment.

"I need you to tell me and Soul how you know that the girls were with Kid last night." Her voice is hard as though his membership in Avian Flu has been confirmed.

"Wait? What?! I don't know anything. And I won't tell anybody Kid likes them, I swear. I only asked about it 'cause you already know… but I won't say nothin' or I'll tell everybody how he always insists on sleeping on the floor and giving them two the bed. I'll go on record as saying he's got no feelings for them-"

I cut off his rambling. "Stop talking. We need to know where you were last night."

"I was on guard duty. I told you already."

"Then, how do you know the girls didn't return to their rooms last night?" Maka asks as she extends her arm. "I will not spare you because you're a friend. I will do whatever it takes to get the information we need." I switch into scythe form and he starts to freak out.

"Aw, man. I'll never do it again, I swear!" I can feel him breaking.

"Brian, we can help you if you tell us the truth," Maka says patiently.

"Ok, ok. After dinner, I snuck into Liz's room and hid in her closet so I could watch her change, but I got bored and thought that maybe Liz was going to stay with Patti in her room. So, I snuck in there and hid, but I gave up. I'm sorry. _Please_ don't tell, Kid. I know he'll kill me. I saw him beat up Liz's boyfriend. I know he can do it."

"Wait, what?" Now that the floodgates have opened I'm having a hard time keeping up, but fortunately my meister is on top of it.

"So, you hid in their closets until you had to show up for guard duty?"

He nods. "I know I shouldn't have, but I thought it wasn't a big deal."

"Spying on girls changing is a _big deal_," Maka says angrily. "It's what _creepers_ do and you can get locked up for it."

"I know, but Black*Star admits he's stolen a peak at Tsubaki a time or two and-"

I growl, "Do not use my best friend as an excuse for what you did! It's not cool, Brian."

"Oh, my God, what's gonna happen to me? Is Kid gonna kill me?"

"If you were so worried about what he'd do to you maybe you should have thought twice before spying on his partners. You know how crazy he gets when someone hurts them."

"I don't know what came over me, I just wanted to see their tits, you gotta understand." His whining is obnoxious. It's clear he has no self-control.

"Brian, I think you need help, dude," I tell him. "You crossed a line."

"I guess," he says looking disheartened.

"Is there anything _else_ you want to tell us?" Maka asks.

"Like what?" he asks confused.

Maka clarifies, "Anything else you've done to betray the trust Kid and the Thompsons have put in you?"

He emits a groan. "I drank a beer the other night and I rummaged through Kid's magazines."

"Did you steal any?" I ask.

"No, they're all _crap_. How many _photos_ of skateboards does one dude need? And who gets a subscription to _Backyard Scientist Monthly_? What's he think he's gonna do, build a DWMA rocket ship in the school's gymnasium? I was looking for _porn_ and I didn't find _anything_! Not even any _gay_ stuff."

Maka takes a deep breath. I can tell she's wondering if I believe him. I'm sure she's too disgusted by his behavior to be able to decipher the meaning in his soul wavelength with much accuracy at this point.

"So, you've been digging through Kid's closets looking for nudie magazines and hiding out in Liz and Patti's closets hoping to see them naked…" I growl. I haven't decided if I believe him or not. "Anything else you've done that doesn't involve being a horny little _shit_?" I ask him stretching my scythe eye so that it's staring right at him intently.

"Other than the beer?" he asks softly.

"I don't see what the beer has to do with being horny, but yeah, anything else," I tell him.

"No, I accidentally broke a fancy vase the other day that was worth a lot of money, but I told Kid about that, and he said he'd always thought it was hideous and not to even bother trying to glue it back together."

"Well, at least you're honest about _something_," my meister says with a patience I admire.

"Brian, how do you feel about Patti and Liz?" I probe. "And Kid?"

"Why?" he replies nervously.

"Do you like them?" I ask.

"Liz is kinda bitchy-er moody and Patti's a weirdo, but I like them well enough, and Kid's pretty cool."

"And how do you feel about Avian Flu?" Maka asks.

"Those assholes? I hate 'em. They keep killin' people, _nice_ people. It ain't cool."

I smile.

"It wasn't him," I say reappearing in human form.

Maka turns to me "How can you be so sure, Soul?"

I shrug. "It's a _dude _sense. He wants to see Patti's tits, not scare her shitless."

Brian sits there blinking. "What the hell are you on about?"

Maka glances at me and I nod, and she tells him about the incident in Patti's room. I'm honored that she trusted my instincts.

Brian sits there stunned. "You mean someone got in the house? Wow, Kid must be coming unglued. He's always going on about how he's gonna keep the girls safe. How they'd have to kill him before Avian Flu could do anything to hurt Patti."

Maka nods in agreement. "Yeah, he's not taking it well and neither is Liz. So, do you know anything?"

"About how somebody got into the house? No." Then it sinks in to him what this has all been about. "Wait! You don't think I had something to do with mutilating Patti's giraffe do you? I can't believe you'd think that, man." He looks down at his feet. "Shit, I thought you guys trusted me."

"Come, on. Don't take it personally, buddy," I tell him.

Maka nods, "Everyone's a suspect. We don't know if it's Avian Flu or if Kid or Patti have made an enemy of someone else. So, can you help us?"

"Not really, 'cause I don't know anything."

I debate what more we can do. "Anything odd happen yesterday?" I ask just in case he actually knows something and doesn't realize that it's significant.

"With Kid around something weird happens every day." I throw my head back and laugh. My meister gives me that look that tells me that she thinks I'm fraternizing with our interogatee a bit too much. "But things _were _kinda intense here yesterday cause of Kid canning Bartholomew."

"He fired him?" Maka asks. That doesn't sound like how Kid explained it to us.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Brian says. "Ol' Fart Bart made some comment about the Thompsons that really upset Kid and the next thing I know Bartholomew was packing his things."

"Shit. We should have guessed," I say to my meister and she nods. That makes perfect sense given the path that team seems to be headed down and that Bartholomew is a grouchy, old-fashioned bastard who hates the world and everyone in it.

"And then," Brian continues. "A few hours later Kid attacked Liz's boyfriend."

"Tell us more about that," Maka barks.

"Meister, Kid isn't a suspect," I say not sure that I want to know what Brian is about to tell us.

"Yeah, but this other person might be. Liz hasn't told me she has a boyfriend," explains my meister.

I nod reluctantly. "Ok, Brian. Tell us about Kid and this other dude. Was it Rodrigo?"

"Un uh. I think his name was Greg… no, that wasn't it. I dunno. But he was like the first person that came to call after Louis started working in Bart's place. He told the dude that Liz wasn't available, because she was doing some project or training or some shit with her sister, but Kid overheard and asked Louis about it and when he heard that the guy had come to see Liz, Kid flew out the door saying he had to have a 'talk' with him. So, he goes out there and says something to the guy and they get into an argument and then Kid jumps him and yanks his arm behind his back. Next thing I know Kid's storming back into the house yelling for Louis to take the guy to the dispensary for a dislocated shoulder. Kid ripped it out of the socket."

"And you thought it was a good idea to try to spy on his almost-girlfriends?" I ask, shocked.

"I never claimed to be smart," he admits with a shrug. "And the appeal of naked ladies is strong."

"So what'd this guy look like?" My meister asks.

"Average. Maybe early twenties… maybe eighteen or nineteen. Brown hair. A little goatee."

"And you think his name was Greg?"

"No, it wasn't Greg… but I feel like it started with a 'g'." Brian closes his eyes. "I'm trying to remember what I heard Kid shout as he caught up to him. 'Excuse me… Are you… Barry?' Yeah, Barry, I think."

"Gary?" Maka says her eyes wide.

"Yeah, I think that's it. He Avian Flu?" Brian asks. "Cause if he is why didn't Kid just nuke him there and then?"

Maka shakes his head. "I don't think so. He's just an asshole who made Liz cry."

My memory banks have very few instances of Liz crying as she's a rather tough cookie, but I immediately remember that night at Burger Meister that it was a man named Gary that had upset her.

"Liz _cried_?!" Brian asks in shock. "Hell, no wonder Kid ripped his arm off."

"Off?" I ask.

"Out of the socket. Whatever," Brian says nonchalantly.

"So, our list of suspects is what now?" I grumble. "Gary, Bart, and every member of Avian Flu? Wonderful."

"Then, am I not a suspect, anymore?" Brian says with an earnest look.

He's a weird ass kid, but I think I've developed a soft spot for him. Maybe, Maka's right maybe I should take the bugger under my wing. Then again I think we're going to have our hands full with the eighteen kiddos we have locked up in the basement.

Maka nods. "I believe you. Your soul is pretty twisted, but I don't see evidence of you being a traitor."

He shouts a hurrah, but it's cut short by Maka.

"But you're going to have to admit to Kid that you tried to spy on Liz and Patti because we need to know the timeline of when someone got into Patti's room."

"Can't we lie and say I feel asleep on the stairs or something?" He begs.

"Not a chance," my meister says flatly. "But it sounds like Mira has already had practice putting one arm back in the socket this week so yours should be no problem."

Brian moans and whispers to me, "Your girlfriend's scary."

I nod. "That's why I do whatever she tells me."

"We're not back together," she says.

"Right, sorry, I forgot," I say with a huge grin. "It's hard to remember when you're trying to get into my pants all the time."

Maka shakes her head. "Why is it whenever I have a moment of weakness it haunts me for life?"

"A 'moment of weakness'?" Brian says. "That's what happened to me. I momentarily gave into my-"

Maka jumps in to provide adjectives, "Disgusting, perverted-"

"Soul," Brian whines. "Could _you_ be the one to tell Kid?"

"No," I say shaking my head. "_You're_ gonna tell him and you're gonna look him in the eye when you do it."

"Fuck," he says.

I grin at him, "Well put, young one. Well put."


	85. Chapter 85: Complications of Relations

_**Chapter 85: Complications of Relations; Where Does Kid Keep His Porn?**_

When we return to the mansion, we discover that they finally managed to get a take that Joe and Christopher are happy with, but Kid remains unconvinced that it is good enough. The young Lord of Death has planted himself behind a wall of computer monitors bickering with Lava Snake, Joe, and Christopher about some minor defects of the take. Liz stands on the other side of the audiovisual equipment tapping her foot impatiently and grumbling about how she can't wait to get out of the dress 'his royal highness, Lord Kid' forced her to wear.

Kid leans around the blockade of monitors and shouts at Liz through clenched teeth, "Then take it _off_. You can do it right here if you'd like. No one's stopping you. I'm _so_ _sorry_ that I wanted to accentuate your radiant beauty by having a dress custom made for you in the style of the Italian Opera House created for you. How thoughtless of me to assume you would wish to be dressed like a goddess when you will be appearing on _every_ television set in the entire world. Next time you can pick the outfit."

Liz appears startled by this sudden outburst on the part of her usually mild mannered male partner.

"Yeah, Liz," Patti giggles. "We should undress you right here. You getting naked will be sure to put Kid in a better mood."

Kid shakes his head and waves his hand in the direction of the girls. I assume this to be his token effort to act as though Patti is not one hundred percent on the money, but he then orders Lava Snake to rewind the tape. "There's a problem with the sound. I think we need to do one more take. There's a fluctuation in the sound quality toward the end and I can't allow less than perfect-"

Lava Snake groans. "Kid, for the last time- no more takes! There is no perfection in art. That's why it's art, man. In this age of automation it is the _imperfections_ that make a Renoir different from a crappy reproduction printed at Xenox. It's like Cherry. She could have had that birth mark removed on her left thigh, but it makes her real. The guys go wild for it."

"This?" Cherry says hiking her skirt up beyond what is considered ok by almost every culture in the modern world. I don't avert my eyes and get whacked by Maka's arm. I shrug. To me, the birthmark is a large irregular pink blotch that reminds me so much of a burn that I find myself wanting to reach for a soothing ointment to smear on it.

"Soul, maybe you should pay her," Maka whispers to me. She's annoyed with me, of course. But if she's gonna dole it out, I'll dish it right back.

Without skipping a beat, I whisper back, "Well, as a _single_ man I think I have more than a right to-"

"Fine, we're back together," she whispers. "It was a dumb idea to break up. I wasn't thinking clearly."

I fight the urge to grin. "What makes you think I _want_ to get back together?"

"Arrrgggh!" she growls, completely forgetting to be quiet, and everyone in the room suddenly turns to stare at Maka and me.

For the first time, the others become aware of our presence including the sweaty basement dweller. He raises his arms and smiles. "Soul and Soul's chick," I hear a little grumble from my meister at the use of this title. "Watch this and tell us whether or not you think it is of good enough quality to broadcast worldwide. Lord Kid is questioning our ability to produce a world-class propaganda film."

Getting caught in the middle of a disagreement between Kid and the technical crew of this production isn't my idea of a great time, but Maka and I do as we're told and huddle in front of the screens.

The film itself seems incredibly brief when you consider the amount of effort that has gone into it, but it's also impressive. Seeing Lord Death (only a smaller version without ridiculously large hands) standing menacing in the foreground framed by two gorgeous half-masked, classy looking chicks is really something, and Kid's speech is unusually to the point.

"It's great," I say and my meister nods.

"You sure that glitch with the sound isn't an issue?" Kid asks stroking his chin in thought.

"I didn't notice anything weird," I assure him. "Maka?"

"No, I think you only notice it because you're looking for any and all flaws," Maka explains. "Like how you will ignore a perfectly well decorated room to focus on a single painting that's hanging crooked on the wall."

"Are you implying that my mental illness is getting the better of me?" Kid asks her.

"When is it not?" Liz mutters and even though Kid's view of her is obstructed by all the computer equipment he glares in her direction.

Maka ignores this and continues to share her opinion. "Kid, if a musician like Soul didn't pick up on it, then it's not going to bother anyone except a perfectionist like you."

"Soul's woman is correct," Lava Snake says throwing a handful of potato chips into his mouth.

"My _name_ is Maka," my meister says attempting to assert herself with the club owner.

"Whatever," he grunts, uninterested. "Quit striving to reach the unreachable, _Lord_. This is great. You're a little old school, but the girls are _smokin'_ both as guns and as chicks. If you're looking for a broadcast to make every person in the world stand up and take notice, this is gonna do it… might even make a few _other things_ stand up, too."

Kid's lips curl in disgust and he once again leans around the blockade of screens, "Liz, Patti, you are dismissed. You can go get changed." The girls obediently exit the sitting room as Kid turns on Lava Snake. "Could you _please_ refrain from speaking that way about them?"

Lava Snake scrunches his face, shaking his head. "Quit being a damn fuddy-duddy. I know that you find them incredibly sexy and you wanted to exploit that in this video, and there's nothing wrong with that. Beauty wins allies, and your get-up sure as hell ain't able to do that. Who designed that outfit anyway?"

Kid gasps, "My ancestors! It is a time honored tradition-"

"Whatever," Carey says ignoring Kid's building outrage. "You want to beat Avian Flu on all counts including coolness, and when compared to a bunch of deformed bird men those two hotties give the DWMA _the edge_ in the attractiveness contest. Isn't that right, Cherry?"

"Oh, yes, but it isn't _just_ the girls," Cherry says placing the palms of her hands on Kid's chest. "Kid is _so_ alluring, I can hardly stand it." I can't believe what I'm watching. An exotic dancer, _a porn star_, is squirming in this _very_ erotic way as she paws my geekiest friend. Black*Star is _never_ gonna believe this; it's one thing for DWMA chicks to be into him, but entirely different a grown woman to be blatantly throwing herself at him.

"Oh, my God," Maka whispers to me, as we watch Cherry move her body closer to Kid pressing herself into him in an overly intimate fashion. Kid appears anxiety ridden by this intimate attention. Knowing him he is probably wondering what a 'gentleman' would do to a 'lady' in such a situation. I grin. Cherry seems like a very nice person, but she is most certainly not a lady.

As though he could psychically sense the man of the house's distress, Louis walks in and swiftly assesses the situation and politely scolds Cherry. "My lady, you shouldn't be standing on that foot of yours. Come sit, and I'll bring you some ice for it." Louis offers the dancer a hand and takes the opportunity to lead her back to the chair that Joe had brought in for her earlier. I hear Kid whisper his gratitude to the butler and I chuckle to myself. Kid is the only guy I know of who would thank another dude for escorting a porn star away from him.

"This is the take," Lava Snake announces shoving his way past Kid to get to another piece of equipment on the opposite side of the room. "Now get out of here, all of you. I've gotta concentrate. We want this to air at 8pm eastern so I've got a lot of work to do. Now, _out_."

Cherry smiles at her boyfriend and says, "I'm so proud of you! War heroes turn me on something awful!"

"Out!" Lava Snake shouts pointing to the door. "That includes you Cherry. I can't have you getting me all worked up while I'm hackin'. And keep your hands off of the reaper. You don't know where he's been."

Kid lets the insult slide, though I can tell he heard it as his eyes narrow and his hands form fists. Lava Snake really knows how to push all of Kid's buttons for some reason, but I have to wonder if he the hacker understands the scope of Kid's power physically and politically. If he wanted to annihilate Carey he could do it in mere moments.

Cherry blows Lava Snake a goodbye kiss which he receives with craned neck. "I'll go on home then," she says. "It was nice to meet all of you. Stop on by the club anytime and I'll get you all free drinks."

"Cherry!" moans Lava Snake. "You gotta quit saying that. Hottie's is a business! We gotta turn a profit and giving away drinks all the time-"

His whining falls on deaf ears. "Caarreey! Quit being such a tight wad!"

Louis gazes at the lady's ankle as she removes the ice pack she's had applied to it. "You won't be able to make it all the way to Hottie's on that leg," Louis says compassionately. "I can flag down a rickshaw for you, or-"

"She can stay here in a guest bedroom," Kid says, ever the gracious host.

"Stay here?" she says blinking from confusion.

"Yes, you worked last night, right? You must be tired." Kid explains. "You can have a rest and then you and your boyfriend can head home together after he's done. I'd be happy to walk you to your room."

Cherry's eyes grow large and she practically leaps from her chair to grab the reaper's arm.

Maka and I follow the two of them out the sitting room door and discover that the Thompsons are standing in the hall still spotting their elaborate costumes.

Kid greets his partners, "Oh, hello. Didn't you hear me? You're free to change out of your dresses. I have been assured by Maka and Soul that there is no need for another take."

"We were waiting for you," Liz says as her eyes scrutinize Kid's proximity to Cherry.

"Oh, all right, I'll be right back I was just going to show Ch-Sherry to her room," he says.

A strange sound comes from Patti. It's a cross between an angry squeal and an explosion. It's almost inhuman and as soon as the noise meets the reaper's ears he drops Cherry's hand as if it were on fire.

"Louis? Louis! Louis?" he hollers, scanning the hall wildly looking for his assistant.

"Yes, Lord Kid," Louis says jogging out of the sitting room.

"I need you to show Cherry to the guest chamber. She's going to rest there until Carey is done working. See that all her needs are attended to… er, within reason. Thank you."

"It was nice to see you again," Maka says as Cherry sighs, realizing she has been handed off from the object of her fantasizes to the accountant.

Cherry says her goodbyes to the group and Louis leads her away toward the group.

"Now, ladies. What is it you were needing from me?" Kid says turning his full attention to the identically dressed foxes before him.

"We just wanted to make sure you weren't become entangled in anything messy," Liz says with distaste.

"Huh? Oh. Yes, she's a little much isn't she?" he says amused.

"A bit much?! She can't keep her damn hands off you!" Liz shouts at him.

"And that bothers you, does it?" Kid asks as the hint of a smug smile curves the corners of his lips skyward.

Seemingly unbothered by the implications of this question, the older Thompson affirms that she's bothered by Cherry's fawning over her meister.

"Really," Lord Kid says practically purring with pleasure.

"Because you should think more of my sister's feelings," Liz says and Kid's smile fades immediately.

"Oh," the dejected reaper replies.

Patti shakes her head. "I can't believe she's like that in front of her boyfriend."

"With that ass as her boyfriend? Can you really blame her?" Maka asks her.

Patti sighs. "I suppose not, but it's so exhausting how women are always trying to weasel their way into Kid's arms."

"Looked more to me like she was wanting something of his to weasel her way," I joke and Kid shakes his head.

"Really, Soul? You know that I have no interest in her or-"

"In sex?" I grin. "I know _that_ isn't true."

I know that I'm pushing my luck teasing Kid. His Shinigami strength is probably enough to snap my neck in one move, but I can't help myself. "Don't think about the shoulder move, dude. You can't disable Maka's weapon."

"Shoulder move?" Liz asks puzzled by my comment. "Have you been working on a new martial art stance without us?"

"No," Kid says hurriedly. "He means that thing where I shoot each of you over my shoulders simultaneously. That'll all."

For a moment the five us stand there in silence, until Patti swishes her dress from side to side. "Kid, thank you for the dress."

Liz curls her lip. "Quit being such a kiss ass."

"Liz, I know you hate it and that's fine. You never have to wear it again," Kid says as she protests. "I know it isn't really your style, but thank you for humoring me. The two of you look lovely and I'm very pleased that it will be the two of you who introduce much of the world to the academy and what it means to be demon weapons." His words cease, but his eyes continue to dance over each of his partner's as though enchanted. I wonder if he is aware of how blatant his desire for the two of them has become. Suddenly stepping forward he gives them each a peck on the cheek. "Go grab a bite to eat and we'll get back to work in about a half hour, ok?"

The girls nod and begin to head away.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Have you decided what you want to do to celebrate Twin Demon Pistol Day?"

"No," Patti mumbles.

"Well, you better get on it, because I will need a _little_ time to make sure I can fulfill your wish."

"You wouldn't like our idea," Liz says curtly.

Kid smiles, "You get whatever you want. That's the idea. It's the _one_ day of the year I do _whatever _you want."

"_Whatever_ I want," Patti repeats her pupils growing to the size of planets.

"That's right," he says.

"Fine," Liz says with an edge to her voice. "You're taking us to a fancy dinner and dancing then."

"Lovely," Kid says bowing his head as though he is merely their servant.

"You know we don't mean _ballroom_ dancing, right, Kid?" Patti asks, her voice wavering with uncertainty.

Steadfast, the Lord of Death answers, "Of course. How about I take you to that new club in the southeast sector? I can't remember the name, but it's supposed to be very nice… not a dive like that club on Amphibian and Tenth."

Liz looks puzzled. "Are you _sure_ about this? Wouldn't you rather we just hang out at home in the pool or play-"

"No, we're taking the evening off and both of you will be receiving royal treatment as you so justly deserve. It will be great fun," Kid says smiling broadly. "Now get those things off. We need to train and we have to check in with Professor Stein before the broadcast."

"Yes, Lord Kid," the two young women say in unison as they bow before him and scurry up the stairs.

He blinks. "They're acting odd, don't you think?" he asks Maka and me.

"Well, you did just tell Patti she can have her way with you," points out my meister watching him for a reaction. He smiles and she looks at me with raised eyebrows. I nod. Twin Demon Pistols Day is about a week and a half away and I suspect that it is going to be a memorable occasion for more than one reason.

He gazes up the stairs toward their wing. "I'm so glad they're gonna be staying with me at night. I'm starting to get to where I worry any time they're out of my sight."

I frown. "Kid, the girls are tough. They made it on the street on their own for a long time before they hooked up with you."

"Oh, I know that; you misunderstand. I'm not worried for them. I'm worried for me. I don't think I could survive without them," he looks thoughtful and then continues, "But, I'm sure you're not standing here to hear me pining for my beautiful partners."

"Kid, you realize that they may not want to go along with what you want, right?" I whisper.

"I know, but I have to try. I can't choose between them. I love them both."

Maka says nothing in word, but her eyes meet mine and I can tell she's worried that our friend is setting himself up for heartbreak.

Before I can comment, the doorbell chimes sending Louis scurrying from wherever he took Cherry to the front door in order to fulfill his duty of greeting every guest at the Death residence. He opens the door and I see Rodrigo dressed in a tight pair of jeans, cowboy boots, and a maroon t-shirt. He's holding a small bouquet of flowers in his hand. He says something in Spanish to Louis and the butler answers back in Rodrigo's native tongue though it sounds choppy and unnatural coming from the accountant's lips.

Louis heads upstairs presumably to let Liz know that Rodrigo is here and the Casanova comes over to say hello to Maka, Kid, and me. Kid and Rodrigo converse for a few moments, about what I've no idea as they choose to speak in Spanish, but they seem completely comfortable chatting with one another which seems odd to me since it's obvious Rodrigo is here to take Liz out on a date. I can't imagine being this calm if some dude showed up at my door to take Maka out.

Liz comes running down the stairs in jeans and a t-shirt. "Oh, crap. I thought I told him six o'clock, I must have said two o'clock. Crap. Kid, tell him that I screwed up and we can't go out till later."

Kid turns to Rodrigo and speaks in fluent Spanish. Rodrigo grins and walks to the base of the staircase.

"_No_, Rodrigo. _Not now_," Liz says loudly and overannunciating every syllable. "At _six. I have to train_."

"Kid, say it OK. We go now. He say you work hard this morning. Say is ok to have fun now."

Liz stops and looks at Kid, and Kid nods. Then she turns back to Rodrigo.

"Are those for me?" Liz asks noticing the flowers in his hands.

Rodrigo nods. "For Liz, pretty senorita."

Liz smiles and they walk over to the door together. Rodrigo opens it and holds it open for Liz. Kid's eyes follow the two of them as they leave.

"Kid, why are you torturing yourself like this?" I whisper to him. "You know you don't want her with him."

"Oh, I don't care about that. I just want her with me. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive."

"What?!" I smack him in the back of the head. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Kid!" Patti's voice floats down the marble staircase. "I can't get the zipper undone."

We look up at the landing and Patti has her evening gown halfway off, pinning her arms upward and completely blocking her vision, and it appears to be stuck like that.

"I thought I could get it off, but-"

"Oh!" Kid says leaping into action and running up the steps. "Stop where you are! Don't take another step. I don't want you to fall." He stops her in time to prevent her from tumbling down the stairs.

"I thought Liz was gonna help you," he comments as he struggles with the zipper on the back of the dress.

"Oh, she was too busy looking for her condoms. She's going out with Rodrigo you know," Patti says rolling her eyes.

"Yes, I know," Kid says half-smiling as he removes her dress and lays it on the banister leaving Patti standing there in nothing but a white slip and a brassiere thing. "They just left a couple minutes ago."

Patti frowns, "Then they're probably already going at it. They're worse than Soul and Maka."

"Excuse me?" Maka and I squeal in unison making Kid and Patti laugh uproariously as they come down the staircase together.

Kid grins, "Yes, are those handcuffs for business or pleasure?"

"Business," I shout. "Brian needs to talk to you. Bri, get over here." I look around. He's gone. "That little shit! Where is he?"

Maka groans. "He must have run off when we were distracted. I _knew_ we should have cuffed him."

Patti gasps. "Maka, isn't he a little young for you?" she says giggling.

"_Business_," my meister says, in no way amused by Patti's joking. "Soul made that clear. _Business_, Patti."

"Sorry, twenty-four seven gutter mind here," Patti says giggling.

"It's nice to see you smiling," Kid says placing his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him. "I'm really sorry about Mr. Longneck."

"Quit apologizing. It's not like you did it," Patti says. "You didn't do it did you?"

"No, most certainly not," he says as Maka and I run around looking for Brian.

"I can't believe after everything, he'd just take off," I grumble to my meister. "I'm gonna check the kitchen."

"You don't need to. I found him," Maka says, pointing under a long narrow table in the hall that has a flower arrangement on it and is covered by a long ecru table cloth. One sneakered foot is hanging out from under the tablecloth. My meister whisks the tablecloth upward revealing Brian sound asleep underneath the table. He's taken off his sweatshirt and wadded it up into a ball to use as a pillow.

"Poor baby, he's really wiped out," Maka coos.

"Oh, please," I mumble back to her. "If he's exhausted it's his own fault because he's been staring at hot chicks all night."

Kid and Patti come strolling over. "I'm sorry, Soul, was there something you guys wanted to talk to me about? Because Patti and I have some things to get done."

"How come Liz got to leave?" Patti pouts.

"Because I was being nice," Kid explains. "Despite what your sister claims, I _can_ be kind to her… from time to time."

"Hhhmmm. You have strange ways of being nice to someone you're secretly in love with," Patti comments and Kid clears his throat and swiftly changes the subject.

"Really, what was it you two needed?" He asks eyeing his houseguest sacked in his makeshift bed.

I squat next to Brian and shake his shoulder. "Buddy, you need to wake up."

"Uh," he comes to quickly, banging his head on the underside of the table. He mutters profanity under his breath, clutches the spot of impact on his head, and crawls out. About half way out he spies the glint of Kid's perfectly polished shoes, and I see the young voyeur gulp.

"Brian has something he would like to say to you," Maka says. "Brian, get up."

"Sorry," he says rising to his feet. "I just got real sleepy all of a sudden."

"It's all right, I understand," Kid says. "I've been known to sleep in some odd places after I've pulled a double shift. Thank you very much for doing that. It was a great help. My understanding is that all the students that live in the _Eye of Newt Apartments_ have come down with a really _nasty_ gastroenteritis which leaves us short by something like six or eight guards."

"Oh, no problem," Brian says reaching up and flattening down his bedhead. "But I gotta tell you something you're not gonna like."

"Oh?" Kid says cocking his head slightly. "I'm listening."

"Last night," Brian gives Maka and me one last pleading look. He starts shaking a little. I think he's genuinely terrified. "I hid in the girls' closets hoping to…" his eyes flit to Patti's curves and she instinctively grabs Kid's hand and scooches closer to her partner.

"I see," Kid says frowning. His eyes are hard. "And why are you telling me this now?"

"Well, Maka and Soul told me about what happened in Patti's room and I'm sorry about that- I mean, _I_ didn't do it, but I _feel _bad it happened."

"So, you're telling me that you betrayed the trust of your host and objectified my weapons, but the only reason you're fessing up is because you got caught by Maka and Soul?" Kid asks.

"Yeah, I guess."

"And if you hadn't been found out would you have done it again?"

He hangs his head. "Yeah, probably. Cause I didn't get to see nothin'."

Kid rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

"Don't I get points for being honest?" Brian asks weakly.

"You want me to be happy that you have been honest about your intention to continue to do despicable acts?"

"It doesn't sound right, when you say it _that_ way," Brian admits scuffing his shoe on the floor.

"First off, the people you should be apologizing to are Liz and Patti, because they're the ones whose closet you were sneaking into not mine-"

Brian puts his finger up to interrupt Kid's monologueing.

Kid's eyebrows rise. "You were spying on _me_, too? Well, Brian you have more eclectic sexual desires than I gave you credit for."

Brian frowns. "Oh, God no! I was looking for porn in your closet."

"Oh," Kid says.

"You were disappointed weren't you?" Patti says beaming. "Kid, doesn't have any of those kind of magazines."

Kid frowns and mumbles, "That isn't _entirely_ true, but…" He spends on to the punishment before his adoring partner has time to ask any questions. "You will apologize to both Liz and Patti and _they_ will decide your punishment. And if you got any of my periodicals out of the proper order you will have to fix them. It's very important for me to be able to refer to an article I want to access at a moment's notice."

Brian frowns. "You actually find him hot?" he asks Patti, pointing at the reaper.

"Oh, yes," Patti says. "Kid's wonderful. He's such a gentleman."

"Really?!" Brian says as he continues to gawk at Patti and Kid.

Patti lets go of Kid's hand and clears her throat, raising her chin. "Excuse me. Aren't you forgetting something?" Brian looks at her blankly as she stands there expectantly. I nudge him and he finally gets the idea and says, "Patti, I'm sorry. You and your sister are just so sexy, I couldn't help myself. I've got no manners… you know that."

Patti grins. "On your knees," she orders. "You may kiss my feet."

"Really?!" Brian moans.

"Would you rather I tell Kid to expel you? Because I will!"

"No, Princess Patti! I'm sorry, I really am," he kneels and kisses her toes and Patti smiles smugly. "Now, go get me an ice tea, and remember if you want to get to do more than just gawk at a woman's body you better learn some manners, because no girls gonna want to be with you the way you act now. Kid gets all the ladies because he's charming."

Kid turns beat red. "Patti," he whispers. "I think it's just you."

"Don't you _even_ pull that when that dancer woman was all over you! I think she would have undressed you right in front of her asshole of a boyfriend." Patti pauses to study Brian for a moment. "I think maybe we _should_ get you some magazines, though. Those girls get paid and are ok with having people look at them. See, that's different. Me and sister, that's not ok, unless we say it's ok. Like with Kid, it's fine. He can see anything he wants to see, anytime." She says turning to drag a finger across the reaper's face.

"Patti…" he murmurs. "How can you expect anyone to take our team seriously when you-?"

His words are cut off by Patti's lips smothering his.

"Aw, you two are so cute together," Brian says. "But if you two were together last night, where was Liz?"

Kid turns very red and says nothing. Patti on the other hand just blabs shamelessly, "Oh, she was with Kid and me."

Kid steps forward a finger to his lips. "Look, I'd rather people not know that the girls are staying with me. It's for security purposes, and I don't want people to get the wrong idea."

"You're so full of shit," I whisper in the reaper's ear.

Patti winks at Brian. "Kid doesn't like people to know that the Twin Demon Pistols are his security blanket. He can't sleep without us. Isn't that right?" she says sliding her tongue inside his ear and wiggling it. He twitches.

"Patti, please stop that. We've talked about this. You can't be like that in public."

"This isn't public. This is _our house_."

Kid says, "But Joe and Christopher are here and-"

"Fine, but tonight Liz and I are gonna-" Kid's hand clamps over her lips muffling her words and I'm dying to know what she was gonna say.

"Brian," Kid says as he continues to cover Patti's mouth. "You should consider yourself on academic probation from this point forward and I'm going to have Mira talk to you about some more appropriate ways to channel your hormones."

"I can't talk to a chick about it!" Brian wails.

"Fine, I'll see if Sid or Professor Stein would feel qualified to help you with your problem," the reaper tells him.

"What about Spirit?" Brian says grinning. "_He's_ an adult-"

"That's questionable," Maka says. "But, if they manage to cure you I'll be happy to sign my father up for the same therapy."

Brian looks at each of us in turn. "So, is that _it_?" Brian says. "You're not gonna rip my arm out of the socket?"

Kid's eyes get wide. "No, of course, not. Now I think you should-"

"Cause I was so worried after what you did to Gary yesterday-"

Kid begins talking very loudly trying to drown out Brian's words.

Patti puts up her hands. "Wait, what about Gary?"

"Nothin," Kid says trying to appear calm. "Nothing important."

"Kid kicked his ass," Brian says grinning from ear to ear. "He started giving him a talking to and then-"

"Brian!" Kid shouts as he cringes.

"Kid, what did you do to Gary?" Patti asks.

"I wouldn't have done anything if he hadn't have come around," Kid says defensively.

Patti smiles. "That didn't answer my question, love."

Kid trembles a little. "He and I had a little discussion about how women should be treated with more respect."

"And did this discussion involve you hurting him?" Patti asks.

"Nothing irreversible. He's perfectly fine."

"Kid, what did you do?"

"I dislocated his shoulder."

Patti grins widely. "I _knew_ you loved sister!"

"I did not do it because I love your sister. I did it because of his gall. I thought he had come here to apologize to here and he asked me what he had done that he needed to apologize for and… I lost it a little bit."

"A 'bit' is a shoulder dislocation?" Patti says sweetly. "Goodness. I guess sister and I should be relieved that you've never hurt us in a fit of rage."

"Oh, sweetheart. I would never do that," Kid says.

"I'm just teasing, but, let me guess, you didn't tell sister about your 'conversation' with Gary."

"No, I didn't," Kid says. "What of it? I didn't want her to have to think of that asshole again. That's all. It's not because I think she'll read something into it like you have."

Patti lips twitch with amusement, "It couldn't be that you didn't want her to know how protective you are of her and how you want to put her up on a pedestal and worship her?"

"Excuse me?!" Kid shouts.

"Don't worry," Patti says sweetly. "Your secret is safe with me. Though, you should know your feelings for her are getting more and more obvious every day. You should probably make a move soon. Well, I'm gonna go change. You can stay here and prevent Brian from following me."

"Obvious?!" the reaper asks us.

"Yeah," Maka nods. "You think you're throwing people off handing her over to Rodrigo so eagerly, but you're just over compensating."

Kid mumbles some four letter words and I crack up.

"Dude, it's cool. No one's judging you here, except for Maka."

"I am not!" My meister shrieks. "I just think it's a little odd to want to be with both of them."

"I didn't say I didn't think it was odd," I clarify. "But live and let live, you know. Except for you," I point to Brian. "You need to live by the rules of society. We aren't gonna let you get away with doing whatever the hell you want. That's how people get hurt."

"But," Brian says uncertainly. "Kid, if you really love them both, doesn't that mean you're gonna get hurt?"

Kid frowns. "I'll tell you where my magazines are if you _never_ bring up this topic again."

"Deal," the weapon says extending his hand to the Shinigami. "But I gotta say Patti is great. You really shouldn't want for more. She'd totally do anything for you."

Kid closes his eyes and the look on his face is not one I'd describe as happy. "I know she would," is all he says and I have a feeling that it isn't just going to be the war that makes the next week and a half arduous for him.


	86. Chapter 86: Illumination of Love

_Chapter 86- Illumination of Love; Soul, the Hopeless Romantic?_

Using the excuse that I need to pick us up some groceries, I tell Maka that I'll meet her back at the sanctuary a little later this afternoon, and while getting milk, bread, eggs, and Maka's wonderful smelling shampoo are on the agenda I plan on running a couple other errands.

The first stop is paying a visit to the home of our handsy classmate, Ox. Unlike the rest of us, Harvar and Ox share a two story townhouse with a door that opens onto the street. I get there and knock on the door, but no one answers. It's very possible that I missed them as a lot of students head out on their missions before first light, but I'm too stubborn to admit defeat that easily. Instead, I take a seat on their doorstep. On either side of the door is a neatly trimmed potted topiary that looks like a soul. I wonder if the same person prunes them that styles Ox's hair. I can't believe he actually thinks hair horns are cool. That style went out like ten years ago.

I've been sitting here for about twenty minutes when Ox strolls up with what appears to be two bags of shopping in his arms. He takes one look at me and grumbles, "Awh, shit. What the hell, do you want, Soul Eater?"

I stand up. "I need to have a little talk with you," I tell him trying not to sound as pissed off as I am. I've decided to try to be really rational and level with him. I don't need to punch him or anything, even though I really, really want to cause he's such a fucking jackass.

"Well, here, hold this," he says thrusting one of the bags into my chest as he fumbles with his keys. Great, I come here to have a serious discussion with him and instead I end up serving as his courtesy clerk. He unlocks the front door and walks in.

"Come on in," he says walking over to a large counter that separates the kitchen from the living room. He plops the bag he is carrying on the counter and shouts up the stairs, "Harvar, you here?"

"Yeah," Harvar shouts back. "But I gotta run out. My damn backpack ripped. I knew I overstuffed it in Berlin."

"Well, you better hurry," Ox commands him.

"Rodger that," Harvar says appearing at the top of the staircase.

"You've been here the whole time?" I ask him as he jogs down the stairs. "Why didn't you answer the door? I knocked."

Emotionlessly, Harvar says, "I took a _wild _guess what you wanted and it has nothing to do with me, and is nothing more than pointless hormone-driven drama, so I ignored your knocking." He pauses. "You _are_ here about Maka, right?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am," I say. Setting the bag I'm holding beside the other one on the kitchen counter.

"As I thought. I have far more important things to concern myself with," Harvar says dismissively as he dashes out the front door. "I'll be back in a few."

Ox grumbles under his breath. Harvar is known for his lack of romanticism and has never been particularly compassionate to Ox when he fawns over Kim, or, I guess, anyone else, either.

"Soul, you don't need to worry. It won't happen again," Ox tells me.

"It better not."

Ox shakes his head. "I'm not some sleaze, she isn't interested so –"

"Because she's with _me_," I say glaring at him. "What were you thinking?!"

"I heard you two broke up. That _is_ true isn't it?" He says as he yanks groceries out of the shopping bags and arranges them into various piles on the counter.

I sigh, "Technically. We were broken up for thirty-six hours or something, but not really. Look, Maka's going through a lot of shit-"

"I _know_ that. I saw her in battle after the memorial, remember?" His tone is full of superiority. I try to keep my cool. How can he hit on Maka while holding her fighting skills in such distain? Or maybe he blames it all on me. Damn meisters, sometimes I hate 'em all. "Did you forget that I helped cover your sorry asses the other day?"

Through the corner of my mouth I mutter, "Not like we haven't covered you and Harvar before… but thanks."

He nods, not offering any kind of acknowledgement of the times we've helped him and his partner.

Ox stops his ration organizing and looks at me. "Like I said, I made a mistake-"

"You made a couple _big _ones, Dillhole."

Ox looks at me with distaste. "You don't need to call me names. So, I came on to Maka. It's not that big a deal. She turned me down, so nothing happened."

"You didn't ask her out on a _date_, you were totally all _over_ her!" I shout at him even though I'm only a foot from him. He leans back against the blast of my voice. I'm losing my cool. Clearly, I'm not good at being _restrained _when it comes to my meister, especially when it involves other people _touching_ her. I _know_ they all want her. They _pretend _not to be into bookworms, but they all want those long, smooth legs to wrap around them so they can feel like they've turned a good girl bad. It's some _sick_ fantasy and I'm sure Ox has it even though he's a nerd himself.

"I was not 'all over' her." He bows his head. "I kissed her and when she said to stop, I stopped."

"Your hands did things, too! What made you think that even if she was single you could treat her like that?"

"Cause _you_ treat her like that! It's common knowledge that you two are pretty much playing tonsil hockey all day long and-"

"We're like that 'cause we _love_ each other, you fucking moron. She's not like Liz."

As soon as the words slip from my mouth I grimace. Liz is my friend and I just insulted her. I didn't mean it, but Ox catches my slip up.

"Wouldn't Kid _love_ to know that you think one of his precious ladies is a slut?" he says smugly.

"That's not what I meant! Maka's shy. Liz is more confident and-"

"_Easy_. We both know it." I open my mouth to protest, but he continues. "I'll never understand what Kid sees in those two. Reapers are supposed to have much more dignified weapons."

"You think Spirit is dignified?" I say with raised eyebrows.

"Ok, you have a point there," he says frowning. "I can't believe Death Scythe spent all that time in San Francisco messing around with a bunch of floozies instead of coming back to aid in the war effort. He should be ashamed."

"That's just a rumor, and what Spirit does is _his_ business, no one else's," I remark wishing that I could defend Maka's father more against Ox's judgments since this is probably the first time in history that someone has thought he was messing around with a bunch of cabaret girls when he wasn't.

"If it was on his _own_ time, that'd be one thing, but it was on the DWMA's time."

"The same could be said of your little play for my girlfriend! You made her late to our mission meeting."

Ox rolls his eyes. "Like it really mattered. We all knew Kid wasn't about to send you guys back out into the field when you're both struggling so much. He's not _that_ big an idiot."

I dislike how he's talking about my friend. First, this bastard hits on my meister. Then, he insults Liz and Patti, as though they aren't amazing partners to Kid, and now he's insulting one of my best friends who is his Lord and Headmaster. Who does this asshole think he is? "You're just jealous because Kid made Maka and me part of his inner circle and your team isn't!"

"That's right," Ox nods. "It _does_ bother me, because it's blatant favoritism. First, you get Professor Stein in your pocket so you and Black*Star can get away with anything and then your best friend becomes Lord Death himself. You-"

"My meister has worked incredibly hard to get where we are."

"I agree. _Maka_ deserves all the accolades she receives, and it's reasonable that since her imprisonment she would be struggling. She's been through hell. It's _you_ I think is unworthy. You haven't worked nearly hard enough to be so close to Deathscythe status."

I'm speechless. _Every_ single thing I've accused him of thinking about me is true, and Maka thought he was a decent guy! "Maka and I are a team. We've achieved everything together," I shout at him. "We train and fight and study together."

He laughs. "She _carries_ you, and we all know it, but I guess I finally understand why. She's obviously crazy over you. Why else would a brainiac like her choose _you_ over _me_?"

"_You know _why_ I'm better for Maka than you_?" I growl staring him down.

"No. Enlighten me," he says putting a hand on his hip in a condescending manner.

"It's because she's number _one_ in my life. She isn't some _fallback _because another girl won't be with me. I will _never _allow her to be with someone who sees her as a second choice. She is Class A, Top Tier, Ox. You got that?"

Ox appears amused. "You _really_ are a romantic, aren't you? I thought that Tsubaki and the others were kidding, but you really _do_ love Maka, don't you?"

"Duh," I say rolling my eyes. For someone who is supposedly intelligent, he seems pretty damn clueless to me.

"I'm sorry, I thought you two were just a convenience thing… like so many meister/weapon relationships."

"Well, we're _not_ and now you know."

Ox sighs, his shoulders sagging. "You're so lucky that she reciprocates your feelings. You don't understand how hard it is when that _doesn't_ happen."

"Has Kim actually _told_ you she doesn't like you like that?" I ask him. I'm still shouting even though I'm feeling maybe a tinge less angry at him… maybe.

"Not in so many words, but-"

"Then you don't _know_. Don't give up, but I wouldn't take the approach you did with Maka. I don't think girls like being pawed like that," I tell him flatly.

Ox nods. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Well, it doesn't really matter. Maka and I are back together. You moved in so soon she wasn't even on the rebound yet."

"I guess. I just can't believe she actually _wants_ to be with a guy like you."

"I'm sure it's hard for your enormous cranium to wrap around, but believe it, because I'm the one she wants and I'm not going anywhere." I turn away, heading for the door, but before leaving I pause and tell him the DWMA's traditional good luck phrase, "Make Crescent Moon proud."

"You, too. If you…" His voice trails off uncertainly.

"Oh don't worry," I say grinning. "Maka and I have a mission. It's top secret and very challenging, but we're up to the task."

As I step out of his front door, I recall how Maka has described my interactions with Ox as 'pissing matches' and maybe they are, but that doesn't matters because I won this one.

After running to the grocery store and popping a letter in the mail to my grandmother, I meet back up with Maka at the sanctuary. I find her living up to her reputation as a hard worker as she feverishly writes thoughts on pieces of paper and pins them to a bulletin board in the studio. Each slip of paper seems to have one concept or idea on it. I see the words 'traumatized,' 'brainwashed,' and 'abandoned.'

"There a reason you're making a wall of depressing words?" I ask sneaking up on her.

She gives a squeal of surprise and after collecting herself tells me, "I thought that if we list all these things and find common ways therapists help kids with these issues we could come up with a good starting place to building trust with them."

I study her work. "'Abandoned'? By who?" I ask. "Avian Flu?"

"In part maybe… like the love they got was very conditional or nonexistent, but I was actually meaning their parents. I doubt many of these kids were stolen away from functional families. That would have been too great a challenge for Avian Flu, but if they targeted kids like Brian who had absent or abusive parents their negligence would make it that much easier for Avian Flu to capture the kids."

"Makes sense. I hadn't really thought about that."

"I think Avian Flu may have learned their lesson when they tried to loot the daycare here in DC."

"So we should figure out what helps kids who have been traumatized or abandoned by their parents. Is that the idea?"

She nods. "More or less."

"Shouldn't a shrink be doing this?"

"I don't think psychiatrists get much training in rehabilitating demons," she says smiling.

"If they wanted to be useful they would," I grumble.

"You don't think we're gonna be successful," Maka says staring deep into my eyes with that earnestness she has whenever she has set a goal for herself.

"I'm just thinking, Meister. Isn't a big part of moving forward in therapy talking about shit that has happened? _They can't talk_."

"Do _you_ need to talk?" she asks, confusing me completely. "Or do you make music?"

I grin. "Oh, I get it. We get them to express themselves in other ways."

"Painting, making music, stuff like that. I know they do stuff like that in rehab to help people." This is the first hint I've ever heard that Maka might know the truth about her mother, but I decide not to pry into it. I don't want to dredge up painful stuff for her, especially right now when we've got enough shit to deal with.

"Let's make a list of people we have as resources," Maka says happily. She loves organizing things. I groan. I think I prefer it when she admits she doesn't have a plan and is making it up as we go along. That's when we get fun moments like Maka sucking on Krona's head.

We talk for a while about what builds security and I'm nearly sent into a seizure as I flashback to an excruciatingly boring lecture about Maslow's List of Needs that Ms. Leech gave to Crescent Moon students a few years ago.

"Ok, I'm done talking," I announce standing up. "Let's go get to know them." She stands up, but looks hesitant. "Don't worry. I won't let them hurt you. I remember what my job is. I'll die for my meister if I have to."

"That's not what I'm worried about," she says. "Besides, you know I hate having to be protected by you."

"Yeah, well sometimes I hate watching you do _dumb shit_, but that's how it goes. I'm your weapon," I take a step closer to her as I shrug. "And on top of that I love you." I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her and she pulls me close locking her lips onto mine and it feels great… until I feel moisture on my lips. I open my eyes to see her crying.

"Maka, what's wrong?"

"I'm just so happy. Why do you always forgive me?"

I throw my head back and laugh. "You've forgiven me a time or two. I'm sure you can think of a couple instances where I've done some _really_ dumb things."

"Dumber than dumping you?" she asks as I wipe the tears from her eyes with my sleeve.

"It's questionable," I say grinning. "Now, Meister, quit crying. We've got a job to do."

"I know," she says staring into my eyes as she slides her hands down to my ass and gives it a squeeze that immediately makes me get _mega_ turned on.

"Meister, we're on the clock!" I say in mock shock.

"Are we really as bad as Patti says?" she whispers mischievously.

"Yeah, but just wait till Patti and Kid are actually doing it. We're gonna need a crowbar to pull them apart… and if Liz is added into the mix, I'm not sure Kid's gonna be getting _any_ sleep."

"Hhhmmm," Maka considers this. "I'm worried for Kid."

"Me, too," I admit, and I feel the gnawing at my guts that tells me I need to ask her something. I've been wanting to for a while. "You know, as a _girl_ you could find out what Liz is feeling right now…"

"Did Kid put you up to asking me?" Maka asks with wide eyes. "I won't betray my friendship with the Thompsons for him!"

"No, he didn't ask," I say snuggling her. "I just thought if_ I_ knew I could help steer Kid in the right direction… so he doesn't get hurt." Maka's forehead creases as she considers this. "You don't have to tell me anything that's secret, but you could find out if she knows that he's about to put it all on the line."

She nods. "Ok, I will, because I love them both and I don't want to see either of them or Patti feeling bad."

"Thank you." I kiss her again. As soon as we get home tonight I am gonna carry her right to bed. She blushes. Is she really that good at sensing my thoughts by examining my soul wavelength? Or maybe she's feeling how turned on I'm getting… it is kind of obvious.

"Soul," she says sensually. I close my eyes. Oh, Meister, take me! Use me for your pleasure. Get on top of me and- "Come on we have work to do." I groan in annoyance at her blue balling as she takes my hand and leads me out of the studio, down the hall to the door that opens to the enclosure area.

The first cell has four youth. I recognize one as Gabriel, the only munchkin I've seen that got wings in the transformation. I presume due to the small size of his wings that he doesn't have the ability to fly, but he does flap and stretch them in the manner a bird would, despite the fact he also has two fairly normal looking arms. Unlike his arms, his legs were shortened when he was forced into demonhood making the term 'munchkin' appropriate. All we know about him is that his attacks all seem to have a theme related to sports, though I can't recall any specifics.

Another munchkin in this group has been dubbed Dresden, because the Thompsons think it works as a boy or a girl's name. No one has been able to determine if Dresden is a boy or a girl. This may in part be because they're guessing Dresden is awfully young. Maybe a toddler or preschooler by Dresden's behavior. His or her favorite activity is wetting a finger in the sink and using it to draw pictures on the stone floor of the cell. I have no recollection of what were reported to be Dresden's combat techniques, but of the four Dresden's the one I'm least concerned about as the reports we've heard from our friends are that he like stay to himself for the most part.

The other two kids in the enclosure, I can't remember much about. One has horns, a tail, and pointy teeth, but I'm pretty sure that there are at least two kids who ended up with tails as a result of the transformation, and I get them confused. The other one's skin is an icy blue and built like a gorilla and has a tendency to punch people.

I know that becoming a demon can really mess a person up, but the extent to which these children have changed and the variety of their attributes seems odd to me. What could induce wing growth in one, while causing another to bulk up their muscles? Was Avian Flu changing techniques with each kid, using them as guinea pigs in an effort to create the perfect fighting machine, or was there something within each victim that shaped the form they took? Considering that the kids were liberated from the conversion facility I realize that my meister and I haven't been told crap about how the transformations were performed. We haven't even been offered a hypothesis, much less an actual detailed overview. I'll have to talk to Maka about this later, because it seems to me like learning how they got to this state would be a good thing to know before we start trying to convert them back to their previous one.

Kid's ominous warning about the children's future plays back in my mind. Could he really live with himself if he ordered the extermination of a bunch of kids whose only crime was being victims of Harold's evil plot? I glance at my meister. Even if Kid could somehow rationalize such a decision, Maka would never be able to; it will crush her if we can't figure out how to save these kids.

She catches me staring at her rather than at the demons and she smiles. "I'm gonna get a little closer," she mouthes silently. Maka walks over to the bars overstepping the point Kid considered safe. I position myself by her side, staying in human form, but handy, just in case.

"Hi, how are you doing today?" My meister asks sweetly as though this is a totally normal way to greet a potential adversary. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Dresden lifts his head to look at us, but then returns to finger painting. Gabriel stretches his wings to their full span and makes a clucking noise like a chicken. The one with the horns swings its tail in our direction as using its spearhead shaped tip to point at us. I wonder if that tail is prehensile. That would actually be fun. You could swing from tree to tree…

I refocus on the movements of the kids. I can't let myself be distracted by their mutations, even if some of them are reminiscent of Skeletoxin characters. I've got to stay focused on safely building relationships with them so that Maka and I can start to unravel the mystery of what to do to help them.

None of our captives seem particularly aggressive at this point so we stand there unsure of what to do. It's hard to have a conversation with people who can't really talk other than to state the names of their attacks. Why can they do that and not say anything else, I wonder?

Maka turns to me. "Your turn."

"Uh, great," I say. "What am I supposed to do?"

She shrugs. "That isn't super helpful, Meister."

Maka giggles. "I don't have all the answers, Soul."

"Well, don't look at me. I told you I don't know _shit_ about little kids. I don't know what to do."

"Try something. It couldn't hurt."

"I beg to differ on that point. Have you seen the one with the sawblade or the scissor handed one?"

"We've dealt with worse," she says with a confident toss of her ponytails.

"Yeah, and we killed them, and I ate their soul. That's what we do." I look back at the demon children. "I think this is gonna be a whole lot harder."

"We saved Krona."

"_You_ saved Krona. I would have killed him and that screaming bastard right off the bat. That is, if we had been strong enough to do it right off the bat."

Maka smiles. "But we weren't. So we got creative, innovative."

I arch an eyebrow. "We got _lucky_."

The intensity of her gaze reminds me that being cynical is a privilege that I as her partner am not allowed to have. "Soul, don't you think if there is a balance between good and evil in the world, some kind of cosmic karma that makes things try to return to equilibrium, that what happened to these kids greatly imbalanced the world and that the cosmos is simply needing a _nudge_ to return things to a more normal stasis?"

"Kid hasn't been having you listen to his wacky meditation tapes, again, has he?" I ask skeptically.

"No, I just think you shouldn't have a defeatist attitude before we've even started."

"I do not have a defeatist attitude!" I counter defensively. "I'm just waiting for an order so I know what the fuck to do."

Maka shakes her head at me. "You act like all I do is boss you around."

"You do," I tease.

Her eyes almost bug out of their sockets. "Meisters are _technicians_ not _masters_ who order their weapons around like slaves!"

"Could have fooled me," I say messing with her just for the fun of seeing her get herself all worked up.

"Soooouuuulll!" I take off running for the other end of the hall knowing that she'll chase me and catch up to me because she always does. Many of the demon kids come to the front of their enclosures to watch our horsing around. Maka waves her arms around like a crazy person, and I swear one of the smaller demons grins a little. "Ok, ok," I admit. "You're right. You don't order me around all the time. Only like _half_ time."

She rolls her eyes and turns to address our audience. "Soul is exaggerating. I am an extremely accommodating meister. I put up with his dirty socks thrown around the apartment and his drinking from the milk carton and leaving the toilet seat lid up and-"

"Now who's distracting who from working?" I ask and she frowns at me.

"That's not fair, Soul. You distract me and then-"

"I'm not listening," I say as I walk up to the cell bars. I begin to tap out a rhythm with my metal wristwatch and a few munchkins take notice.

"There. That is my contribution for the day." I yawn. "I think it's time for a nap."

"You are _not_ getting me in bed with you," she says flatly.

"Who said anything about you? You're a mutant who never naps. I, on the other hand, need my beauty sleep. Therefore, I will pull a Brian and make myself comfortable right here." I lay down in the middle of the aisle way.

"You're breaking fire code," Maka tells me.

"And we're holding eighteen kids-turned-demons in a secret facility under a city founded by the Lord of Death. I don't think we need to worry about the Fire Marshall coming here and giving us a ticket."

I'm serious about taking a nap. I'm beat. It's been a really emotional few days and nothin' wears me out more than having to deal with upset people. I close my eyes and immediately feel myself drifting off. Once, I open my eyes to verify that Maka isn't _actually_ pissed at me, but she doesn't seem to be so I relax as she distributes crayons and coloring books to some of the cells. Later, I hear her reading the kids at the opposite end of the hall a picture book about a stalk of broccoli that thinks it's a tree.

A shrill scream awakes me from my slumber. I get to my feet fast and run to the other end of the cells.

"I was letting them look at the pictures," Maka explains pointing to Gabriel and the blue ape kid. Gabriel is attempting to examine the picture book while the blue one keeps yanking it out of Gabriel's hands causing him to emit a _horrid_ birdlike screech that makes my ears ache.

"Hey, knock it off!" I shout at them. "You," I point at the gorilla one. "Stop that. Let him look at it."

The next thing I know I'm wet. I look in the direction of the sink and discover that the spikey-tailed one has squatted on the rim of it and is using its tail to deflect the facet's stream onto me. I growl. "That's cold! You buttmunch!"

"Soul," Maka shouts at me. "I don't think this is the best way to-"

The one with the tail hops off the edge of the sink.

"That's better. There will be none of that on _my_ watch," I bellow angrily. I then turn my attention to the bickering between the blue one and the winged one. "Share! Or get another book. You have a couple in there. I see 'em. How 'bout you see what they're-"

Another squeal comes from the enclosure and I see that the one with the tail is flipping water onto Dresden. The one in control of the water then flicks water all over one of his most recent aquatic masterpieces on the floor, and Dresden begins stamping his foot. The one with the tail turns around in the sink and waves its butt toward Dresden in what can easily be interpreted as a 'kiss my ass' kind of motion. Gabriel chicken clucks at this and the blue one walks over to a bunk and lies down as though wanting to avoid the current turmoil.

"Stop that!" I order, but the devilish looking imp at the sink continues splashing water everywhere completely soaking Dresden's front. The painter extends his hand into the water and a cracking, sizzling sound fills the room. Sparks appear from her fingertip electrifying the stream of water pointed at her, making the one with the tail yowl and fall off the edge of the basin.

"She's got an electrical attack?! Did we know that?" I ask my meister.

"I don't think so," she says as she runs toward the other end of the hall toward the master key that is hanging from a nail on the wall.

"What the hell ya doin'?" I ask her.

"We've gotta make sure he isn't hurt."

"Are you fuckin' serious?" I shout.

But it's too late. My meister already has the key. She opens the cage door and we burst in running toward the one with the tail. He's on the floor, his body curled into a fetal position. Maka leans over him.

"I don't think he's breathing!"

"Crap! Page Mira!" I shout and before I think about it I find myself giving mouth-to-mouth to a demon kid, the same snot who soaked me earlier in the afternoon. Maka uses the walkie-talkie to contact someone to tell Mira that we have an emergency. Things become very blurred in my mind. I pump the demon's chest up and down and do breaths for what seems like forever till Mira gets there with a bunch of equipment and relieves me. I step back, experiencing a kind of lightheaded adrenaline rush.

I see that Maka is doing this thing she learned at a meister conference once. It's a technique where she 'lifts' a fading soul wavelength with the strength of her own. It's supposed to aid a dying person's soul to survive by supporting it in ebbing and flowing as it would normally.

I hang my head. It's our first day on the job and we're already going to lose one. I run my fingers through my hair. I look at the little brat. What if we can't help them? What if this is the fate they will all end up succumbing to, despite our best efforts? Some part of me registers Joe and Mira struggling to resuscitate the demonic youth on the floor. Professor Stein appears with what looks like some kind of electrocution machine complete with wires and coils. I feel as though I might vomit, but the other three munchkins in the cell with us are starting to get amped up. Will they attack? I assume my position by my meister, sizing up the situation as best I can in my compromised state.

Maka grabs my hand.

"Resonate with me," she orders, obviously having forgotten that she is a 'technician and not a master.' "Soul, we've got to find him. I'm going to dive deep. We're not going to lose him."

I nod my understanding and focus myself on her soul wavelength. I begin to resonate with her, and soon find myself in the ethereal space we find ourselves in when we resonate and don't have to concurrently focus on slicing someone to bits.

"I've got you," I tell her. "Hold on tight."

When we do this I never quite know how to explain it. I don't know if it's just too existential for me to wrap my head around or if it's because I'm a weapon and not a meister, but all I know is that somehow I can act as an anchor as Maka swims in a sea of the subconscious, looking to find a soul. The tough part is this time we don't really know what she's looking for, we don't know _crap_ about this kid, really, but we do know one thing, somewhere in this alternate plane should be the soul of the child laying on the floor dying or already dead, and _if_ we can find his soul, there's still a chance.

I hear a voice. It's muffled as though coming through the filter of a million thick blankets. I can't make out what it's saying, but I know it's her. What is my meister saying? I reach out for her sensing where she is… somehow knowing that I can touch her soul even though there is nothing corporal to it.

"Don't worry, I've still got ya," I say.

"Soul, it's a little girl," Maka says. "Her soul has developed armor. I don't know if I can get through it. I think we're gonna lose her." Cradled in her arms is a roundish sphere covered in what reminds me of the material they use to simulate dinosaur skin at the natural history museum near where I grew up.

"No, we're not." I stretch my soul wavelength enveloping my meister in its peaks and valleys and using it like a lifeline to hold onto her as I turn myself into scythe form.

"What are you doing, Soul? You can't transform here!" my meister shouts.

"Don't worry about me. I'm going to crack the shell; you'll have a moment to connect with her. Ready? Three… two… one."

I give it all I've got, which I'm not confident will be enough. I've never done this before… I've transformed in ethereal space. I shouldn't even _have_ a form here, let alone one I can manipulate, but Maka has managed so much in this plane that I have to give it a try.

"Soul, this is danger-"

"I'm a weapon, I know what I'm doing, Meister," I tell her authoritatively though my words are total lies and I know she knows it. But I can't let my meister down. This is something only I can attempt. I feel myself lengthen and harden into something resembling my weapon form and I plunge the tip of my scythe into the scaly outside of what Maka has identified as the girl's soul and a bright light begins to seep out from the crack and then shatter the shell encompassing the soul.

"Soul, you did it! I can feel it." I sense the soul's presence for the first time, but as I feel its appearance I feel my meister slipping away from me.

"Meister, come on. We gotta get out of here. We're running out of time."

"It'll… be… o…k…" The words are drifting further from me. I'm losing my hold on her. I try to grip her tightly, but all I'm clutching is air.

"Meister, Meister, take my hand." All I can hear of her is a muffled sound that _could_ be speech or even the snore of a hibernating animal.

I reach down deeper. I feel as though I'm reaching through something murky, like an oil spill. The ocean of 'air' in this place adheres to me threatening to smother me, but I keep stretching myself trying to reconnect with my meister.

"Grab hold. Maka, you gotta find me. She's pulling you down with her. Come to me. Grab my hand." I have a very visceral flashback… my fingers remember the feeling of her slipping from my grasp on the train car and the living nightmare that was the days thereafter. Chills run through me from the tips of my fingers to my core. It's as though I've been plunged into arctic waters. My soul wavelength becomes staccato as though my soul itself has been overtaken by goosebumps. Things start to go black. I'm not only losing my meister, I'm losing me. I feel turned inside out, I'm spinning into a black hole and I'm not sure which is the way out. Where is the real world? Does it exist? Has this all been a bad dream? Have I been alone in darkness this entire time?

Then I feel something grasp me. I can't tell if it has a hold of my leg or arm or handle. I don't know what form I'm in… I feel like mush. I'm my own stomach contents, but something… someone has me. I move toward the warmth. I know that feeling. It's Maka. She is like a favorite blanket for a child having nightmares, a warm kiss on a snowy night, a loving word from a friend. I feel the heat. I flip through multiple forms. I still don't know what's happening. I don't know if I'm pulling _her_ back from an abyss or if _she's_ saving me, but warmth spreads all over my body. We are becoming more than warm; we are hot like the sun. We are blazing. We are a supernova, burning away the darkness.

All of a sudden we are back on the cold cement floor. My head is resting on Maka's belly. Our hands are clasped together and Stein, Joe, and Mira are looking down at us their eyes wide with amazement. Stein doesn't say a word, but falls to his knees and clutches the two of us to his chest. I feel slow on the uptake, my mind dull. I recognize the people around me, but I'm not sure how I got here. What were my meister and I doing? I have no ability to speak. I squeeze Maka's hand and she squeezes it back and then I pass out.

"Tell me again what happened?" I recognize the voice. It's Kid.

A husky voice says, "They did something I've only read about." There's no mistaking who that is. It's Professor Stein. "They utilized their full attack power while in the plane of the soul."

"And somehow that returned that girl back to her previous state?"

"It would appear that way. The child's tail is decaying. Mira believes that in another few days it will fall off. It's like a piece of wood in a furnace that turns more and more to ash as time passes."

"So, Maka and Soul have the ability to _cure _the kids of their demonic deformities? Can they _really_ restore them to the way they were before Avian Flu experimented on them?"

"Yes and no. Kid, I know you desperately want a way to save those children, but the chances that Maka and Soul can reproduce what happened with Vanessa is virtually impossible."

I'm not sure I understand everything being said; it's as though I have a hangover. I roll over and discover that I'm in a bed in the infirmary. Maka is in the one beside me, but instead of having an aisle between us someone has been nice enough to push our beds right up next to one another. I reach out and take my meister's hand.

She's asleep, but she murmurs my name when I touch her and that's all the reassurance I need. She's here. I'm here. Everything is ok. Now I can sleep for real.


	87. Chapter 87: Mysterious Madames

**Risenfromash:**__Someone recently wrote a review that said only that this story 'had gone too far'. Don't know if that was supposed to be a criticism, but I'm choosing to take it as a compliment because it means I'm covering new ground. Fan fiction can easily become cliché so if I manage to surprise or even disgust I don't really mind and, hopefully, the majority of my readers don't mind either.

_**Chapter 87- Mysterious Madames; All's Fair?**_

When I come to enough to sit up I learn that my slumber has most recently been overseen by our mentor, Professor Stein. He sits in the corner of the infirmary by the window, backward on his green office chair, rings of smoke encircling his head puffing away. At first, he says nothing just reaches up to his screw and I hear the familiar click, click, click as he tightens it.

"You don't know how hard I've had to fight the impulse not to dissect you," he tells me as a crooked smile appears on his face. My eyes roll toward my meister's bed to make sure she's safe, and to my great relief I find her sleeping soundly and in one piece. "Don't worry," Professor Stein continues. "Mira has proven her worth as a nurse by not only assisting both of you in your recuperation, but in protecting you from the invasive medical procedures which I've recommended many times over."

I narrow my eyes. "How exactly does Marie manage to sleep around you?" He chuckles, though I didn't intend it as a joke. I really do wonder how she can ever find peace when he constantly seems on the verge of madness.

"That would be a better question to ask her," he says as I stretch. "I'll go let Mira know you're awake. You two did very well. Tell Meister Albarn that I'll see she gets a special accommodation for saving that homeless child from the fire in the lab."

"What?" I ask.

"It's a cover story. You and Maka were working in Lab 3B when you spilt a highly flammable material which caught the place on fire and the homeless youth with horns and a tail was sure to perish until you both jumped into action and saved her."

"And she just _happened_ to have a tail and horns?"

He shrugs, "Yeah, I guess."

"And she was homeless, but was in the school?"

"Don't overthink it, Soul Eater."

"But it's the worst lie I've ever heard."

"I wouldn't worry. As long as Kid says it every female will believe it and they're half the population. 'Reaper-fever' is sweeping the country ever since the broadcast."

"Thank Shinigami, Maka's immune," I mumble.

Stein smiles. "Yeah, I like that about her. You got good taste, Soul Eater." He walks over to the counter and pours something from a beaker. "Here drink this and have your meister drink some when she wakes up. It's iron-fortified and should help you get your strength back." I look at him skeptically.

"What? You don't trust me? Do I have to get Mira?"

I shake my head. "No, I trust you. I just like messin' with you."

"Me, too," he says grinning. "I'll let Mira and Kid know you're awake. Oh, and Black*Star and Tsubaki should be back today or tomorrow."

"Cool."

"Any word from Spirit about Blair?"

Stein shakes his head. "No, not yet, but try not to worry too much. I think she's only used up three or four of her lives. Syphilis can take a lot out of a person, you know."

"No, but you would." He winks at me and pushes off with his sneaker flying out of the infirmary on his chair. I look after him for a moment, before taking a gulp of the concoction in the flask. It is _nasty_! I sputter and cough and then cough some more which wakes Maka up. She sits up in bed about to jump up and give me the Heimlich, but I shake my head 'no' and cough a few final times before climbing in bed with her.

When I tell her I'm choking because I drank a mystery fluid given to me by Professor Stein she clocks me in the head with her fist and asks me if I'm stupid. Aw, the gentle support of my meister, gotta love it.

We snuggle up in bed together and go back to sleep until Mira discharges us a couple hours later. Apparently, if patients are well enough to sneak other people into their beds they are considered well enough to go home. My guess is that this has become a rule as a result of Hiro's shenanigans.

We take it easy for the rest of the day, before heading back to the Sanctuary in the late afternoon. On our way there, we pass the outdoor marketplace and as Maka picks out some apples for us to have as a snack I see that the latest issue of the _Death City Daily_ is out and it's the annual best of DC Issue.

"Alright! Tell me _Pepperoni Palace_ beat out _Meister Mea's Peeza_ this year," I say enthusiastically grabbing a copy. I start thumbing through the paper and then let out a squawk when I see that they have featured an entire page to a color photo of Kid. It's him in his usual manner of dress, not his reaper outfit, and he has a kind of disinterested superiority to his expression. "Oh, my god. Look at this." I shove the paper on top of the bin of apples Maka is rifling through and she screams, "Is this for real?"

"Death City's Best Catch (Most Eligible Bachelor or Bachelorette): His Majesty Lord Death, AKA Death the Kid," she reads as she entirely abandons her examination of fruit. She picks up the paper and flips the page to read the article that offers their justification for the honor, which depending on who you listen to is either done through a completely arbitrary or very well thought out selection process. Knowing what I know of _Meister Mea's _cardboard masquerading as pizza_,_ I tend to think they don't do as much investigative reporting on their selections as they should.

Maka clears her throat a little and begins to read the article, "'There was no contest when our journalists came together to decide who would be this year's 'Best Catch.' The son of Lord Death has ascended to the throne with grace, compassion, and a sexiness that makes him the most desired man in our city. What is it about this young man that has captured the imagination and piqued the 'interest' of women of every age and profession? He's a gentleman, yet in no way threatened by powerful, strong women, and the best part? He's waiting for love! That's right. Sources close to the young Lord of Death report that he's still a virgin and not currently seeing anyone. 'Kid is extremely focused on his work and the war effort which doesn't leave him much time for a relationship, so he's content to wait until the right woman comes along.' Kid himself has said, 'I'm in no hurry. What's meant to be will be. You only live once, but that doesn't mean you have to rush things. It's the way of the Shinigami to take things nice and slow.' And for those of you out there who have speculated that Death the Kid plays for the other team, we're sorry to disappoint the men out there, but Kid is straight. A gay classmate of Kid says, 'Yeah, he's totally hetero, though he can appreciate beauty in all its forms, as long as it's symmetrical.' We're not sure what that means, but we know that the lady who finds out is going to be day-yam lucky."

Maka's eye bulge. "It gets better. 'Lord Kid is your type if you like a gentleman who will open the door for you, talk to you about sophisticated topics like art and culture-"

"More like giraffe fashion and the importance of carrying a tape measure in your pocket," I mumble under my breath, flabbergasted by this assessment of my friend.

"It says nothing about his OCD," comments my meister.

"Big surprise there. He wouldn't sound like such a catch if they said you'd have to spend half your dinner date with him making sure the tablecloth was perfectly balanced on the table."

Maka reads more, "'Kid's perfect date would be a candle lit dinner at a small restaurant, followed by a walk on the beach and culminating with dessert and romance in front of a fireplace.'"

I lean over. "Wow, there's more photos of him. Hey, look you're in that one." I point to a photo from last year of Kid and Maka at a Meister banquet together. Under the photo is the caption, 'Maka Albarn, Crescent Moon, Three Star Meister is often in the company of Lord Kid. Could it blossom into love for the reaper?"

"The Thompsons are not going to be happy about this," Maka says grimacing.

"Yeah, it makes it sound like he's up for grabs, but Kid doesn't see it that way." I think about this for a moment. "Wait. They aren't gonna be mad at _him_ for this, are they?"

"I don't know," she admits. "But they aren't going to appreciate the 'How to Get the Shinigami's Attention' section or the part where they list the odds of him sleeping with each of us."

"What?" I lean over. They have given Maka fairly decent odds. I frown.

Maka laughs. "Don't worry. I haven't thought of Kid that way since that time he had the nervous breakdown over the lopsided Jell-O at Robin's party."

I nod. "Wait, 'since'? Are you seriously telling me that at one time you _liked_ him liked him?"

Maka shrugs. "Sure, a little. You know we're close and he can be very charming… at times."

I grab her shoulders. "You're supposed to be immune. I can't compete with that!" I say pointing at the newspaper and she laughs.

"_No one_ can compete with that. _Kid_ can't compete with the Kid the _Daily_ has created. I mean, who is this fictional Kid trying to impress? We're in Nevada. Where the hell are you going to find a _beach_ to walk on?"

I'm only half listening because I'm looking at the list of women they have linked as being friends or associates with Kid and, therefore, have assigned odds of taking his virginity.

"Oh, no. Patti's super low on the list. They sight quote after quote where he says the Thompsons are like sisters to him," Maka says sadly.

"In what family are the Thompsons like sisters to Kid? He's had crushes on them since the day he met them!" I kind of squeal this and Maka glares at me for making a spectacle of ourselves in the middle of the market.

"Soul, calm down. You don't want the entire world to know he's not _actually _up for grabs do you?"

"Yes! I don't want some Erika trying to put her claws into him… or Cherry… or that chick from the coffee house who always stares at him the entire time we're there. It's Patti or Liz or both. Those are his only options. I'm not letting him be with anyone else."

Maka laughs. "Since when are _you_ in charge of Kid's love life?"

"Since he started telling me he's horny. If I have to listen to _that shit_ I get to decide who he should be with, and it sure as hell is not going to be some chick who reads about him in the paper," I say firmly.

"They give Mira good odds," she remarks reading the list, "because she's a nurse and he wants to be a doctor… Kim got lower than me… oh, Lydia is on here… they say she's too experienced. She's a long shot. Liz is close to the top of the list..."

The rest of the afternoon I'm distracted from our rehabilitation of demon children by the thought of all the women of DC scheming how to lure Kid into some kind of tryst. Maka senses my distraction and finally suggests we go check on our friends and make sure that they aren't killing one another and, ironically, before Louis has even made it to the door we can hear Liz screaming.

We get to the den just in time for what looks to be a showdown between Kid and the older Thompson who is waving a copy of the _Daily_ around.

"What is this?" Liz says pointing to the full page image of Kid.

"I don't know," Kid says. "You're waving it around too much. I can't see." He pauses to greet us. "Hi, guys. What brings you by?"

Liz gives no opportunity for us to answer. "Kid, I am gonna _kill_ you. I hope you know that."

"Yes, you've told me that a time or two before," Kid replies dryly. "Now what exactly is upsetting you about this paper?" Liz throws it at him and as he examines it he emits a low, "Oh, shit," under his breath.

Attempting to do damage control, Maka says, "It isn't that big a deal. Right? Half of what it says-"

"It quotes you as saying you haven't fallen in love and that you'll protect Patti with your life because she's the _sister_ you never had!" Liz shouts. "This is going to crush her, Kid!"

Kid takes a few moments to look over the article. "That quote is out of context. It's from _three_ years ago at that stupid Valentine's Day dance. Father wanted me to address the media about why I took both you and your sister instead of choosing _one_ of you as the tickets to the dance were for Meister and 'Guest'. He said I had to do something to squelch rumors of favoritism because I got an additional guest, so I just said that we care for one another like siblings to get them off my back. I hate talking to the media. I would have said anything to get their meddlesome cameras out of our faces."

"What's up? I could hear you arguing all the way in the kitchen," Patti asks as she enters the room laden with piles of candy.

"The Best of DC issue is out," Liz says as Patti hands her what appears to be a wad of foil wrapped chocolates.

"Ohhhh! Did they list the club Kid's taking us to?" Patti says happily, apparently forgetting that there had been a very loud disagreement going on before she arrived. "I heard it has laser lights and smoke machines and this really hot bartender with a British accent."

"I don't know," admits Liz. "All I saw was the giant pinup of Kid."

"What?" Patti tips her head.

"Patti," Kid says her name gently and slowly, cautiously even. "It would appear that I've been featured-"

Patti grins broadly. "Of course you have. You're amazing! And you're gonna win this war and those new techniques we're-"

"I've been named 'DC's Best Catch'," he says in a distinctly disgruntled tone.

"You?!" Black*Star's voice thunders from the hallway. "I'm gone for a few days and I lose my title?"

"Star, I love you, but you have _never _been named DC's Best Catch," Tsubaki says quietly.

The two of them get crushed by hugs from the gang before Tsubaki and Black*Star grab the newspaper to take a look with Patti leaning close to them to see for herself.

"You're DC's Most Eligible Bachelor?" Patti says sounding puzzled.

"According to them," Kid says quickly.

"I think it's odd for anyone in Crescent Moon to be referred to as a bachelor or bachelorette when none of us are married," Maka says.

"DWMA willing," Tsubaki says. "If it were up to Avian Flu we'd all be paired up like breeding stock."

Kid joins the three gathered around the paper. "None of this came from me." Patti chews her lip a little. "How do you feel about this?" Kid asks nervously as he takes a strand of her hair and hooks it behind her ear. "Your sister is a _tad_ angry about it."

"Hhhhmm. I dunno. You like me right?" she says eyeing the newspaper.

"Yes," Kid answers.

"And you aren't hoping to hook up with any of those Lord Death groupies who get all silly whenever you walk past, right?" she asks as she studies his face

"There are only two like that, Bridget Nightengale and Clarisse Fob, and I-"

"You know their names?" Patti says her eyes suddenly full of fire.

"Princess, they're _students_. It's my job to know them, and, truthfully, I _abhor_ them both."

"But, I have a question," Black*Star says as he dumps his knapsack down on the floor unceremoniously. It would appear that he and his weapon came straight here from the train station rather than stopping at their apartment first. "You're headmaster, right? So, technically, can't you not date anyone who's a student? Joe is always telling chicks that he can't date them till after they graduate 'cause he's employed by the school."

Kid frowns. "That is true. If you have Death Scythe status it's different, but the girls-"

"You're forbidden to date me?" Patti says her voice far more high pitched than normal. Liz wraps her arm around her younger sister's shoulders, pulling her close to her as though protecting her from Kid. Both of the girls stare at their meister, but while Patti's eyes are welling with tears, Liz looks at Kid with hate.

"No, of course, not," Kid says calmly avoiding Liz's homicidal gaze. "There are loopholes. We should give you and your sister a special title that differentiates you from the rank and file students while at the same time signifying how close you are to Death Scythe status and how you are my most trusted advisors and confidants. I wonder what we could call you?" He rubs his chin in thought. "'Assistant to the Headmaster?'"

"I don't like the term 'assistant'," Patti says pouting. Liz makes no comment choosing instead to simply growl her displeasure. Unfazed, Lord Kid throws out other ideas, working though the problem aloud. "Co-head-master? No, I think if I did that I'd be obligated to have an internal posting for the position, and then I'd be forced to hold interviews, and Ms. Leech would apply-"

"How about we just keep things simple and you call us your 'girlfriends'?" Patti's eyes twinkle as she stares at the object of her affection.

I swear to the Shinigami that I can hear Kid's heart beating, but it's Liz who speaks. "Well, count me out. I don't need any special title-"

"But, Liz," Kid takes her hand in his. "I… I…"

His stammering is interrupted by Joe who strolls in with a huge orange thermos and a tower of paper cups. "Coffee for everyone," he sings as he plops it all down on the table. "Java to get your juices a flowin'! I thought it couldn't hurt for us to have some of the 'Best Coffee in DC'." He pauses to pour himself a cup as we all stare at him. "Best Coffee in DC," he murmurs to himself as he blows on the murky, sludge in his cup.

Liz grumbles, "Joe, how is it that you always end up coming in at just the right moment to save _Lord_ Kid from having to make an _actual_ commitment?"

Joe blinks in confusion, obviously completely oblivious to the importance of the conversation he just interrupted. He sets down his cup and begins handing cups of coffee to anyone and everyone. Tsubaki politely declines explaining it's not a good idea for the baby which makes Joe very agitated and gets him going on one of his tangents about the marvels of caffeine and how the coffee bean is a gift from the gods. He's normally a laid back guy, but I learned a long time ago that you do _not_ want to refuse his favorite beverage if he offers it to you.

The hubbub over the coffee becomes so heated that I don't even notice that someone rang the doorbell until a tall, dark haired woman in a flamboyant black dress with feathers and a three-quarters length black cloak marches into the room. She is top heavy with large breasts and a tiny waist. Her dress accentuates her hourglass figure while the low-cut neckline leaves little to the imagination. I had thought that some of Lydia and Cherry's outfits were over-the-top, but this is the kind of thing I've only seen in the movies, and my first instinct is that she's Avian Flu and she's here to assassinate Kid. This must be the same conclusion others reach as well because everyone in the room leaps in front of Kid to protect him, though he gently pushes us aside, never willing to have his friends take a hit for him.

"I'm sorry, Lord Kid! She burst past me," Louis shouts from behind her. "You know I'm not a very good butler-"

"Hello, Kid," the intruder coos taking a step toward him. In response, Tsubaki and I swap our bodies for weapon form and leap into the waiting hands of our meisters, ready for whatever this Arachne-look alike is planning on doing.

"It's so nice to see you once again. You're so _grown up_," she says continuing to ignore the rest of us. Her eyes are locked on Kid's amber orbs as though she's trying to hypnotize him. Lord Kid raises his hand and waves it slightly indicating he wants us to stand down. "My father isn't here. He's been taken by Avian Flu," he explains to the woman. He seems like he's trying to deescalate things by being polite, but there's something about this woman that makes me feel that she does not deserve to be treated with Kid's usual hospitality.

"I know that," she says with a self-congratulatory chuckle. "I saw the broadcast and there's _no way_ that was your father. He's never been a gunslinger. It can't be done with those _ridiculous_ gloves he insists on wearing, but you… you've always been more of a showman. I saw you and your weapons and realized that you're becoming a _man_. We witches experience the passage of time differently from Shinigami, but it's _obvious_ you're coming of age. Your metamorphosis is virtually complete, save _one_ _little_ thing."

Kid stands firm. "Mybenda, you should go."

"Oh, I will, but not until I claim what is by rights mine for the taking." Her eyes assume a lustful look as her lips form a smirk.

Kid deliberately steps in front of Patti, taking her hand in his. "There's been a misunderstanding. I owe you nothing." The witch observes Kid's strategic placement of himself in front of the shorter of his weapons and her eyes briefly look over Patti before flipping back to lock on Kid's.

"You know this is a _terrible_ way to greet an old friend," the woman pouts.

Kid lifts his chin defiantly. "You are no friend. You're a swindler who exploits people at their moments of weakness."

She throws her head back and laughs making her tits jiggle dramatically. "Honey, I'm a _witch_. What did you expect?" She walks up to him grabbing him by the upper arm and pulling her toward him making him release his hold on the younger Thompson's hand. "That doesn't change the fact that you owe me, and I have the contract to prove it."

Kid is starting to lose his cool, but is working to maintain the usual steadiness of his voice. "Our contract was that you would give me information about the identity of my mother in exchange for the… service, but you failed to provide any data. Therefore, I am under _no_ obligation to-"

"That's where you're wrong, _Lord_ Kid. I provided you no information because there was none to provide, because you _have_ no mother. It's not my fault you misinterpreted things. The fact is, I offered vital clues regarding your conception and the identity of your mother. Therefore, I am here to claim what is mine as outlined in the contract you signed. Shall I bring it out?"

Kid inhales slowly. "Mybenda, I'm sorry. It's too late _I've_-"

"_Don't_ lie to me!" she snaps. "How dumb do you think I am?" From under her cape she produces a copy of the _Daily_ and waves it in his face.

Kid curses his luck and then tells her, "You can't believe everything you read."

"What do you take me for? I know a _virgin_ when I see one and you are as virginal as the day you were created… but if you're anything like your father it won't matter. He was _dynamite_ from day one," she raises her eyebrows and forms her lips into a seductive pucker.

"Kid…?" Patti's voice is shaky.

The witch grins as she leans around the reaper to catch a glimpse of his younger partner. "What an _interesting_ choice you've made, Death the Kid… but no matter. It'll only be for the one night. I'll be here at six for dinner and I expect to be _entertained_ from then on." She grabs Kid's ass and lets out a little purring sound. "I am _so_ looking forward to this," she says lustfully as she turns to leave. "I bet you're even better than your father."

Kid stands there frozen and silent and looking very angry as the woman strolls out of the mansion.

"Kid! What the hell was that about?!" Liz thunders pointing toward the door. "Did you promise to have _sex _with that woman?"

Lord Kid grimaces and quietly answers, "Yes."

Liz's eyes grow to the size of planets. "Oh, my _God!_ I can not believe you! You promised Patti-"

"Liz, I was _eleven_… and, well… you saw her... she has ginormous breasts," he says weakly. Liz and Patti glare at him. "Ladies, it was before I met you. I was desperate to learn about my mother and she was one of the women my father had been with, so-"

"You thought you'd screw her?" Liz screams. "How sick and twisted-"

"No! The timeline wasn't right. I knew she couldn't be my mom, but she said she knew my mother and we made a contract that if she told me the identity of my mother, I'd…" His eyes dart from the Thompsons to the floor. "Lose my virginity to her."

"You have _got_ to be kiddin'! How could you never have told us about this?" Liz wails.

"Because I-"

"Don't you _dare_ claim you forgot about this! Patti!" Liz shouts as she extends her shooting hand indicating her sister should assume weapon form. Maka sweeps in between Liz and Kid.

"Calm down! We all need to clear our heads. It's going to be ok. It can't be legally binding," Maka says. "No contract made with a kid holds up in court."

Kid shakes his head. "But it's a _witch's_ contract and if she tells other witches I'm reneging on-"

"You're going to do it?" Patti says her eyes welling with tears.

"It's not that I want to, I assure you," Kid says.

"Yeah, how _old_ _is_ she?" I ask.

"A few hundred years, I think," he answers. "What's worse is she's been with my _father_. All I can think of when I look at her is my father humping her with those damn huge gloves on."

"Wow," Black*Star says sarcastically as he pats Kid on the back. "Thanks for sharing that image, dude. I owe ya one."

"Kid," Maka says. "I still maintain that you can't be held to a contract that you signed at so young an age-"

The Lord of Death shakes his head. "I'm a Shinigami. My age is never considered a true representation of my maturity or experience."

"Yeah, it obviously greatly overstates your _intelligence_," Liz grumbles.

Kid turns on her. "And why exactly is this such a big deal to _you_, may I ask?"

"Because, you're in love with Patti, and you promised that when life settled down a little it would be you and _her_! And while you're off screwing that bitch, it's gonna be me who has to hold Patti as she cries!"

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Kid asks testily. "You sure you aren't perhaps a wee bit _jealous_?"

"_Jealous?_ Are you crazy?!" Liz shouts back. "I have sex all the time. I don't need it from an inexperienced scrawny-ass weirdo like you."

Kid nods, "Just checking that you weren't inferring any of your _own_ emotions onto Patti."

"If I wanted you I would have had you by now," Liz says viciously while yanking her sister away from Kid's side.

"Forget the witch," I tell him. "She didn't tell you squat so you don't have to give her what she wants."

"No, Kid's right," Patti says quietly. "He has to live up to the contract. It would look really bad if he broke the contract with her, especially after he invited witches to come here to receive the protection of the DWMA." She sniffles. "It's only one night. It's really not that big a deal, but I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too," Kid says kissing her cheek. Liz curls her lip at this display of affection between her sister and him. "I'm really sorry about this, Patti. I swear it."

"It's ok," Patti says. "I know you can be really dumb when me and sister aren't around to help you figure out what to do."

"Yeah," he says. "I guess I am."

"Hey," Black*Star says. "Why's everyone looking so down? Since when do we let a witch win against _Lord Death_? If Kid doesn't want to sleep with-"

Tsubaki rolls her eyes. "Of course he doesn't want to!"

"I don't see why not, other than the bossiness. That's a turn off, for sure."

"It's because he doesn't _love _her, Star. Do you not understand that?"

"I do, but she's got a nice body."

"It's not real!" Tsubaki snaps. "She's a witch! Her soul is tainted with evil and her true form probably looks like a zombie."

Black*Star shrugs and Tsubaki is looking more annoyed by the minute.

"Bro, be quiet if you know what's good for you," I order him.

"Kid," Maka says. "What is she like, this witch? What are her weaknesses?"

He thinks for a moment. "She was supposedly wounded by my father's activities with other women… That's perhaps why she wants to be with me. It could be her way of getting back at him. She likes cats, needlepoint, S and M," at this the Thompsons gasp, "and gambling."

"Gambling?" Liz repeats.

"Yeah, or so I've heard," he explains. "She lost a ton of money on a horse race once when she went out with my father."

"I have an idea! Wait here," Liz says as she runs from the house.

"Wait, Liz! What are you gonna do?" Kid asks as he runs after her.

Liz turns around, running backward as she shouts, "I'm gonna make sure your first time can be with Patti. You trust me, right?"

"Yeah, but," he shouts back but she is running down the road after the witch who is merely a dot in the distance.

Kid watches her for a few moments and then blurts, "I need a cigarette."

"That's what you're supposed to do _after_ sex, Kid," Patti says wearily.

"Ha, ha," he says patting himself down trying to find his lighter and his pack of smokes.

"Aren't you supposed to be pretending not to know he smokes?" I ask her as Kid stomps off to one of his smoking hideouts.

Disheartened the younger Thompson shrugs. "Kid does what Kid wants. You know I even changed the way I spell my name for him?"

"What?"

"I used to spell it with a 'y' but it was asymmetrical that way so I switched it to an 'i' for him. I'd do _anything_ for him. But he didn't tell me about this." Patti sighs, "I'm going to my room." Everyone is uncomfortably quiet. It isn't like Patti to be melancholy. I don't like it. I'm actually pretty pissed at Kid for keeping this from her and her sister. Surely, he knew if this came to light it was gonna hurt them.

It is Tsubaki who breaks the silence. "How about we go check on Mr. Longneck and see what we can do to get him back together."

Patti smiles and nods. "Thanks, Tsubaki."

"I'll come with you," Maka says before whispering to me, "Go talk to Kid."

I nod. Maybe there is _something_ we can do to help if I can get him to tell us more about this witch. Black*Star and I find him sitting behind the gazebo puffing away and kicking the dirt with his perfectly polished shoes.

"You ok?" Black*Star asks.

"No," Kid says exhaling an enormous nicotine cloud.

"You do understand that on the list of bad things that could happen to you having sex with a gorgeous woman isn't ranked very high, right?" my friend asks the Lord of Death.

"Yeah," Kid answers. "Except she's a witch who's been with my father… and more than that… I was _this _close to having what I wanted. What I want more than anything."

"That what all that bickering with Liz was about?" I ask. "'Cause since when do you accuse Liz of being jealous of Patti or anyone else?"

"Since-" He starts to say something, but abruptly stops speaking.

"What?" Black*Star asks. "You can tell us, dude."

"Yeah, did something happen?" I ask suspiciously. Kid is very private, but once you get him talking he isn't normally this guarded.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing…" he says avoiding our prying eyes.

"When has that ever stopped us from sharing?" The ninja looks to me. "Am I right? Black*Star and Soul Eater tell you everything."

He nods. "Fine. You know how the girls and I are sharing a bed right now?"

"Yes," Black*Star says leaning in for the details.

"Well… oh, God, I can't talk about this!" Kid says. "It's so wrong."

"Noooo, dude, come on. You_ have_ to tell us. We're like brothers," I say laying it on thick.

"Yeah, man. We're not gonna make fun of you or anything," Black*Star promises. "We're more mature than that. We understand that sex is a nature and beautiful thing… and that you really want to share it with someone you love-"

"Oh, good grief. You're not going to let it go are you?" The reaper asks.

"Course not," I say grinning. "Cause it's about you and your ladies." I waggle my eyebrows.

"Yeah, we want to know everything, man," Black*Star admits. "Angles, techniques, the dirty talk-"

Kid shakes his head, "Exactly what do you think I've been doing at night?!"

"Very little sleeping. Lots of humping," I answer matter-of-factly.

"You know I haven't done it," the Shinigami says shaking his head in frustration as he takes a drag on his cigarette.

"You could still be doing some major dry humping… or, what's my grandma call it... 'petting'? I think that's it."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but nothing remotely like that is going on… except… for…"

Black*Star is hopping up and down with excitement. "Oh, come on Kid! Quit teasing us, what happened?"

Kid rolls his eyes. "Well, you know how Patti can get a little grabby sometimes…"

"Yes." I nod and grin at Black*Star, "You should have heard him on the trip to come rescue you. In the middle of the night you'd hear Kid let out this high pitched yelp of, "Patti!" and then she'd giggle like crazy."

"So, I thought that's what was going to be the case again, but..." Black*Star and I hang on his every word, our eyes wide, eager to live vicariously through our friend who needs to get some, more than perhaps anyone else in DC. "I was tired so I didn't fight it-"

"Oh, poor baby," Black*Star says gently whacking me on the arm. "He just decided he was _too darn_ _tired_ to fight it."

"Would you shut the hell, up?" Kid says annoyed. "Or I won't tell you."

Black*Star's mouth clops shut so fast I hear his teeth hit each other.

Kid continues, "Well, it went further than it ever has before…"

"Lips?" I ask very quietly and he nods shyly.

"A little or a lot?" Black*Star asks.

"Ahhh… as much as you can…" Kid says.

"Ooohhh, yeah! Kid's got 'em practically beggin' for it!" Black*Star says.

"You liked it, right?" I ask puzzled by what the problem is. Does he feel bad he didn't reciprocate or…

Kid's eye bulge. "Of course I liked it. It felt amazing, but…"

"So, what's wrong?" I ask. Something doesn't seem right. "You seem far less psyched than you should be. Dude, Patti went down on you…"

"Wait a second…" Black*Star's eyes meet mine and we turn on our friend.

"Don't tell us…"

"It was _Patti_ right?"

"Uh… weeeeelll…"

"Holy shit!" I shout.

"You can't… seriously…?!" Black*Star asks.

"I was half asleep and we keep the bedroom _very_ dark, otherwise I have trouble sleeping."

"Oh, my God! I can't believe this!" Black*Star yells, his hands gripping his head in amazement.

"Are you telling me… ?"

"Yes, alright! I don't know which one of them it was. Ok? Ya happy now?" an exasperated Kid shouts.

"Holy shit!" I shout again as Black*Star and I bust up!

Kid huffs. "You said you wouldn't laugh."

"I'm sorry, I really am, but Black*Star wasn't expecting this…" The ninja says gasping for air between guffaws.

"You're my friends, you're supposed to be supportive," Kid grumbles angrily.

I pat Kid on the back. "Oh, we're gonna support you… in your quest to figure out which hot chick swallowed-"

Kid sticks his fingers in his ears. "Quit making it sound so vulgar! It was really _nice_." He's actually whining. A chick goes down on him and he finds a way to screw it up and whine about it. Only DC's Best Catch could manage that.

"Oh, I'm sure it was nice," I say grinning at the Shinigami.

"Seriously," Black*Star says trying to refocus himself. "It was Patti, right?"

"I'm not so sure," Kid admits as he stares off into space.

"Maybe it was both of them," I say nudging Kid. "You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"It definitely wasn't both of them. Someone was on the other side of the bed asleep."

"So, one Thompson gives you a blowjob while the other sleeps and you don't know which…" I say cracking up again. Kid frowns at me. "Dude, I'm sorry, but it's funny."

"It is not!" the Lord of Death wails.

"Oh, come on the mystery has to be a turn on," I tell him.

"Sort of," Kid admits.

"And you have to admit that this could only happen to you," I say with a grin.

"So, are you gonna go all private eye?" Black*Star asks. "Can you black light their tonsils or something?"

Kid hangs his head and mutters to himself how he never should have told us.

"Aw, Kid, come on. We're just giving you shit, because… well, it's funny, but we understand how this could be…" Black*Star mouths the word 'awesome', but I choose to say 'stressful'. The ninja rolls his eyes and shakes his head at me.

"The problem is I'm pretty sure it was Liz. I'm like ninety percent sure," Kid confides. "But if I say something and I'm wrong…"

"Seriously? You think it was Liz?" Black*Star asks. "How do you know?"

"I don't know," he admits. "It's just a sense I have…"

I shrug. "I'd trust it then. You do resonate with them enough to probably be able to distinguish-"

"So, if it's Liz… what are you gonna do?" Black*Star asks.

"I'm going to make her admit that it was her and then she won't be able to deny that she wants to be with me, because why else would she have done that?"

"Then what?" asks Black*Star. "You're not seriously gonna try to get them _both _are you?" I say nothing already knowing what Kid's answer to this question will be. "There's no way," Black*Star says firmly.

"Watch me," Kid says suddenly very sure of himself.

"You don't seriously think-"

"Guys, I love _both_ of them. I refuse to choose between them."

The words silence both of us.

"Really?" Black*Star asks. "How is it even possible to love more than one person at a time?"

Kid seems amused. "It's not that unusual."

"Maybe, but normally a guy with two women doesn't have them at the same time," Black*Star points out.

Kid shrugs. "The three of us get along very well… other than when Liz is threatening to wring my neck."

"And you find that kind of behavior endearing?" I ask.

"Don't _you_, _Mr. Albarn_?"

"Touche," I groan.

"Won't they get jealous if you spend more time with one or the other of them?" Black*Star questions.

"I don't think so. They don't now. It's not really any different except for what we do in private… besides I know it'd be fine with Patti. She's been trying to get me and Liz together forever."

"That's weird," Black*Star comments flatly. "It gets Patti turned on to see you and Liz together?"

"I don't know about turned on," Kid says. "But it makes her feel good, and Liz 'approves' of me and Patti… so, why not?"

"Cause it's weird," says Black*Star.

"I've been through this with him," I explain with a shrug. "He says it's not weird. That it's something called 'polyarmor'."

"Sounds like something you wear in combat," Black*Star says confused.

Kid sighs. "It's called 'polyamory' not 'polyarmor,' and I'm going to get both of them to be with me," Kid says suddenly looking like the cat that caught the canary.

"Do you realize that you look incredibly smug right now?" I ask him.

"I'm sure I do, because in another couple weeks I'm gonna be very, very happy cause I am going to have two of the hottest girlfriends ever… at the same time. Liz isn't _only_ freaking out on Patti's behalf. I know it. She has feelings for me. She must. I know I have feeling for her." Then his manner changes. "Don't tell anyone, ok?"

"Who would we tell?" Black*Star teases. "The girls? The media? Your father when he returns?"

The reaper jumps up. "Don't you dare! It's embarrassing… and I don't want them to get hurt."

"Sorry, dude, but I think it's a little late for that," I say. "I think Patti's pretty upset."

"Yeah, I know," Kid says looking up at her bedroom window.

"Kid, if you didn't like the thought of being with one of your dad's ex's why'd you sign the contract?" I ask.

"Honestly?" he asks. I nod. "'Cause I didn't have friends and I figured that no girl would want to be with me so I may as well have a plan to be with someone when I was the right age so I wasn't super old when I did it for the first time. You guys forget. You were my first real friends."

"And the first time we met you we attacked ya," Black*Star says grinning proudly. "That's how Black*Star makes the best friends."

Kid smiles. "I really love you guys, you know that, right?" Black*Star and I nod.

"We love ya, too. In a totally none yaoi kind of way," I say.

"What the hell is 'yaoi'?" he asks. I tell him and he gags.

"Girls are sick!" my blue-haired friend wails. "They give ya blowjobs in the dark so you second guess who's goin' down on ya, and they write stories about straight dudes doing each other! God-damn man, girls are nasty!"

I laugh. "Don't worry, Kid, I'm sure it'll be fine. I know Liz has feelings for you. She's told me she does."

"But it was complicated enough without that damn witch showing up," Kid complains.

"But if it _does_ go horribly wrong Black*Star and I are here for you and we'll take you to all the best bars to get wasted at," I say with a smile.

"True friends," he says extending his hand and the three of us fist bump.

"Brothers," Black*Star says and Kid and I nod. "Brothers," we say.

We stand there for a few moments enjoying the sunshine, before Black*Star interrupts the silence. "But, Kid," he says. "I _am_ super pissed at you. Black*Star wasn't supposed to lose his virginity _after you!"_

I grin. "Ah, is the ninja mad he's gonna be the last of our group to lose it?"

"Yes," he sulks, annoyed. "Wait! You can't tell me Crona's lost it."

I shrug. "Who knows what Ragnarok does to him when we're not around?"

"You've wondered about that too, huh?" Kid admits with a naughty grin and the three of us burst out laughing as we walk back toward the house. Before we reach the door to the kitchen Liz comes running out with Joe behind her.

"Kid!" She throws her arms around him giving him a big hug.

"Yes?" he says sweetly.

"Don't act all innocent!" she says suddenly letting go of him and back to being bitchy. "You're on my shit list. Smoking, agreeing to lose your virginity to some _whore_ instead of to my sister, eating the last of the _Cauldrons and Kettles_-"

"I apologized about that already. I thought we had a second box," Kid says.

"You put breakfast cereal on the same level as him losing his virginity to a witch?" I ask.

"Only cause Joe and I have got this little problem with your dad's ex taken care of. She'll be here at six pm, but not for dinner. We're gonna have ourselves a friendly game of cards." She pauses. "She wins, she has you for the night and it's in all the papers. Everybody knows that Mybenda made Lord Death her boy toy. _I _win, she leaves, never bothers you again, and you live up to your promise to my sister."

Kid nods. "As you wish."

"No," Liz says angrily. "As _Patti_ wishes. I'm not gonna let you screw this up for her. She loves you. Shinigami knows why! And I _refuse_ to let you break her heart."

"What about you?" he asks quietly.

"I have no heart. You should know that," she says haughtily as she turns away. Over her shoulder she shouts, "Oh, and if I win, I'm going out with Rodrigo tonight."

"Whatever you say, Liz," Kid says as she walks back into the house ordering Joe to come help her prepare for the game.

"You _really_ think she's the one who went down on you?" Black*Star asks with arched eyebrow.

"I know she seems hostile, but I _swear_ it was her. Anytime Patti does anything for the first time she giggles and asks if she did well afterwards."

Black*Star shakes his head. "You are one lucky mofo, you know that?"

"Yeah," Kid smiles. "All things considered I am a pretty lucky bastard, but give it a week or so and I will be the luckiest man alive."


	88. Chapter 88: Distraction Techniques

Chapter 88: Distraction Techniques; Soul sees red?

It's a few minutes before six when I'm walking into our apartment. The poker game should be starting any time now. Patti was too nervous to stay at the mansion while it was going on so Maka invited her and Tsubaki to hang out at our place while Black*Star did a bunch of the stupid post-mission crap we DWMA students are always saddled with when we return to HQ.

Stepping into the apartment I'm met by tension that's almost palpable. I don't even have to check soul wavelengths to immediately know that they are all out of sorts. While Patti is politely talking to her friends, it's obvious she isn't feeling like herself. Tsubaki and Maka are trying desperately to distract her from the situation by talking about anything unrelated to Kid, which can be a real challenge since he's Headmaster, her meister, Lord Death, one of our best friends, and, of course, the guy she's in love with.

I say nothing but head into the kitchen and toss some snacks onto a tray. I carry the munchies into the living room and strategically place them on the coffee table hoping maybe eating will be a welcome distraction for them. I grab a handful of barbeque potato chips and plop down on the recliner as Tsubaki flips through the television channels trying to find something that the three of them would enjoy watching.

This thing really sucks for Patti. She finally gets Kid to admit that he has _those _kinds of feelings for her and just when it seems like things are finally coming together for the two of them… or maybe the three of them… then this has to happen. How stupid was Kid when he was eleven? Did he really have such low self-esteem that he really thought it didn't matter who took his virginity, like it was just a meaningless rite of passage that he might as well get over with whatever female was willing, even if it was a _witch_? I think that's sad. Granted I was all for losing it myself just a few short months ago, but doing it with a stranger, even a hot one, would have probably made me too nervous to actually do it.

I've never seen Patti this… dejected, I guess. She's not being the peppy, animated class clown that we've come to expect… she's so quiet that she could pass for 'normal' and I dislike it. She's our cheerleader… the one who remains upbeat when the rest of us are one step away from saying 'fuck it' and throwing in the towel on whatever impossible task or injustice has the rest of us up in arms, but this time it's our job to cheer _her_ up and we are doing a pathetic job, if I do say so myself.

Though, honestly, I don't think there is anything anyone could do to comfort me if I was forced to let Maka go off and have sex with some other dude. I admit it I'm the jealous type. My world revolves too much around my meister for me to be OK with sharing.

I wonder what Kid's doing right now. Black*Star and I invited him to shoot some hoops with us, but he said he'd rather be alone and we didn't argue. Knowing him he's probably either at the skate park or sitting in his room with his headphones on doing his best imitation of Pothead Paul's stoned state.

I try to calculate Liz's odds of winning. She'll cheat, of course, she's a Thompson so it's a given that she's not gonna play fair, especially when she's this motivated to win, but she _is_ playing against a _witch_. Having cards up your sleeves and being able to read a person's tells may not mean much when you're playing against a sorceress who also has tricks at her disposal. I find myself praying to Lord Death, the real Lord Death, wherever he is, that he lends some luck to the older Thompson, because even if the girls forgive him for this Kid is the type who will torture himself over this forever. He really is kind of a masochist.

Time passes slowly in a kind of restless, anxious state with none of us talking while we 'watch' an animated superhero program that is nowhere near as cool as Skeletoxin. The girls sit sewing Mr. Longneck back together. Tsubaki's stitches are barely noticeable, very small and precise, while Maka and Patti's are large and uneven making the giraffe look as though Professor Stein has been using him for dissection practice. Eventually, they have the stuffed animal reassembled and Patti gets up and paces a little.

"I know you're trying to cheer me up," she sighs as she looks out the window. "It's really sweet of you, but I think I'd like to head home."

"I'll go with you," I say starting to get up. "I've been meaning to stop by the music room and snag a guitar."

She smiles at me. "You're just coming up with an excuse to walk with me because you know Kid wouldn't like me to be out alone."

"I'm allowed to care for you, too, you know," I say with pretend hurt even though she's right. "'Sides, I really do need to procure a guitar. I lost mine and it's driving me nuts. I wanna do some song writing."

"Ok, I won't argue," the younger Thompson says with a half-smile. "Maybe on the way you can explain to me how guy's minds work-"

"Or don't work," Tsubaki says rolling her eyes. "In Kid's case."

"Hey, don't look at me," I say shaking my head slowly but emphatically. "I have no clue what goes on in the reaper's head. He's an enigma. Maybe it's the OCD or the whole being a god thing. I dunno."

We leave Tsubaki and Maka to the final step in Mr. Longneck's restoration, the arduous process of using a caustic, foul smelling goop provided by Stein to the red stains all over him that simulate blood spatter. The professor said that if the mystery compound doesn't do the trick Mr. Longneck will remain polka dotted.

As Patti and I make our way toward the academy I realize how rare it is for the two of us to be alone together; Patti is almost always in the company of either her sister or Kid or both.

Out of the blue, my companion suddenly growls, "Ugh! I wish I didn't care so much! It's not like Kid's dying or something, but…" She grabs my arm. "How could that _idiot_ do this?"

"It does seem pretty dumb," I say with a shrug. "But he never would have done it if he had already been friends with you and your sister. Partnering with you guys changed him."

A couple walking hand in hand approaches us, passing us by on our right.

"Kid has some awfully odd ways of showing his affection," she grumbles.

"I don't think so. He showers you with gifts. He's protective of you and never wants you to get hurt." I pause. "And he stares at your breasts."

She laughs. "Do you think he's a boob guy?"

"I refuse to speculate on my friends' fetishes."

Undeterred Patti continues, "We _know_ Black*Star is all about the tits and you're obviously more of a leg man…"

I blush a little. Am I that obvious? I steer the conversation back to the reaper. "Just remember that Kid would undo this if he could."

"I know," she says without hesitation. "But I just wish he'd have told me ahead of time, or if he couldn't tell _me,_ that he'd at least have told Liz. It totally took me by surprise."

"Yeah, it's not super common for people to show up on your doorstep saying that you have a contractual agreement to have sex with them, not as far as I know anyway, but this _is_ DC and you _are _dealing with Shinigami and witches so, I guess we should always expect the unexpected."

Patti nods and looks deep in thought. "Soul, how did you know you loved Maka?" she asks.

I shrug. "I dunno. I just knew."

"But, you denied it for years," she says with a hint of the usual playfulness returning to her voice.

I grin, "Yeah, I dodged that bullet for a long time, but it finally bit me in the ass, and I couldn't ignore it anymore."

"Wow, and here I thought you were like the perfect couple," she says swinging her arms wildly as she walks.

"Nope. We drive each other nuts a lot of the time."

She nods, "But it's so obvious that you two love each other. Your face lights up when she enters the room."

"It does not! You've watched one too many romantic movies," I say frowning. "You're imagining things."

"No, it totally does. Your pupils get wider like you want to take her in." She smirks at my skeptical expression. "Fine, don't believe me, but there's been no doubt since day one that you were completely… what's the word Kid uses…" she thinks for a moment. "'Enamored' with her."

"No doubt, huh? I think that's a bit of an oversimplification."

"It isn't," she says matter-of-factly. "I wish it were like that with me and Kid or sister and Kid, but it isn't the same. Something's different…"

"Gee, you think it could have something to do with the fact your sister is trying to get _you_ together with him and you're trying to get him with _her_… and with you…?" The end of my statement turns into a question quite unexpectedly.

"So? It shouldn't matter. Kid is man enough for the both of us," she says giggling with mischevious delight. I really hope that's not a reference to the size of his dick. "I'm so naughty!" she squeals, and I consider myself fortunate that I can't see what she's imagining as I suspect it would make me blush. I steer the topic back from the metaphorical gutter before I find out an inappropriate amount about Patti's fantasies.

"Just promise me you won't give up on him, Patti. Kid can overthink shit sometimes, and he's really nervous about taking the next step with you, and you can't blame him. It's really scary going from just friends-"

"You think we're 'just' friends?" she asks with arched eyebrow as though I'm new.

"No, I think you're very close friends and I think that you and Liz have made a hobby of toying with him till he isn't sure where he stands."

"Hmpf!" she says and I immediately recognize the gesture as something Kid does when he doesn't get his way. We've been with our partners so long we're already picked up habits from them.

"Patti, making that leap is terrifying. Look at me and Maka, you say we're the perfect couple, but you _know_ we didn't make that transition smoothly."

She laughs. "You almost gave Maka a nervous breakdown."

"Yeah, I was a real dumb ass," I admit, "but it comes with the territory, and it's no different for Kid except that he-" I cut myself off. Holy shit! I almost said something about how he wants to be with both of them. That would be bad, really bad. He would kill me if I let that slip out.

"What?" she says genuinely curious.

I say some bullshit about how being a Shinigami makes dating difficult. I don't even know what I 'm saying. I'm verbally vomiting up some nonsensical garbage about gods and humans. She just stands there listening; I can't tell if she's buying it or not. "Anyway, what I'm _trying_ to say is even Shinigami can be stupid."

"Oh, believe me. I _know_ Kid can be dumb," she says with a wave of her hand. "Sister and I had to teach him where you shouldn't fire a gun. Guy didn't know _crap_ about the ricochet effect till we taught him. Also, didn't know how to cut class without getting caught."

This comment confuses me. "I thought since he wasn't required to attend the DWMA he could leave class whenever he wanted."

"Not if Daddy finds out about it. His dad is really hard on him, big gloves to fill, ya know."

I can't imagine Lord Death, who usually greets me with a cheery, 'How's it hangin'?' being tough on anyone other than demons and evil sorceresses, but I guess it would make sense for him to be less laid back with the future headmaster and ruler of all the world's demon hunters.

"But don't worry," Patti tells me. "I forgive Kid. The more I think about it the more I realize the person this most sucks for isn't me. It's him. Here it is, the _twenty-first_ century, yet he still has to live his life likes it's the Middle Ages with all these responsibilities and traditions and politics piled on him without him being given a choice, when we're supposed to be free to decide what to do with our lives and who to do it with." She winks as an impish grin returns to her face. "It can't be easy for him to be in love with two people at the same time. I can't imagine what it'd be like to have these wild, crazy feelings times two." She peers at me out of the corner of her eye, clearly wanting to see my reaction, but I do my best to show no response to her comment. Not only because I'd rather not perish by a soul wavelength weighted bullet, but also because I don't know what _to_ say. Do I deny that he has feelings for Liz? Do I act shocked that she would suggest that he wants them both? Do I smile and nod?

As I continue to walk she stops. "Tell me the truth, Soul," she says suddenly dropping the act. "What's he said to you about me and sister? _No bullshit_. I _know_ he has to have told you and Black*Star."

"Uh… I…" I stall as I try to come up with a way of answering without actually telling her anything.

She grabs me by the collar and pulls my face up to hers. This must be one of the techniques she used to use on people the Thompsons were robbing. It's effective; despite her relatively small chick, she's very intimidating. I'd give her my wallet if that would get her to leave me alone. "Tell me!" she shouts her free hand forming a fist which she waves in the air threateningly. As if her fist weren't enough of a menace, I panic from the knowledge she can transform herself into a gun, completely forgetting that I have the ability to turn myself into a weapon, too.

"I can't tell you!" I shout cringing. "I'm sworn to secrecy. He'd kill-"

"But it's killing _me_, Soul! Please! I love him _so_ much and I gotta know. I don't know what I'll do if I'm wrong, but I _swear_. I _swear_ he has feelings for Liz." She looks to be on the verge of tears but somehow manages to remain intimidating.

"Fine! Fine! I'll talk!" I shout relenting. "Yes, he has feelings for Liz."

"I knew it!" she shouts triumphantly. "And what about me?"

"Of course he has feelings for you. You ever see him kiss anybody else?" She nods and I know she's thinking of Liz. I sigh, "He says that he's in love with both of you."

She releases my collar suddenly abandoning her threatening and, instead smothers me in a hug. "He said that? Really?!"

"Yeah," I say too shocked by her sudden change in demeanor to say anything else. She lets go of me and I see tears flowing from her eyes, but I'm pretty sure they're _happy_ tears. "You sure you're not bipolar?"

It's as though she hasn't heard my sarcastic remark. "He _really_ said that?" she asks.

"I wouldn't lie about it, but, look; he really wants to talk to you and Liz about it in his own way." I roll my eyes. "And, no, I don't know exactly what that means, but I do know that he will _kill_ me if he finds out I told you, so keep your trap shut or I'm dead meat."

"He's actually going to admit that he has feelings for both of us?" Patti repeats as though in some kind of happiness-induced trance.

"I guess," I shrug. "Me and Black*Star have been giving him a ton of shit about it, but he keeps defending his feelings. I told him it was weird, but…"

She smiles a little. "Poor guy. No wonder he's a mess. His dad's gonna hit the _roof_ when he finds out. As though trying to save the world isn't stressful enough."

"You don't think Lord Death would be cool with the three of you…?"

She shakes her head. "I don't think Lord Death's vision of the DWMA Headmaster includes having a girl on each arm. I'm not even sure Kid is allowed to date, at least not anything serious. But can you imagine Kid sleeping around? He's just not like that, and his father probably won't understand that."

"Do they fight?" I ask intrigued by the thought that Kid and his father whom he admires so much could have a hard time getting along.

"They don't fight much, because Kid always assumes his father must be correct. He's always saying how his dad is so much wiser than he is, but, eventually Kid is going to have to stop idolizing his father and start living his life the way _he_ wants to, because his father's way of doing things won't always be the best way… at least not for Kid." She dances around in place delighted by the news, apparently have forgotten that her almost-boyfriend may be obligated to have his pipes cleaned by an evil witch this evening. "I'm so proud of him. Do you know what a big step it is for him to do what _he_ _wants_ for a change, not what is expected of him because he's Lord Death's son or a Shinigami or headmaster, but what feels right in his soul?"

"Patti, have you considered that Liz may just tell Kid to go fuck himself?"

Patti laughs. "Oh, no, she won't. He's completely not her type yet she wants him _so_ bad. She can't fight the attraction. She wants him more than anything. She won't be able to say no." She wiggles like she's doing one of those old dance moves from the fifties like the twist or the mashed potato or something. "I can hardly wait. It's gonna be so great!" She catches my skeptical expression and it must return her to the present situation rather than the crazy imaginings playing in her head. She calms down and no longer looks overjoyed.

Barely above a whisper she asks, "Soul, do you think we could stop by the skate park?"

"What ya gonna do if he's there?" I ask unwilling to commit.

"I'm gonna give him a hug. I think he could probably use one."

I shrug as we change course so that we can stop by the skate park before hitting the academy's campus. As predicted, Kid is there performing tricks on the half pipe with a small group of other skaters looking on. I think this is the only place Kid can feel like just another teenager, but even here he doesn't look carefree. His expression appears solemn and determined as though he's training.

"Shini-_gom-ee_, he has one fine butt," Patti coos as she watches his tricks. "I just wanna grab it!"

"I'm out of here," I say with a laugh as I do a one eighty. "Seriously, you gonna be ok?"

Nodding she says, "Yeah, I'll be just fine. Thanks, Soul, and tell Maka and Tsubaki thanks, too." As I walk away I see Kid notice Patti and he abruptly stops doing his flips, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and floats over to her on his hoverboard. He doesn't smile, but he doesn't frown either.

I see Patti throw her arms around him and after a moment his hands find their way out of his pockets and his arms wrap around her. Seeing that they seem OK, I take off.

The DWMA is crawling with underclassman hard at work performing their assigned tasks. A few are lugging around enormous pieces of some metal contraption, while others are doing combat training, and a few are in the hallway practicing bandaging techniques on one another. Many of them greet me and I give them a 'hey' back, but I don't stop to talk to anyone. _I've had enough of talking._ What I really want to do is release all the junk bouncing around in my brain. I need to play music.

I enter the music room and breathe a sigh of relief to find it unoccupied. I practically run to the piano. I sit down, lift the lid, and stretch my fingers and then the music starts flowing out of me. I don't even consciously think about it… it's just there as though it's writing itself. There's a steady, bass throughout the piece that gives it a majestic, even regal feel and there's a lilting, playful melody that dances in and out tangling itself in the harmony offered by the lower notes.

It's not like anything I've ever written before and I find myself wondering where it's coming from. It isn't dark and mysterious like my usual stuff; it's full of longing and a kind of bittersweet regret. I've been playing for a while when it hits me as plainly as if someone smacked me in the face. I'm playing _his_ story… the story of the Shinigami who is in love with both of his partners and fights every day to create a balance between good and evil and light and dark both in the world and within himself.

The only problem is I can't seem to create an end for the song. It just loops back to the beginning no matter what I do. In frustration, I jot down the notes and get up leaving the piano and pacing back and forth for a bit, before sitting back down and trying again, but it's the same damn thing. I grumble and grab a guitar and leave angry at my creativity for getting me so far and then bailing on me.

As I leave the school, I pass Kid hoverboarding home from the skate park.

"Hey, man!" I call out to him and he doubles back coming to a stop in front of me.

"Whatcha up to?"

"Patti and I are headed home," he says with dread. "I figure it's time."

Patti's voice comes from Kid's pocket. She invites me to come with them. I stammer around. If the news is bad I don't think I can handle being there when they find out, but I don't want to let down a friend, either, so I nod and Kid vaporizes his board, pulls Patti from his pocket, and she appears.

"Kid, remember what I said, ok?" she says and Kid nods.

As we walk along he admits to me, "I don't think I've ever been so nervous about crossing my own threshold." When we reach Death mansion he pauses and stares at the impressive structure before approaching the door. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and holds the door open for me and his partner inviting us to enter first.

"You ok? It's about to get real," I whisper to him.

"Best to get it over with," he whispers back as he enters the hallway. Mybenda is standing there as though waiting for his arrival. She is no longer wearing her feathery black outfit, but a blood red evening gown that perfectly matches the shade of lip stick she's wearing. The color reminds me of the simulated carnage on Mr. Longneck making me experience a very visceral repulsion when I take her in. The witch's eyes widen as Kid pulls his hands from his pocket and stops slouching.

"Mybenda," he says with a bow of his head.

The witch's eyes look him up and down, coming to rest on his face. She steps forward, grabs his face with one of her hands and squeezes it, her long painted fingernails digging into his flesh as she plants a kiss on his lips. His eyes close and I can sense that he is accepting his fate. Patti turns away, hiding her face in her hands.

But then Mybenda pulls her lips away and releases the young man from her grasp.

"Your partner _cheats_," she says angrily.

Kid's eyebrow arches and Patti turns around parting a couple of her fingers that are still shielding her face from the offensive view of her meister being kissed by a witch.

"You got proof?" Liz says appearing in the doorway of the sitting room. "I told you. You prove it and he's yours."

Mybenda's nostrils flare and her lips curl as she scowls at the older Thompson. "I don't know _how_ you did it, but I _know_ you rigged the game."

Liz shakes her head. "Mybenda, nobody likes a poor loser," the older Thompsons the tiniest smirk on her lips.

"Nobody likes a girl who says she's doing something for her sister when she's really doing it for _herself_," the witch taunts.

"Keep your opinions to yourself, Enchantress," Liz barks.

Mybenda growls, "I refuse to leave Death City!"

"That's fine, but you leave the three of us alone. No uninvited visits, no more kissing or flirting with Kid, and no talking to the media about any of this, and I'll be taking that witch's contract," Liz says holding out her hand.

"Lord Kid, you have swindlers for partners!" Mybenda shouts angrily.

"Yes, I find it to be mighty handy at times," Kid says lifting his arms in a familiar gesture that indicates the girls are welcome to cozy up to him. Patti runs to one side, but Liz doesn't join them. Instead, she marches up to the witch, her hand still extended.

"The contract, Mybenda. Now!" Liz orders. Mybenda rolls her eyes and reaches into her cleavage. She produces a piece of parchment folded many times over. Liz snatches it, opens it, and nods.

"You may leave now," Liz says as she joins her two partners.

"I'm going to tell your father what you're up to," Mybenda threatens as she bitterly studies Kid and his partners.

Kid nods politely. "Be my guest if you can find-"

"Oh, I know where he is," she says gliding out the front door of the mansion with a smirk on her face.

Kid lets go of Patti and Liz and runs after the woman. "Mybenda, you have to tell me!"

"Ha!" she scoffs. "I only share secrets in bed and there's no pillow talk for you!" And in a puff of smoke she turns into a weasel and runs down the steps of the mansion. Kid watches after her.

"She was talking out her ass right?" I ask.

Liz nods. "That bitch just wanted to get the last word in."

"I don't know," Kid says. "You'd think if anyone could find him it'd be me, but you never know. Mybenda is a powerful sorceress. One time she-"

I don't get to hear the rest of the story because Patti is kissing him. He reaches down and places his hands on her butt lifting her slightly as she wraps her legs around him.

Liz shakes her head. "Kid, you are the only dude who would be happy about _not_ having sex," Liz mutters as Patti hops off him and smothers her sister in a hug. She steps back giving an opportunity for Liz and Kid to have a moment.

"Liz… I…" Kid moves very close toward her and it's obvious to me he's going to kiss her and she doesn't move. This is it! The reaper's done it he's got the two of them in the palm of his hand-

"Hola!" Rodrigo pops his head in and Liz ducks away from Kid's lips leaving him stumbling to avoid falling face first.

"Oh, hey! Perfect timing!" Liz says. "I'll be right there. I gotta get my wallet and… other stuff." She looks at Patti and their meister. "Well, uh… see ya later," she says awkwardly before running off to get her purse.

Kid closes his eyes and groans and Rodrigo asks something in Spanish as Patti stomps over to me.

"Damn that Rodrigo!" Patti whispers to me.

"He's not a bad guy," I tell her.

"I know that! But he's just a substitute. Liz really wants to be with Kid. I _know_ she does."

"I dunno. It seems like she works awful hard to get you and Kid together."

"And I work equally hard to get those two together."

"I know, and, honestly, I don't get it," I tell her.

She smiles. "It's ok. You don't have to understand. Just don't judge him too harshly. He can't help that he choose _irresistible_ partners and that he has a latent desire to be bookended."

"I don't think I want to know what that means," I tell her as I wave goodbye to my friends and head out.


	89. Chapter 89: Courtship Rituals

**Risenfromash:** Wish I knew why this chapter took me so damn long. I guess sometimes life gets too distracting, but I think the latest developments in the next couple chapters will please a lot of you…

_**Chapter 89- Courtship Rituals; What Does Devotion Look Like?**_

The next day is the start of the weekend and despite the fact Maka and I missed a couple days of our assignment due to our post-transformation exhaustion after turning that one demon back into kid form, Mira insists that we take Saturday and Sunday off so as not to 'overdo' it. Maka had argued with her about it but eventually agreed, admitting that she wouldn't mind spending a day curled up with a book.

Saturday morning, she's up before me, blessing me with the gift of sleeping in, and I do. It's past eleven by the time I wake up. For what feels like the first time in forever I'm not having to dash off to the Death Room or answer the door cause some asshole is pounding on it. It's an awesome start to the day and there's a feeling in my gut that this is gonna be a good day despite the war.

I don't bother getting dressed. I just walk around the apartment in my underwear strumming the guitar I took from the music room. Then, I play some video games. Eventually, I make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.

The solitude is nice until the late afternoon when I begin to miss Maka's company. I really am pathetic. She's gone for a few hours and I start missing having her around. I consider this and an idea begins to form in my mind, and as I take a shower it grows from an idea to an actual plan. _I'm gonna take my meister on a real date._ I mean, it's probably overdue even for two people like us who tend to be a bit of homebodies. We can do the stereotypical dinner and a movie date. I don't think there's any way I can screw that up, and I'm pretty excited about surprising her. Maka's not one of those girls who wants to be bought a bunch of gifts and crap, but I think she'll enjoy getting to go out like a normal teenage couple, not two who are trying to save the world. The thought makes me grin. I'm an awesome boyfriend, that's all there is to it.

I put on a clean pair of jeans and a shirt that looks less 'slummy', her word not mine, and secure my unruly white hair with a black headband and head out to meet her in the library. On the way I stop and pick up a bouquet of flowers for her. It's nothing as cheesily sentimental as roses. They're a bunch of different blooms in maroons and burgundies and oranges with much more character then some stereotypical 'romantic' bouquet.

I stop in the men's room one more time before heading into the library just to make sure I'm looking ready to take my meister out. I saunter into the library feeling confident that I'm going to make my meister's day. I look around the library checking the spots my meister typically haunts, but I don't see her, so I wander around till I end up in the adjacent room and see a table covered in books with several stacks so tall they obstruct her from view. Bingo! As I walk up I see that all the books are nonfiction that seem to focus on parenting and family. My meister is working on her day off. Damn her. I'm not going to allow that. I am going to drag her out of her right _this instant_ to have some fun like a normal kid our age should. I creep up to the wall of books and pop my hand full of flowers around it.

"Meister, will you please go out with me on a date tonight?"

I feel the flowers taken from my hand. "Soul?!" The voice is not that of my meister. I step around the table.

"Black*Star?! What the fuck are you doing here?" I ask as he closes the book in his hand and slides it out of view.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asks, as one of the librarians turns around to glare at us for being too loud.

"Trying to ask my meister out on a date," I explain.

"Oh," he says looking slightly relieved. "You thought I was Maka."

"Dude, what'd you think I was doing?"

"I dunno," he shrugs. Looking down at the bouquet. "I know you love Black*Star, but you've never given me flowers before."

"They're for Maka, you idiot!" I say snatching them back from his hands.

"Oh, that makes sense!" He says smiling. "I was just surprised is all… I mean, of course you wouldn't be getting me flowers. I'm a dude."

I grimace slightly, "Do you want me to get you flowers for your birthday or something?"

Instead of immediately discounting this ridiculous suggestion, he actually considers it. "That might be kinda nice."

I shake my head. My friends are the weirdest. As I'm standing there I wonder did I _imagine_ that all these books were all about kids? I glance over the titles… _A Beginner's Guide to Baby Care_, _A Parent's Survival Guide_, _I Wish My Father Had Told Me Advice for First Time Dads_… what the…?

"Black*Star, why the fuck are all these books about kids?" I ask quickly.

"Uh… it's just for a stupid book report."

"Classes are suspended because of the war, stupid. What are you _really_ doing?"

He waits a moment before answering. "Research."

"And _what_ are you researching?" I ask him narrowing my eyes and staring suspiciously at my best friend.

He hangs his head and mumbles, "Some things for Tsubaki."

"What _kind_ of '_things'_?" I ask.

"And some stuff about how to care for a baby, because…"

I give him _the look_. I'm not too proud to admit that I genetically inherited the ability to give 'the look' from my mother who would use it when I was whining for a new toy, farted without saying excuse me, or was giving her or Grandma lip.

"Soul, why should she give up the baby?" he whines. "She doesn't want to. She's-"

"Cause we're _teenagers_ and we don't know the first thing about being parents," I whisper at him angrily.

"But Tsubaki does and… I can learn."

I raise an eyebrow. This is the boy who had to wear Velcro shoes up to a few years ago because he hadn't learned how to tie a knot, the guy who almost flunked out of school because he wrote a report about vacuum cleaners when he was supposed to do it on former president Herbert Hoover.

"It isn't gonna hurt for her to know her options."

"She knows her options. She already made her decision."

"She was too upset to think straight. I wasn't there to help her."

"Black*Star, how dumb are you? Dredging up this shit is not helping."

"She doesn't want to give the baby up. I know she doesn't."

"Black*Star, a baby can't be left alone. I don't even think you can walk away from them. I think it's like against the law or something."

"That's ok. Tsubaki and I can figure it out together." I shake my head. Why are all my friends idiots? "What do I have to do to convince you that she and I can handle this?"

"I dunno," I say tossing my hands up in the air in frustration. "How 'bout admit to her that you have the total hots for her and that you want to make a million of your own babies with her?"

"Now you're talking," he says smiling widely. "Yeah, little Black*Stars and Tsubees runnin' all over the place. How awesome would that be?"

"Only mildly terrifying considering we haven't even graduated yet," I say with a sigh.

"Kid's our age and he's Headmaster _and_ our supreme commander," Black*Star says.

"He's a Shinigami. That's different."

Black*Star frowns. "What if this baby was fated to be? Like the gods said they were gonna send this little baby down to Tsubaki and me?"

"You think Tsubaki was fated to be with an asshole who skipped out on her and his unborn child?" I ask not sure I would want to live in a world with gods like that.

"I dunno, but maybe… maybe we're meant to start our family early."

"You are aware that you've never even asked her out, right?" I say impatient to make my friend realize what an idiot he's being.

He shrugs. "She knows how I feel about her. It goes without saying."

"Then why'd she go get knocked up by Kyo?"

Black*Star hardens his jaw and shouts, "Shit, Soul, why are you being such a dick?"

A couple kids at another table are watching us and snickering. One grins and shouts, "Could you take your lovers spat outside? Some of us, Shooting Stars, are trying to get some work done."

Black*Star and I turn to face the smart ass and in unison shout, "Shut the fuck up!"

I turn back to face my friend. "Black*Star, I just don't want you to ruin your life by taking on something you can't handle because you're obsessed with Tsubaki."

"Black*Star will show you. I can handle anything Tsubaki needs."

"That's what I'm saying, asshole. Just because you love Tsubaki-"

He crosses his arms and looks at me smugly, "So, you're telling me you'd let Maka give a baby up?"

The thought of Maka pregnant is terrifying, but he's trapped me. "I guess I'd support whatever she wanted," I mumble. It's easy to give him a hard time when I can be hypocritical, but if it were me and my meister I'd probably be doing the exact same thing as him. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, man," he says smacking me on the shoulder. "I know you're just lookin' out for me, but don't worry about me. Go have your date with your meister. I think she got hungry and went over to _Drops_ and for the record I think she's way more open minded about the baby than you are."

"Yeah, probably," I grumble. "Catcha later." He grabs my hand and I hear the underclassman laughing again. I switch my other arm to a scythe and point it in their direction.

"You don't wanna go out the west entrance. Excalibur's over there overseeing the janitorial staff's cleaning of his restroom," Black*Star explains.

"Thanks, man," I say.

"Ah, no goodbye kiss?" says one of the onlookers.

"Did I just hear you collaborating with Avian Flu? Maybe you and I better have a little talk with _Lord Kid_," I threaten.

One of the other students leans over and says, "Dude, what are you doin'? That's Soul Eater! He's in the Inner Circle and you know none of them like gay jokes."

"Yeah, I know," the youth grumbles. "But what's with the flowers?"

I shake my head. "They're for my girlfriend, Idiot."

"Yeah, he's with his meister now," says the other one. "Don't you keep up on this shit?"

"Naw, there's way too much drama in Crescent Moon," his friend mumbles back to him and I hear them continuing to exchange gossip as I walk away trying to refocus on showing my meister a good time. I glance down at the bouquet. I broke the stem on one flower when I grabbed them from Black*Star's hand. I pull the broken one out and toss it in the trash so it doesn't look like I'm giving Maka a mangled bunch of flowers.

It takes me a bit to get over to _Drops of Magic_ since I have to go the long way around the academy. It seems like forever since I've been there. Before the war we were over there almost every day to get snacks or tea or coffee. The place has a lunch counter and a couple tables that are set up like a café, but the rest looks like a rec room. There's fooshball and shelves of paperbacks, comics, and manga to peruse and plenty of comfy seating. I find Maka sitting in her favorite purple velvet chair. Her feet are tucked up under her and she appears deeply absorbed in a book. Sitting next to her on a circular end table is a cup of tea which I'm willing to bet has gotten cold as she inevitably neglects her drink while reading.

Behind the counter, Arminda, the owner, smiles at me and raises her eyebrows when she notices the flowers in my hand. Her head tips in the direction of my meister and I nod. She smiles. She's been trying to get me and Maka together forever. I don't know if she harasses my meister about it as much as she does me, but she's constantly telling me that I can't let Miss Albarn get away because she's a 'real sweetheart'.

I walk up to Maka and she never once glances up from her book.

"Good thing I'm not Avian Flu." I say it softly so as not to startle her. I've learned the hard way that if you abruptly pull her from whatever literary world she has immersed herself in she will whack you with whatever book she is reading, even if it is eight hundred pages and weighs a half-ton.

Maka lowers her book and gives me a puzzled expression.

"Flowers?" she frowns a little. "You aren't turning into one of _those_ men are you?"

This was not the response I was anticipating. "What do you mean?" I ask, a little hurt that she doesn't seem delighted by my surprise.

"The kind who brings their girlfriend flowers anytime they screw up?"

"Uh…" I think back over the last twenty-four hours or so. Did I do something she could be mad at me about? She seemed fine last night when we were in bed together. "I don't think I've done anything to apologize for," I say honestly before mumbling, "At least not recently."

"Then what's the occasion?" she asks not unkindly.

I shrug and sit down across from her on a short padded stool-thing. "I guess listening to Kid and the girls made me realize it's about time we went out on an actual date."

She tips her head. "Actual dates are overrated."

"You don't want to?" I'm so confused, and I'm sounding a little nasally. Am I _whining_? Am I disappointed that she doesn't want this? I try to reach deep down inside. Does it bother me she doesn't want to go out with me? I was just trying to do something nice and it's becoming more trouble than it's worth.

"No, I'll go. I just don't want you to think that's what I want," she comments.

"Oh," I murmur my frustration growing. "You don't want to?"

"No, I'll go. What's the plan?" she says standing up and tucking the book she was reading inside of her purse.

"Uh…" Now I'm uncertain of what the plan was. I think I was going to take her to a movie… or something.

"I'm sorry. Maybe we should start again," she says smiling a little.

"Maybe we should," I grumble, thrusting the flowers into her chest.

She laughs a little. "You ok?"

I shake my head. "No. I was trying to do something nice for you… for us… but…" I groan. "Maybe we're more of a stay-at-home couple."

Her smile widens and it makes me feel less awkward. "No, I think going out would be good. I didn't mean I didn't want to." Isn't that what she said? My head is spinning, but she's smiling and her book is secured in her purse rather than making an indenture in my skull, so I guess everything's ok. "I gotta go to the restroom. I'll be right back and then we can figure out what we want to do. Ok?" I nod and grin back at her. "And thank you for the flowers," she says over her shoulder as she walks toward the restroom.

I turn around in a bit of a daze and stumble over toward the lunch counter.

"That was painful," I comment to Arminda and she laughs.

"You did fine. You're always so preoccupied with making her happy that you end up worrying too much about everything."

I grunt. I disagree entirely. I'm not like Kid. I don't worry too much. My girlfriend is just a weirdo, that's all. What girl doesn't get excited about flowers? Liz liked them when Rodrigo brought them.

Behind the counter, Arminda is working on making a small pile of deli sandwiches. It's probably an order someone is gonna pick up for dinner. It looks like they really like ruebens. A small TV sits on one of the counters in the kitchen. She's watching some kind of magazine style news program. The members of Roadside Refuge are denying that they have any connection with Avian Flu and claiming to have fired their manager over 'a lone incident' in which they played at an Avian Flu rally unaware that Avian Flu was a militant organization.

Arminda grunts, "Yeah, right!"

I shake my head. "I believe 'em. From what I saw I think they really could be that stupid."

"Well we can't all be brainiacs like Maka and Ox," she says with a laugh as she places roast beef between slices of bread. "But those boys should be ashamed of themselves. Kids look up to them."

"People need to be more careful about choosing their role models," I mumble.

"Speaking of which," Arminda asks. "How is Doctor Stein doing? I was a little worried this whole daddy thing was gonna make him need to get a second screw implanted."

I shrug. "He seems ok. It's Black*Star I'm worried about. He thinks Tsubaki should keep the baby."

The deli owner pauses in her sandwich making. "Being a parent is a big responsibility."

"Believe me. I've told him that," I say sounding disgusted. "He won't listen."

Arminda smiles at me. "I said it was a big responsibility not that it was _too _big."

I don't say anything sensing that Arminda and I don't see eye-to-eye on this particular controversy. Seeking to change the subject I glance back at the television which is now featuring a 'man-on-the-street' type segment where they feature the opinions of average people. They're asking them what they think about the war, rapidly switching from one sound byte to another. A woman from Nova Scotia thinks Demon Weapons don't exist (at this Arminda laughs and almost drops a jar of pickles on the floor). The Canadian woman continues thinks that the war is nothing more than a conspiracy to manipulate the stock market, though she offers no explanation of how she thinks birdmen would influence the exchange. In Portland, a man with a crazy looking handlebar mustache feels that the DWMA and Avian Flu should settle their disagreement 'like mature adults' and that there is no reason for further bloodshed. I give the image of him on the screen the evil eye for presuming the DWMA somehow _enjoys _war. Sure, dueling demons is fun, but this thing with Avian Flu is something entirely different.

A-holes from all over continue to share their uneducated opinions making me wonder if the reporter actively sought out these people in order to sensationalize the segment. It's painful to watch as these clueless people are the same people we are working so hard to save. Thank, Shinigami, I didn't get into this business for recognition or thanks. Disgusted, I turn my attention from the television and grab a copy of the _Daily_ to see what is playing at which of DC's three movie theaters.

"Paranormal Correspondent, Miles Kamizato recently visited a number of covens to hear what witches have to say about the news that Lord Death will accept them into Death City, Nevada and protect them from Avian Flu." I look up. This sounds more interesting. Witches should have some more of a sense of what this conflict is all about and what is at stake, but the first witch they talk to is a moron and so I quickly lose interest, only glancing up now and then because I can't help myself. They show a crowd shot of a gathering of witches voting whether or not to join Avian Flu. I sigh as I see many witches vote to join Avian Flu, but one of the hands raised catches my eye. It's white and sort of ball like and and has what looks like a metallic cuff and black sleeve. I recognize it, but it isn't another hand yanks it down that it dawns on me why it seems so familiar. Could it be?

"Arminda, look!" I shout as I try to trace the arms to their owners. The view is obstructed by other sorcerers but I think that the human hand belonged to a young man wearing a newsboy style hat, a gray t-shirt and black pants. Arminda pauses her sandwich assembly and looks over at the screen just as they cut to a different image.

"Dammit!"

"What?" she asks.

"I think I saw Crona with those witches."

"Witches?" Arminda asks with concern. "With Crona? Did you see Medusa?"

"No, but I really think it was him," I say. "I could have sworn I saw Ragnarok for a split second."

"Well, then you and Maka better go find him before Avian Flu does. That boy's had more than his share of cruel treatment already. The last thing he needs is being snatched up by Blitzengard's birdbrains. And can you imagine what Harold'd do if he got his hands on Black Blood?"

The thought sends chills up and down my spine.

I dart across the café even though I can't very well burst into the ladies room.

"Meister!" I shout outside the bathroom. "I think I saw Crona!" The door of the ladies room flies open revealing Maka, her hands still soapy and dripping.

"Where?!" she says spinning her head every which way.

"Not here. I saw him on TV. It was only for a second, but I swear it was him and Ragnarok."

"Really?!" Her voice tweeters with excitement. "Where was he? Is he ok?"

"He looked ok. He was with a bunch of witches-"

"Medusa?"

"No, I don't think so. I didn't see her, but it was only a sound byte and I didn't hear where it was from. I wasn't paying attention. They were doing this segment with witches from all over reacting to Kid's invitation to the witches to come here for protection."

"He could be being held against his will," she considers aloud.

"Yeah, I dunno. He wasn't like chained up or anything, but he could be under a spell. Who knows? What should we do?"

Maka's face looks determined as she calculates what our next move should be. "They may replay the footage at eleven, but if they don't, we're kind of screwed unless someone has it on tape."

I frown. "I doubt anyone is taping the show. It was pretty awful, just a bunch of uninformed bastards sharing their opinions."

She looks forlorn as she says, "I guess we'll have to wait and cross our fingers that they play it again-"

"Wait! Meister! We know someone who monitors all the television stations. Come on!" I take her hand. "We've gotta go visit Lava Snake."

Her eyebrow arches. "Who?"

"Carey. Did you not realize that the weird red penis thing at the end of the broadcast was his logo-thingee?"

"'Lava Snake?'" she repeats back to me looking physically pained.

"It really shouldn't be a big surprise," I say chuckling. "You had to know a dick like that would pick some phallic name for himself."

"Overcompensating," she says nodding confidently.

"Probably," I agree. "Come on. We have to go to Hottie's; his headquarters is in the basement."

"Are you serious?" my meister whines. "Is there a separate entrance? What if someone sees me walk in?" Then her mind shifts gears so abruptly I can almost hear something akin to a car crash occur in her head. "Have you been there before?"

I grimace. Crap, I really didn't want to tell her. Damn you, Crona. You're not even here and you're causing me problems. I grumble, "Yeah, Kid drug me there to meet with Carey one day before the broadcast." I don't apologize, but my meister doesn't say anything and it gets awkward. "We didn't watch the dancers or anything, I swear." Maka stares at me and I suspect she's reading my soul wavelength for hints that I'm lying.

A moment later, she sighs in disappointment. "You _know_ how I feel about women taking their clothes off for money."

"That it's empowering for women to so easily gain control and dominance over men?" I ask with a hopeful grin.

"No," she says unamused.

"Ok, meister," I say with a shrug. "Have it your way. I'll never pay you to remove your clothing."

She swats me. "I can't believe Kid would go to a place like that! And everyone thinks he's such a gentleman! He has to know that most strippers are coming from disadvantaged homes-"

"Maka, not that this women's lib conversation isn't terribly fascinating," I say sarcastically, "but shouldn't we be trying to get Crona back? If we saw the broadcast there's a good chance Blitzengard's people did, too."

"I can't believe I'm about to say this," she says taking a deep breath. "But, take me to Hottie's."

I grin imagining her as one of the dancers, except instead of all slutty and made-up she'd be in this cute little black teddy and pantie set. It'd have these cute little pink kitties printed all over it. I saw it in a magazine once. It wasn't particularly revealing, but it was adorable and she'd look so good in it. I wonder how long you have to be with a girl before you can buy something like that for her.

"Are we going?" Maka asks me confused.

"Oh, uh… yeah," I mumble. "Come on." If Maka had any concerns that I might be a regular at the strip club those worries are quickly erased by my ineptitude at getting us there. When I went there with Kid he had insisted on taking a crazy route in case we were followed which means that I have no idea of the most straight forward way to get there, and DC becomes a fucking maze when you're lost. After twenty minutes of going in circles, Maka threatens to stop random dudes on the street to ask them how to get there. I point out that asking directions to a strip club should be far more embarrassing than being seen entering one, but she shrugs and says that it's for Crona. My meister is nothing if not a really good friend.

Just when I'm about to admit defeat, we stumble upon Hottie's. The neon silhouette of a woman's body casts fuchsia on both of us as we approach and I can tell from her soul wavelength that Maka is more than a little nervous about entering this den of sin. I'd tease her if she didn't have that book in her bag. I hold the door open for my meister and pray to Lord Death that she doesn't make a scene by jumping on stage and trying to clothe the dancers or something and the worry makes me remember why people often miscatagorize her as being a prude.

We are immediately greeted by a red-haired waitress covered in green glitter and a teeny tiny little green top and matching miniskirt. "Hi. Welcome to Hottie's," she says. "Would you like to sit by the stage to watch Jupiter or would you like a private booth? Some couples prefer to have the dancers come to them." She winks at me and I cringe in anticipation of some kind of physical pain from Maka, but my meister doesn't move a muscle. She's too busy staring at Jupiter who is presumably the raven-haired, olive-skinned chick sliding herself down the metal pole _upside down_. She's really talented. That takes some serious upper body strength… oh Lord… she's gonna _show_ us her upper body. Look at her spin around and… wow, she makes the DWMA's best fighters look like couch potatoes.

"Umm," says the waitress and I realize she's still standing here waiting for a reply.

"We're here to see Carey," I tell the waitress.

"Oh," she says examining Maka's blush. "I guess that makes sense. Stay here."

Maka takes the waitress's instruction a little too literally and becomes a statue right there in the doorway. I grab her by the back of the elbow and lead her to a table so we aren't blocking the entrance. Only problem is that all the seating is arranged to maximize one's viewing pleasure meaning it's impossible for us to sit without watching the show and the woman's sensual movements are getting me turned on and making Maka grow redder and redder till I look like I'm sitting next to someone with a tomato for a head.

Thankfully the waitress returns quickly and we follow her to the secret staircase that leads to Lava Snake's office. As we cross the club, Maka asks me, "Soul, watching that, did it get you…?"

"No," I lie, and the waitress smirks at me. She knows I'm lying and I'm sure Maka does, too.

We walk downstairs and for us Carey doesn't do the lights off treatment, but instead barely looks up from his monitors and sandwich. "Whaya want? I told Kid I'll get it done, but it takes time. I can't do a job like that overnight."

"I don't know anything about a job from Kid," I say.

"Shit. _Forget I said anythin'_," he mumbles with a face full of sandwich.

"We're here because we think we saw a friend of ours in a crowd scene on television and we were hoping you might know a way of accessing it and determining where it was filmed. He's been AWOL for months," Maka explains.

"Sounds like he doesn't wanna be found," Lava Snake comments.

"We don't abandon our friends," Maka says forcefully.

"Who is it?" the hacker asks as he punches a few keys on his keyboard.

"Crona."

"The chick with that puppet thing?"

Maka sighs impatiently. She and I have to go through this a lot. "He's not a chick and Ragnarok is the personification of Black Blood."

"Yeah, whatever. I've heard about her gender confusion. He probably ran off to try out some different lifestyles… see what fits, ya know? It's perfectly normal at his age. Crona's not a hermaphrodite is he? Cause I could pay her good money if-"

My meister groans. "We just want to know if there is a way you can let us see the news segment one more time."

"Gees, buy yourself a sense of humor, will ya?" He leans back and knocks on the wall behind him and his sister appears.

"Ugh! What did the Thompsons do now!" the hacker's sister complains.

"It's not for Kid. They wanna see the footage that ran on some show earlier. Some group of witches voting whether or not to join the birdbrains. They needa know where it was filmed, how long ago, and all that shit," Lava Snake tells her and I wonder if 'all that shit' is going to cost us extra, because I sincerely doubt Carey is going to do this for us for free. He's far too much of an opportunist.

It takes the two hackers a while and a great deal of cursing, but eventually they hack into the television network's system and access the clip. Maka and I watch it and I almost miss seeing Ragnarok and Crona the first time, but on the second play through Maka and I both see it and any doubt in my mind is wiped away. It's _definitely_ the two of them.

Marissa and Carey are able to determine that the footage was taken recently in a suburb in Wisconsin. We don't even negotiate their fee, we just dump out all the cash and coin we have in our pockets and run from Hottie's as fast as we can to go tell Kid, but as usual I struggle to keep up with my meister's Olympic sprinting and I have to keep hollering for her to slow down and every time she runs back and takes my hand and urges me on. I'm panting like I've never run before and she's barely broken a sweat. It's embarrassing.

"This is why we need a motorcycle," I pant. "Can I just transform and you can carry me?"

"Soul, I think that might frighten people. Everyone's a bit shell-shocked, you know," she says giggling.

"Fine, fine," I complain.

"Don't be that way. You should be happy. Crona's alive!" She's practically singing the news.

"I am happy. I'd just be happier if I could breathe. Do you have an extra set of lungs or what?" I grumble as she jogs backward urging me onward.

When we reach the mansion I feel wiped, but Maka takes the stairs two at a time as though the run was nothing.

"Good evening," Louis says as he opens the door.

"Is Kid here? We gotta talk to him," Maka says.

"The young master is-"

"You can skip the uppity butler routine with us, you know?" I wheeze as I enter the mansion stooped over like some kind of eighty year old man.

He laughs. "Sorry. Let me get you a chair. I've just been working really hard to be a better doorman. I haven't forgiven myself for letting that witch in."

"It's ok, it worked out fine," Patti says coming around the corner with Kid. His hair looks tousled and he has a goofy grin on his face. It's obvious to me that they've been making out.

Maka doesn't bother with niceties, but cuts to the chase. "Kid, we have a lead on Crona's location. I know we need to work with the demon kids, but-"

Kid nods. "Take as long as you need."

"Is he ok? Where do you think he's at?" Patti asks intrigued.

"According to Lava Snake somewhere near the Great Lakes in Wisconsin."

"Then you better get going," he says and Patti leans over and whispers something in his ear. He nods. "I have something that you can take with you that'll make the trip easier. Come with me."

He leads us out of the mansion and around to the large double doors of the carriage house. Patti seems excited, but I can't tell if that's because she's been messin' around with Kid or because she's in on the surprise he has in store for me and my meister.

Kid points to the other door and they each take a door and dramatically fling them open. "Behold!" Kid says as the fly open.

What we all see as the doors swing open is Rodrigo and Liz kneeling on the floor of the carriage house doing it doggie style. They're facing the doors, but they're so into it their eyes are closed and they don't seem to have realized they have an audience. Rodrigo's hands are on Liz's breasts squeezing and rubbing them as he thrusts into her. He moves his hands to her pelvis to steady her than murmurs something in Spanish before slamming himself into her causing her to throw her head back, giving us a _spectacular_ view of her tits. Rodrigo and Liz's pleasurable groans transform into pants as Kid lets out a noise that I can only describe as a cross between a death rattle and a yearning whine.

Immediately, the lovers' eyes pop open and Liz screams. Rodrigo exclaims things in Spanish that I can only assume are curse words. Patti, Maka, and I close our eyes and spin on our heels shouting our apologies, but Kid stands there by the door seemingly transfixed by the image of his partner in the throes of passion with our ally.

"Kid, do you mind?!" Liz shouts.

And apparently, Kid does, because he still doesn't turn. "What are you doing?" he asks slowly. Out of my peripheral vision I can see that he's trembling a little.

"I would think that it's obvious what I was doing. I'm _pretty_ sure you saw," Liz tells him grouchily.

"Yes, but…" Kid says weakly. "I don't understand." Kid sounds genuinely confused.

Impatiently, Liz continues, "You know me and Rodrigo have sex."

"But Liz," Kid says with an earnestness that's almost heartbreaking even to a guy like me. "There are at least _twelve_ beds in this house, why in the hell are you having sex _here_?"

Liz says nothing and then Kid starts shouting in Spanish. Patti runs over to Maka and me giggling. "Kid's accusing Rodrigo of being too cheap to rent a hotel room," she whispers delighted by this unexpected turn of events.

"Oh, no," Maka mutters. "This could be bad. Soul, you need to do something."

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" I whisper back to her as Rodrigo shouts something to Kid in his native tongue.

"What's Rodrigo saying?" I ask Patti wondering if our foreign friend hasn't heard about Gary's shoulder.

"He said the problem isn't _where_ they had sex, but…" Patti pauses as she attempts to translate. "Kid's denial. He says Kid is greedy and wants both of us for himself." Patti is practically dancing she's so happy.

"Patti, quit squealing! This isn't good. They could get violent," warns Maka nervously, but Patti ignores her.

"Oh, maybe they could have a duel. That would be terribly romantic and I'm _sure_ Kid would win and then-"

"Patti!" my meister shouts. "This isn't funny. We need to do something."

"Aw, don't worry. I'm sure sister will break them up if they get carried away," Patti says dismissively. "She wouldn't want either of them to get hurt."

Maka looks at me skeptically as Patti continues the play-by-play. "Rodrigo's asking what Kid was doing in the carriage house and Kid is reminding him that he lives here and that normally there aren't people screwing in the garage. He's explaining how he was bringing you guys out here because you need the motorcycle-"

"Wait," I interrupt, suddenly a lot less interested in the soap opera of the reaper and his partners. "What motorcycle?" I turn around completely ignoring the fact that Liz and Rodrigo could still be naked. Thankfully, they aren't; Liz has her jeans back on and a lavender bra on top and Rodrigo has his pants back on. Rodrigo and Kid are standing mere inches from one another's face spouting tirades of Spanish to one another but neither one seems to be reaching for a sidearm or tearing the other one's arm out of the socket so I choose to ignore them as I take in what was behind the humping couple. It appears to be a motorcycle under a cloth cover. I walk up to it gingerly.

Liz comes by my side. "I won her." She pulls the drop cloth off revealing a ruby red vintage _Gargoyle_. There isn't a mark on her, but she's got tons of character because she's circa nineteen-sixty two or sixty-four back when they knew how to make a machine look classy.

"Wow, you're lucky. She's gorgeous," I say. I'm sure I'm drooling. I want to play her like a musical instrument. I want to hear her engine purr and feel the rumble of it between my legs.

Liz laughs. "God, you're such a dummy. _You're_ the lucky one. I got her for you."

My jaw drops and I emit a noise only slightly less weird than Kid's whine at seeing Liz's O-face.

"I can't…" I stammer.

Liz shakes her head. "She's yours. I only raised the stakes because Mybenda let it slip she had an operational bike and I saw the chance to try to get it for you. I've never even _heard_ of a _Gargoyle_ before."

"Guys, this bike is worth a lot of money," I say turning my head to address the group.

"And we have plenty," Liz says. "It's a gift from the three of us. We were gonna give it to you on a special occasion, but apparently _Kid and Patti_ can't keep a secret worth _crap_." She says glaring at her two partners.

Kid makes an irritated grunt. "I never would have given it to them without you here, except they _need_ it right now."

"Yeah," Patti says. "They're leaving town! They know where Crona is. They saw him on TV."

Liz's face brightens. "He's alive? Really?!"

Maka smiles. "Yeah, but we've got to hurry."

Rodrigo smiles at all of us and then asks, "Whosa Corona?"

"I'll handle this," Patti says walking over to Rodrigo and taking him by the hand as she begins to summarize Crona's life story in broken Spanish. I can tell when she's talking about the infamous fight between him and Maka as she pantomimes Ragnarok slicing open my chest in a very dramatic fashion.

I can't believe I'm gonna have a bike again! My hands pause on her wheel well. "Wait, if this was Mybenda's what did _you_ put in the pot?" I ask Liz. The older Thompson shakes her head unwilling to share the details of the stakes of the poker game.

"Liz has been reticent about that," Kid tells me. "But she's hinted it involved me and whips and a black leather body suit."

"Yowch," I say frowning.

"Indeed," Kid says visibly trembling. "Let me assure you that you aren't the only one _very happy_ that Liz won you the motorcycle."

Rodrigo points to Kid, and Patti nods which makes the Hispanic man burst out laughing. He walks over and pats Kid on the shoulder. Kid locks eyes with him. "It's not funny," Kid says in English and it's clear that Rodrigo understands as he laughs even harder.

"Kinky witch… wants Kid as slave," he says slapping his knee.

"Well, I outsmarted her," Liz says rising from beside me to join her sister and their meister. "Besides, Kid's ours," she says placing a hand on his thigh. Rodrigo's eyes linger on the older Thompson, but not on her cleavage or her pouty lips, but on the possessive way she's touching Kid.

"I shoud be goin'," he says lowering his head as he grabs his t-shirt off the floor. "Maka, Soul, Gud luck finding your friend." He says and I'm reminded that he lost one of his closest friends recently. I nod. It's probably hard for him to see us together having a good time like this. He ducks out the carriage house doors waving goodbye and I can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy even though he just got laid.

"Come on we'll help you pack some food. Soul and Kid can discuss logistics," Patti says to Maka as she practically drags her sister and my meister into the kitchen.

As soon as everyone else has cleared out of the carriage house, Kid throws himself face first onto the floor slamming the ground with his fists. "I did not need to see that," he whines. "They _barely_ know each other and she… she… oh, God…" He sounds nauseated.

"You're right," I say nodding my agreement. "They should have gotten a hotel room."

"Shinigami, did I accuse Rodrigo of being cheap? Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?! What is wrong with me? I can't keep it together any longer. Not after seeing her like this." The pace of his breathing and his speech accelerates. "What am I thinking? She can't possibly want _me_ like _that_. But, oh, God, now I want her even more. It's torture! She's so incredibly _symmetrical_. Just _perfect_ and she'll never want to be with me. _She's going to _kill_ me_. She's gonna ask how I could betray Patti like this; how I could be so cruel to someone who loves me so much, but every time I see the woman that Liz is under that tough exterior I _want_ her more. The desire keeps growing… in my heart, in my soul, in my-"

"Kid, _shut up_. Quit second guessing yourself. You're just freakin' out because you walked in on the two of them. That's normal. No one wants to see other people having sex… actually; I guess that isn't true, but…"

Kid rolls over onto his back. His clothes are filthy from the carriage house floor. "That's the problem. I _liked_ it. I _liked_ seeing her like that. I want her to be like that with _me_. I want to make her lose control; I wanna hear her scream my name," his voice is getting all deep and husky and it's making me mighty uncomfortable.

"T-M-I," I grumble.

He frowns and his normal voice returns, "I suppose. But-"

I can tell that he's miserable, and I sigh. I'm going to be forced to admit to him something I've never told anyone other than Maka. "It's ok, dude. I get it. You know why I left DC?"

"Because you failed to realize that you and Maka are made for each other?" he asks smirking.

"I had a dream that I… kinda… forced myself on her," I look down at my beat up sneakers in shame.

"Oh," Kid says quietly. "Well, I might not have understood then, but now I can completely empathize. I don't know how I'm going to be able to look at Liz ever again. The image of her… like that," he points to the spot on the floor where she and her Latin lover were entangled, "it's going to torture me till I succumb to madness."

"Kid," I say sitting down beside him. "You are _way_ too melodramatic even for a reaper. Signs point to Liz liking you and even if she didn't she'd still probably sleep with you. She's already offered at _least_ once, right?"

Kid's yellow orbs are cast downward. "That's the whole problem. I can't do it with her if she thinks it doesn't mean anything. It would mean too much to me."

I grimace. "You sure you're not a chick?"

"Ha, ha," he says sarcastically.

"I'm just checkin', 'cause I'm beginning to think Crona isn't the only one with some gender issues." Kid crosses his arms and lifts his head to stare at the ceiling of the carriage house. There's a swallows nest up there in the eaves and the birds are flying in and out. "I'm just saying," I continue, "that I don't think Liz 'makes love' to anybody."

"That's cause she's never been with the right person," Kid says suddenly sounding more sure of himself.

"And you think you're the right person?" I ask. "Even though you like her sister, too?"

"Yes," he says. "No one cares more about the two of them than I do. I would do anything for them."

"Including encouraging them to get their kicks with other guys?" I tease.

He grumbles. "I didn't say I was upset because she was like that with him," he says defensively.

"It sounded that way to me," I say flatly.

The reaper sighs. "It's just weird to see her being so… intimate with someone..."

"Who isn't you?" I supply.

"Yes. I don't want to _pull _him _off her_ or something. I just don't understand why it's ok with _him_ and not with me." He pauses and then says, "You think I'm crazy."

"Yup," I agree grinning. "But I thought that _way_ before today… and I know that you can't help how you feel about them so just calm down and try not to think about... what you saw."

I rise to my feet returning to the all-important task of admiring my new motorcycle. "Are you _sure_ you and the girls don't want it for yourself?"

Kid laughs. "Motorcycles aren't my thing and Liz wouldn't have goaded Mybenda into putting it into the pot except that Liz jumped on the chance to get you a new one. We'd been talking for a while about how we could justify the DWMA replacing your loss." I shake my head to indicate he doesn't need to feel responsible. "Brunnie was a casualty of the war and I know how much walking everywhere sucks. If I didn't have Beezlebub, I'd go nuts… and don't you dare say I have," he orders a crooked smirk upon his lips. I debate about what to say or do. I'm not really comfortable accepting such an expensive gift. If I _really_ needed a new bike I could ask my Grandma to foot the bill, but... "Let us do something nice for you and Maka. You two have been through so much. Use it to go find Crona. Make sure he's safe and tell him we can use his help and that we've all missed him."

I nod. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try her on for size. I get on the bike. Her black leatherette seat is padded just the way I like it. I sigh. No bike will ever replace Brunnie in my heart, but it's probably time I move on.

Liz, Patti and Maka come hurrying back in. Maka beams when she sees me sitting on the bike.

"So much for date night," I say tipping my head in the direction of the seat behind me. "Let's get going."

"Soul, shouldn't we stop by home?" Maka asks as she climbs on the bike.

"Naw, we lose all our shit anyway. If we saw him in the broadcast, Avian Flu did too and we can't let Blitzengard get his hands on him and Ragnarok."

Maka nods and throws her leg over the bike and settles in behind me. She puts her hand on my waist bashing her bouquet into my midsection. She's still carrying the flowers I gave her. She makes a little agitated sound as she tries to adjust her hands so that she isn't stabbing me in the crotch with the flower stems.

"It's ok. You can leave them behind," I tell her. "I won't be offended."

"But I don't want to. No one's ever bought me flowers before, except for when I've been sick."

"So, you did like them," I say laughing. "I wasn't sure for a bit there."

She frowns, embarrassed. I look down at the flowers. They aren't going to survive the intensity of the upcoming ride across the desert. I pick out a magenta bloom that I think is the prettiest of the bunch and pluck it from the rest; then, twist around in my seat and tuck it in her hair behind her ear. "There," I say imagining Maka walking on a tropical beach in a cute little bikini with sand between her toes and this flower in her hair.

"Here, Liz you have the rest," she says. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the older Thompson says with a smile. "What's the good in being a card shark if I can't win my friends stuff they need?" She pauses. "Now get outta here."

"Tell Crona he didn't have my permission to leave," Patti says in her princess tone as she waves goodbye to us.

We wind our way out of DC's narrow thoroughfares and burst from the city like a bullet shot from a gun.

"This is turning out to be a pretty good date," I shout to my meister as we depart the Leaving DC sign obstructed by the dust cloud from the bike's tires.

"Yeah, it is. But it'll get even better later," she whispers into my ear. I raise an eyebrow. I somehow don't think she means being reunited with our friend. "But, _first_ we gotta find Crona," she says. "And we can't be away from our other assignment for too long."

I nod my understanding as I assess the balance and responsiveness of the _Gargoyle_. She's sturdy as rock and heavy, but I suspect I can push her to speeds I only dreamt of with Brunnie.

"You comfy?" I shout back to my meister.

She adjusts her grip on me. "Yeah, all set."

Over my shoulder, I flash her a toothy grin before giving the throttle a twist and sailing forward as though I just engaged light speed. My meister lets out a happy squeal and I think that this has to be the best day ever.


	90. Chapter 90: Fiction or Nonfiction

_**Chapter 90- Fiction or Nonfiction; Soul and Maka Sneak Away?**_

It takes us over a day to cross the state and from there we board a bullet train headed to the east coast. Then we will head northwest to the Great Lakes area, unless we get any intel on Crona's location that would lead us to believe he is now in a different place. We consider it unlikely that anyone will find out more, but Kid was going to reach out to some of his contacts in the sorcery community to see if anyone had heard or seen more of the boy with the odd magical puppet companion.

The train is full of passengers talking about the war and speculating about the intentions of Harold Blitzengard and Lord Death. Their banter is obnoxious and it grates on my nerves. It's as though I'm riding along with the next men-on-the-street to be interviewed by that stupid news program. I purchase a pair of cheap headphones and plug them into the seat so I can listen to the train company's crappy idea of music rather than the uneducated opinions of my fellow travelers.

Maka reads her book and when she finishes it goes to the lounge car where they run a little used book exchange. She comes back with a different book, which looks suspiciously like one of those trashy romance novels they sell in grocery stores.

"Slim pickings," she says to me as she settles in and opens the paperback. It makes me curious; I've heard those books are like porn for women. I take off my seatbelt and stretch across the seats resting my head on her lap. She's used to this and more or less ignores me like she always does when engrossed in a book.

I glance over the page… blah… blah… blah… wow; the characters are already getting it on. I glance down at the corner of the page. It's page _nine_. Holy shit. What could have happened in the first eight pages that led to this? I read some of it. There's this mercenary who seems to be able to get any woman into bed with him, except for the wench tending bar at a tavern in the next town over and her resistance is making him desire her even more. He isn't used to rejection and it makes him crazy-determined to get in her pants… or in this case up her skirt and under her corset.

Maka turns a page just when I think the bar maid is gonna smack her love interest in the face, and I involuntarily whine because I don't get to read what happens. My meister glances down.

"What?" she asks me.

"You elbowed me," I lie.

"I did not, and serves you right. You're totally crowding me."

I grin at her; crowding her has always been my M.O. and I enjoy it immensely. She returns to reading and so do I. The book is actually pretty hot. The characters' witty banter builds the sexual tension in a way that makes it contagious. I wonder how women can read this stuff in public without getting embarrassed. I'd probably get thrown off the train if I sat here reading a _Big Tits_, but she can read about this rogue's 'excited member' and no one thinks twice. I _hate_ double standards.

I read as he gets undressed, tugging her blouse off and-

Suddenly the book is jerked upward. "Soul, are you reading this?"

"What?! No!" I say sitting up and scooching back to my seat. I cross my arms. "Of course not."

She smiles. "You _were_ reading it."

"I was not."

"Don't lie to me," she says testily. "You were _so _reading it." She says looking down her nose at me before once again burying it in her paperback.

I lean in to whisper in her ear, "Fine. I was reading your porn."

"It's not _porn_," she hisses back at me.

"Well, it ain't fine literature, either," I say seizing the book from her hands and flipping through it. "Let's see… page forty-two, 'Delicately, he peeled her panties off revealing her womanhood to the moonlight.'"

"Could you be a little louder?!" Maka asks turning red and hiding her face in her hands.

I thumb through the book and again randomly select another page to read from. "Page twenty-six. 'The sound of their bodies thumping against one another echoed in the-"

"Soul! I told you there wasn't much to choose from." She looks genuinely pissed. It cracks me up!

"And you _chose_ this," I say grinning. It's not often I get to have the upper hand and tease Maka about having fantasies, so I can't let this chance go by. "Does it turn you on?" I ask, my lips a centimeter from her ear. I know she can feel the warmth of my breath.

"No," she says blushing. "And I've never read anything like this before, I'm just bored and-"

"Bored?" I say staring into her green eyes. She knows what I'm thinking and shakes her head vehemently.

"Soul, we need to be focused," she says.

"On what? We have…" I glance at my wristwatch. "Like _three_ more hours before we reach Boston."

She's debating and that means I'm winning. I think the book _did_ turn her on. Hot damn!

"Well…" she murmurs thoughtfully.

"Come on," I say removing the book from her hand and setting it on her seat before taking her hand and leading her away.

"Where are we going? What are we doing?" she asks, as though she doesn't know. I grin. My meister loves to play innocent, but she knows _exactly_ what's on my mind. Maybe it was seeing the looks of ecstasy upon Rodrigo and Liz's faces yesterday or maybe it's because Maka and I were so tired last night we didn't even kiss goodnight before we sacked out. Or maybe it's because we're finally having two good days in a row, days without death and regret and fear, but whatever it is I want to get my girlfriend off _right now_.

"Soul, what's going on?" she asks once more as I lead her through the train.

There has to be somewhere private around here… somewhere…

I see a porter coming up the steps from a lower level. The door proclaims, 'Authorized Personnel Only,' in red letters, but I ignore it and step through the door.

She follows me, her hand still in mine. "Soul, I don't think we're supposed to-" My lips are on hers before she can finish the sentence. We're not even down the steps.

She pants, "Soul, we don't want to get thrown off the train! We have to-"I know she's thinking of Crona, but, seriously, what else is there to do on a train? This is actually a very efficient use of time, because this means that once we get off the train we can be _one hundred percent_ focused on getting ourselves to Wisconsin as quickly as possible with no stops for make out sessions. I think it's a really smart thing to do and even it weren't, I want it really bad.

I lead her down the stairs and we find ourselves in a baggage compartment full of shelves laden with suitcases, backpacks, and luggage of every other size and shape imaginable.

"Maka," I say purring as I pull her close to me.

"Soul, we shouldn't," Maka whispers.

"I know." My voice is barely audible, but she can hear me because I'm so close to her. Her words are protesting, but her eyes aren't and her lips are parted ever so slightly begging for me to claim them again. "But that's half the fun," I tell her.

She looks at me haughtily and I laugh softly, "Alright not _half_, like ten percent, maybe. The real fun is _feeling_ you…" I slide my hand up the outside of her thigh, "and seeing the faces and hearing-"

She isn't fighting it at all. Damn, I need to get this woman more romance novels because she is desiring it, _craving_ it, really. The top-of-the-class do-gooder has all but vanished leaving that sweet, sensual being only I get to know, and it's truly amazing. I've never seen her like this by daylight and certainly _never_ while in a public place. It's like she's _overcome _with need and I, as her dutiful boyfriend, am more than willing to fulfill that desire anytime, anywhere. She moans my name sensually stoking the fire inside me. Both my hands reach under her skirt to rest on her ass and gently lift her off the ground as I carry her to the space between two of the shelves of luggage, our lips locked the entire time. I lean her against the wall of the train and the rumbling and rocking only increases the friction between our bodies as my rock hard dick presses against her.

"You're so bad," she says breathlessly.

"Yeah, and you _love_ that about me," I say knowingly.

"Sometimes," she says leaning her head to one side offering me her neck and my lips dive down to meet it.

"Like now, for example," I say as I suck on her neck. I'm gonna leave marks all over that pale flesh of hers. I can't help myself, for years I've wanted this_ so bad_ that I simply can't resist it now even if this might not be the best idea in the world. Seeing the lustful woman my meister can become… the _her_ that only I get to see, it drives me wild.

I meant to just mess around, but I don't know if I can stop now that we've started, not with her like _this_. She's teasing my ear lobe with her lips and tongue, and I'm moaning as her tongue climbs up my ear sending shivers down my spine that land in my groin begging to be released. For a moment her lips let go of my ear and I lean into her, my lips crashing into hers as my body presses hers ever tighter.

She moans my name and uses one of her hands to guide mine under the elastic waistband of her panties. My hand slides down her body and finds that down below she's soaked with welcoming juices. She closes her eyes and lets out one word, "Please."

I slide a couple fingers into her and she immediately sighs in relief as she bucks her hips making them delve deeper into her pussy. I'm massaging her insides with little circles in search of one of those special spots that will make her completely lose her composure.

"Oh, Meister, you are so sexy," I pant in her ear.

"More… oh…" Her voice is at once whiney and breathless. "Soul… I want you so bad."

"Oh, God, not as much as I want you, believe me," I whisper into her ear. I'm so big she has a platform to rest herself on as I play with her. I want to throw my pants off and pound myself into her right here and now. I could just yank these panties off and unzip and be in her.

My hand not occupied with her crevice creeps up under her shirt and under her bra to fondle those tiny little tits of hers. She's begun to make those sounds that tell me she's enjoying this more than a little.

I moan, "Meister, I'm gonna-"

We hear the sound of a door and we both cease all movements as though we are one body. Then, I slide my hands out from her clothing and pull her down with me into a little crouched ball. She's glistening with sweat and the smell of sex hangs in the air over the two of us. She feels the need to pant, but I put my hand over her lips to muffle her erratic breathing.

I hear very little, just some walking, maybe pacing. The door opens again and I think a second person joins the first.

"You sure there's no DWMA on this train?" a low voice asks.

"Why would there be?" says the voice of a woman.

"'Cause it feels like a trap."

The woman scoffs. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm not. It feels too easy. Why would she just _give_ us crates of weapons?"

"Because she hates Lord Death and she knows with his defeat she can gain power from the new ruler of the world. She's trying to endear herself to Harold. It's not that complicated." The feminine voice sounds vaguely familiar to me. I attempt to run through all the Avian Flu members that I know are still alive in order to figure out if this is someone Maka and I have crossed paths with previously, but I don't know for sure.

"I think it's a little too generous. Harold should have asked more questions," frets the person I think is a dude.

"Well, he wasn't there; _I_ was, and I say it's fine, so _it's fine_."

"You say that, but I'm not sure that's how Blitzengard will feel about. You sure you aren't getting too big for your britches?"

"Don't question me," the familiar voice says in a threatening tone. "I've made enormous sacrifices for Avian Flu. I've forsaken the entire life I had before."

"Hmpf. The DWMA is such a pansy-ass institution they would take you back," explains the man. "I bet all you'd have to say was an, 'I'm _soooo_ sorry, Lord Kid,'" he snivels. "You know he's a pushover for the ladies. He lets those damn guns of his walk all over him. Besides, the DWMA preaches forgiveness and a balance of good and evil and that's a weakness, nothing but a _lack of conviction_\- that's what that is. You could have them eating out of the palm of your hand."

"Well, we're never gonna know because I'm not going back there," she says with conviction. "I made my choice. I'll be Avian Flu till I die."

"Or 'til another organization comes along," the male voice challenges. "You know what I don't like about you, Erika?"

I hear the name and my guts begin to churn. My eyes meet my meister's. That would explain why I recognize the voice. I don't want it to be true, but I know it is. Lord Death, don't let it be Lydia's former partner. Let it be some other 'Erika'! I lean toward the shelf and peer in between the shelves of baggage toward the voices.

The male voice continues, "It don't matter the ideology, as long as you're top dog. You're nothin' but a god-damned opportunist." He's tall so from my position I can't get a look at his head, but he's obviously a birdman because he has a feathered tail coming out of a hole in the seat of his pants.

"You're entitled to your opinion, at least for _now_," Erika says. "But Harold trusts me and after our deal is done I'll be free to do whatever I want to those who dare to doubt my supremacy." I stretch myself upward and struggled to see around a floral-printed soft-sided suitcase in order to see the woman. I can only manage to see a portion of her face, but her hair's the right color…

The man scoffs. "Babe, you are so damn full of yourself, but someday that tight little ass of yours is gonna sag and your hair will gray and you'll become just like the rest of us, a 'has been'."

"Not if Avian Flu wins this war, and I will do _whatever _it takes to ensure victory. That's why Harold trusts me. He knows I'm determined, unlike lazy ass _birdbrains_ like you," she steps closer to the birdman, rotating slightly and I get a good look at her. It's Erika… our Erika. I slowly crouch back down and nod to my meister. I can see the disappointment in her eyes and feel despair in her wave length.

"I gave my soul over to him for enhancement. I don't see you doing that, you little bitch!" The birdman shouts.

She clicks her tongue in irritation. "Why don't you shut up? I know you don't like me and I can only assume it's because I remind you of all the women who've rejected you and your itty bitty-"

"Erika!" he takes a swing at her and she dodges it laughing joyously. The male voice sneers, "Unlike Harold, I haven't forgotten that you sold out your own partner."

"That's right, I did sell out Lydia and all the other 'helpless' little students on the train, because I knew their indoctrination by the DWMA was too great to allow them to be converted by choice."

"How come that 'indoctrination' didn't work on _you_ then? What makes you so god-damned special?" he asks sounding amused.

"Because I have a goal and I will do whatever it takes to reach it and no stupid teachings about soul wavelengths and balance is gonna get in the way of me getting what I want." The man seems unimpressed. "Today we're both lieutenants, but soon, _very soon_ I will rank so far above you, that you will find yourself begging for my mercy. That is, if you live that long," she sounds vicious and calculating, but there's something else about her demeanor that gnaws at my gut. I think of Crona. He was once our enemy, and a powerful one, he _did_ almost kill me, but he never seemed to _enjoy_ any of it. That's what made Maka suspicious that deep down under the Black Blood there was a nice person and that redemption was possible for him. Seeing Erika like this, I don't feel any goodness in her and if it's up to me she will receive no forgiveness. _She doesn't deserve it._ I think about Lydia's wound and Jakob's death and Maka being taken and it's more than I can stand. I want to march up to her and beat the shit out of her. She isn't being forced to do any of this! She's doing this because Harold has promised her something. There aren't words to describe my outrage. She did the unspeakable, even the other Avian Flu member understands that; you don't sell out your partner. There are many grey areas in life, but that is one of the _only _things that is black and white. You don't betray your partner. You don't abandon or abuse them. I'm filled with anger and I can feel my soul wavelength shooting up and down like violent ocean waves crashing against barnacle covered rocks. She _has_ to be stopped. She has to pay.

I feel Maka's soul reaching out to me. She's angry too, but her wavelength laps at mine attempting to calm me. '_Now's not the time_,' it says. '_There will be a time and a place to exact our revenge, but not right now. We must not give in to our anger. We have to continue to listen. We have to stay hidden. We must learn more. We must serve the DWMA by not doing anything impulsive._'

She doesn't say a word, but I know somehow that those are her thoughts. It's a kind of magic I can't explain. She reaches for my hand and I squeeze it tightly. It's not all that rare for a DWMA member to be turned to the darkness, but the betrayal has never seemed so personal. This is Avian Flu, not some lone witch causing trouble for the school and Erika does not seem to be in any way bewitched or confused like Black*Star when he was under the effects of Avian Flu's substances. No, she's totally right; she made a _choice _and she will be getting no forgiveness from me or my meister.

The birdman laughs. "Hhhmm. Thems mighty big words comin' from a _weapon_. Let's face it. You need me. You can't function without a meister."

"I have a meister," she answers quickly.

"You betrayed her," he replies just as swiftly.

"_Not_ Lydia," she says impatiently as though the idea is ridiculous. "I've chosen my next meister, and it _isn't_ you."

"Fine, then, consider this a temporary arrangement, it suits me just fine that way, but remember if DWMA shows up you jump in my arms and do as _I_ say because _Harold_ said I'm to be your technician."

"That's right. You are my _temporary technician_, Raven_butt_, not any of those _other_ things you're fantasizing about," she retorts.

"In your dreams," he answers sounding disgusted.

"Oh, my dreams are much better than you and they'll be coming true any day now. All we have to do is get this shipment safely off the train before anyone realizes what it is."

"Agreed. Let's get this over with, and then we'll be free of each other."

"We need to check the last six cars for DWMA," she orders.

"What do you want me to do if I find 'em?"

"Make like I'm held against my will and then use me to take their souls."

"OK, and where will you be, Mistress Erika?"

"Guarding the shipment. I no longer trust porters since the incident on the train. I can't believe the Free Mind Alliance was onto us. They're far more perceptive than the DWMA."

"Ok, but don't get caught. It'll only raise suspicion if someone sees you snooping around in the baggage compartment."

The birdman stomps out the way he entered and Erika turns. She's coming this way. I transform. If we're discovered Maka's gonna need a weapon. Maka grabs a large duffle bag and tugs it in front of her and curls up into the smallest ball she can. My handle is visible. We hold our breath. If Erika sees us we are going to have to attack her and then either take out her accomplice, hide, or get off this train in a hurry. Erika's steps approach and my stomach is in knots. We hear her walk by the shelves we are huddled between and then the sounds grow further away and go up the same staircase we came down.

We remain still for a minute afterward amazed by our luck.

"I don't think she saw us," I whisper to my meister.

"Yeah, I think you're safe to change back," she whispers. I do and I stand up placing myself at the end of the aisle way between the shelves.

"We need to find this 'shipment'," Maka says. "Because whatever it is she seems awfully proud to be transporting it."

I nod. "It'd be a real shame if it got lost or destroyed," I say flashing my scythe arm, eager to take my aggression out on these weapons they spoke of.

"How are we going to recognize them?" she says overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of bags, crates, suitcases, and packages piled in the car on the floor and on the shelves.

"I don't think it's in here. The way they were talkin' made me think it's somewhere else," I tell her.

She thinks about this for a moment and nods. "Let's look in there. I think that's where the birdman came from," Maka says pointing to the door that connects with the next car. I walk over to the door and look through the window into the other car.

"Looks clear," I tell her.

She nods. Erika had said she was going to be guarding the shipment, so she could be returning at any moment, but we have to try to locate Avian Flu's weapons. We enter the car and find it to be the exact same layout as the one we were just in. The Gargoyle is here in the far corner and I find myself involuntarily looking her over for scratches or dings created by careless train employees. Maka catches me doing this and grumbles that I'm supposed to be helping to find Avian Flu's stuff not admiring our new ride.

"I'm on look out," I say positioning myself at the base of the stairs opposite our bike's parking spot.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for," she complains as she rifles around in and through mounds of bags, suitcases and other cargo.

"You'll know it when you see it," I assure her.

"I hope so," she mumbles. "But this all looks like normal luggage to me." After several minutes she still hasn't located Avian Flu's cargo. "You think that maybe there's another baggage car?"

"Maybe," I say nervously looking up the stairs and then back at the door from the other car. "Or there could be a cargo hold somewhere… or maybe it's where they store the food and stuff…"

I ponder how much longer we should look in this car before abandoning it and searching elsewhere.

"What's this?" Maka says reaching for an oddly-shaped package wrapped in newspaper and held together by zip ties. It's on a top shelf but its strange shape has caught her eye. She stretches and teases it off the top shelf with her fingertips. She attempts to catch it as it comes crashing down, but misses, and it manages to snag the strap of a large bag on its way down. The items end up falling on top of her, which is good because it muffles the noise of them falling, but she gets knocked over and smacks the back of her head into the opposite shelf.

"Ow!" she exclaims.

"Shhhh!" I scold her. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok," she says rubbing the back of her head.

I hear her gasp. "I think I found it, Soul. Come're."

I dash over and see that as the cascading luggage threw her into the shelf across the way her foot kicked the items on the lower shelf across the aisle way and it would appear that under the heaps of normal looking baggage there are multiple small black wooden crates. She crouches in front of them, pushing the luggage off of them and I use my scythe arm to pry the lid off the top. It appears to be a case of guns, bigger than pistols, but smaller than rifles and not quite like anything I've seen before. We uncover box after box and each crate appears to have a half dozen firearms in it. As Maka searches for more crates I examine one of the guns up close. They have a special chamber at the bottom that seems to require something else to be attached. The bullets are loaded elsewhere, so what is that thingee there for?

"I don't recognize these. Did Avian Flu have these at the ranch?" I ask her, thinking she might be familiar with them from her time as their captive. She shakes her head.

"They must be some kind of new weapon, but what I don't get is why magic users would need traditional guns?" Maka asks.

"They aren't traditional," I say running my finger over where the attachment is supposed to be loaded. "These are custom jobs. They've been built or retrofitted to do something special."

"Destroy them," she orders and I set to work making the guns into hunks of metal that can only be useful as scrap metal.

"God, I hope these are Avian Flu's," I say laughing as I hack and slash a half dozen guns at a time. "I'd feel bad if I'm destroying some innocent person's stuff."

"What innocent person would have one hundred and fifty custom guns?" she asks me.

"Point taken," I say stabbing another.

"Save one to take with us. I bet Joe can figure out what they do," my meister says.

I flip open the lid of the last crate. There are twenty-five crates in all. On the lid of this one is a schematic. I grab it and stuff it in my pocket.

"Now what?" I ask.

"We shove the crates back where they were and lay low. Then we get off the train at our first opportunity."

"What about Erika and Birdbrain?"

Maka shakes her head. "I want to take them out, but I don't think we should do it here. There's just too many people around."

I nod. It would appear that Avian Flu has no ill intentions toward the passengers of this train which means that if we engaged in battle here we would be putting them in unnecessary danger. "We could use the emergency button and get off as the train slows."

"And if they follow we could fight them, and if they don't we could request backup from DC."

We quickly stuff the crates back in approximately the places we had retrieved them from. I'm just picking up the last crate when my meister and I hear the unmistakable sound of someone entering the train car from the one we were first in. It's Erika and I jump behind my meister as I see Erika's face light up with recognition.

"Maka?! Soul Eater?" She says sounding surprised, which she probably is. "Maka, I'm so happy you're ok." She rushes forward her arms wide, as though to hug my meister but my meister takes a step back and opens her hand to signal me to assume weapon form. I drop the crate and transform and Erika's face changes from one of feigned delight to anger. "What have you done?!" Like an owl she screeches, "Raventail! DWMA!"

We don't have any other choice but to engage the enemy right here and right now. Raventail runs down the stairs and Erika transforms becoming her signature oversize handgun. Immediately, they shoot and Maka leaps out of the way, deftly maneuvering me so that I also dodge the bullet. My meister takes a swing but Raventail jumps backward narrowly avoiding my blade.

My meister pulls me back and spins me, buying a moment to collect her thoughts. '_Soul, I can't get close enough,_' my meister's wavelength tells me.

'_You can if we resonate. Trust our power. We can do it,'_ I tell her with my wave length.

As though one being, we resonate and I feel my mass expand and my power increase. I can slice them in two, both of them in one swing if we can just manage to evade their bullets. Our opponents resonate, too, or do whatever the Avian Flu's equivilant is, and Erika is transformed into a gun so garish and ridiculous looking I'd laugh were it not so sad that the gun is obviously not something she would have created before the influence of Avian Flu. It's yellow and red and covered in feathers and shoots out projectiles that look like polka dotted eggs, but none of these spotted egg bullets hit us and it's not only because of Maka's superior fighting skills. It's obvious that Raventail and Erika don't trust each other well enough to work together. They bicker openly as they fight us. They must not have trained much together and it is probably only luck that allowed them to resonate with one another at all.

The tide of the duel is turning in our favor and our enemy knows it. They grow more desperate as they begin to indescriminantly shower the entire baggage compartment with eggs, some blasting holes in luggage and shelving, others blasting through the walls of the train car to the outside.

Maka's dancing with me in a carefully choreographed routine we've practiced. I am nothing more than an extension of her form as we spin, duck, and stretch to get out of the way of the egg bullets. I think we are starting to develop our own kind of performance art and eventually we may be able to give Kid and the girls a run for the money.

Erika curses and it pleases me enormously, though it would please me a whole lot more to hear her begging for mercy.

"This is pointless!" the bitch shouts before suddenly appearing in human form in front of Raventail. She darts towards us and my first thought is she is going to stab my meister or engage us in some form of hand-to-hand. An image of Justin's brass knuckles flash through my mind. Maybe they are becoming standard issue for Avian Flu operatives? I have no time for further consideration of this. I leap in front of my meister, but I realize that Erika isn't running directly toward us. She's running across the room to get something on the ground in between us. It's the one gun I left intact, the one Maka had suggested we take for Joe to examine. This dawns on both me and my meister simultaneously, and Maka sprints toward the weapon, but despite my meister's swiftness Erika's headstart is enough to get her there first. She sweeps the gun up with one hand as she pulls something from her pocket attaching it to the weird thingamajigger on the gun. I don't know what she's doing, but it can't be good for Maka and me because Erika is now wearing a shit-eating smugness on her face as though Avian Flu has already been victorious.

Erika points the gun at us and fires.

Maka shouts that we need to 'go big'; that's her code for when we resonate and create the biggest, badassest attack we can achieve. Obviously, my meister and I are on the same page about what the whole cat-who-ate-the-canary expression on the turncoat's face means. I center myself for a moment by blocking out the enemy and focusing only on my meister and her wavelength. I easily match it and then I give it my all. It feels like the first time I transformed… like I'm ascending to some newer state of being, but this time I'm not doing it alone; my meister is right here with me and our souls resonate like never before. Our bond is made stronger by our resolve to not die, to not be captured, to not be separated.

"AAAAAAHHhhhhhhhhhh!" we scream as she swings me in a huge arch. I am a ring of fire. I am huge and glimmering and impressive and I _know_ it's so, because Erika gasps. She's impressed.

Like going through a stick of butter, Maka has swung me full circle, slicing the train car in half leaving Erika and her cohort on half of a train speeding toward its destination, while my meister and I remain on the section of train severed from its locomotive.

The bullet from the special gun still whizzes our way narrowly missing us due to the forward pitching of the portion of the train car that's left. Sparks are flying everywhere as the base of the train grinds on the monorail beneath it.

Maka grabs a nearby shelve of luggage to steady herself as bags tumble off. The bullet hits a nearby suitcase and makes a strange popping sound as a purple plume of smoke appears and I'm forced back into my human form. So that's what those guns are for; they're a new way of delivering that aerosolized transformation shit.

"Maka, let's get out of here," I tell her.

"But we're in the middle of nowhere," she says looking out at the endless plains around us.

"But we have Brunnie Two," I say smiling as I rescue our motorcycle from a heap of tussled luggage.

Her eyes light up. I don't think she had remembered that the bike was here on our half of the train.

"Thank you, Lord Death!" she shouts delighted.

I leap on the bike. "Get on!" I say as I clutch the handlebars.

Maka hops on the bike behind me.

"Hold on! We're gonna catch some air on the way down," I tell her. I think she might close her eyes, but I don't. It's a magnificent jump off the end of the train car and with the help of Lord Death and a shit ton of dumb luck we manage to stay upright when we land.

"Soul, Raventail's after us!" Maka shouts.

"He can fly?" I ask. "I didn't think he had wings."

"I don't think he does… it looks like he's pulling more of a roadrunner maneuver."

"No worries, a Gargoyle can outrun a bird any day."

"Not really. Most gargoyles are stationery and bird's like to sit and poop on them," she teases.

I frown. I do not like this assessment of our bike's name.

"Meister, name the bike!"

"What?!" she says looking over her shoulder. "Isn't 'Gargoyle' good enough?"

"No, it isn't. She needs her _own _name. No 'Brunnie Two' or 'Gargoyle'. That's the name of her _brand _not her name."

Maka is silent for a bit and I figure she is watching Raventail's pursuit.

"'Seraphina!'" she suddenly shouts.

"What?" I shout back, confused.

"It means burning fire! She's red."

Oh, she's christening the bike. "Wow, you can actually come up with something like that at a time like this?!"

"You told me to!"

"I know, but I didn't expect you to come up with something with meaning on the fly like that. That's really impressive, Book Worm."

Embarassed, she says, "It really wasn't that difficult, Soul… just get us out of here," she shouts at me.

"As you wish, Meister." The Gargoyle's front wheel rises from the ground and the rear tire squeals and we shoot down the dirt path next to the train track.

"We need to find a place to lay low and call Kid," Maka tells me.

"In a couple hours," I tell her. I don't want to risk them finding us.

"No, now. We gotta tell him that the rumors about Erika are true. She betrayed us."

"She can't do DC any harm _that fast_. I'm not stopping this bike till we're at least fifty miles away from them."

Maka scoffs. "I need to call Kid!"

"Then do it. You're a chick don't you have a mirror in your purse?"

"Soul, I don't have my purse."

I mumble that makes sense, though I'm sure she can't hear me over the roar of the engine.

"Find a shiny spot on Serif and use that."

"Serif?"

"Seraphina sounds like a ballerina or a princess that needs rescuing. It's not hard-edged enough. So, I shortened it."

"You tell me to name the bike and then you change it. You gonna do that with our kids' names, too?"

"This better not be some clever way to tell me you're pregnant," I shout back to her and she blushes so badly I can _feel_ the heat of her self-consciousness in her hands on my waist.

"No… I …" she stammers.

I laugh. "You did good, Meister. Now, relax and enjoy the ride. There's nothin' to worry about."

"Other than the Avian Flu members that will be sent to find us and, the fact, Avian Flu is developing new weaponry to use against us," she shouts back to me.

Unimpressed, I shrug. "Meh. That's nothin' new. It wouldn't be a war if there weren't baddies on our tail," I say as I rush to put as much space as possible between us and the remains of the disseminated bullet train.


	91. Chapter 91: Blind Faith

**Risenfromash:** I wanted to address why it took longer for me to update than I think it ever has previously. I'm sure a number of you noticed and may have worried the story was on hiatus and I assure you it isn't, but I have been very busy and haven't had the luxury of getting time alone with my laptop as I'd like (oh, god, it sounds like I watch internet porn… well, I do, but only animated stuff ). There's actually a really good reason I haven't gotten a chapter up in weeks. My mother had a stroke about a month ago. The last chapter I posted was actually posted from her room in the ICU when I was staying with her overnight. She is doing much better now but is not yet able to return home and with a stroke no one can tell you how much a person will recover or how long it will take. On top of that factor in that my family is about as functional as the Albarns on a _good_ day and you get the picture, but don't worry I will be posting more soon as Chapter 92 is almost done and believe me when I say I need the escapism offered by our favorite teenage meisters and weapons. Thanks to those of you who hinted you would like more _When Things Heat Up, _as it's sweet to know my silly, ginormous story has been missed over the last few weeks. Take care of your friends and family and enjoy!

_**Chapter 91: Blind Faith; The Constant Clicking of Professor Stein?**_

The sound of Maka in the shower wakes me up and the first thing that pops into my mind is the recent memory of me and her naked, making out like some kind of wild animals. Our clothes are strewn about the room haphazardly rather like the baggage that we left scattered all over as we made our escape from Avian Flu. As awesome as it is to think of our dramatic use of Kishin Hunter I prefer my mind to linger on the way we 'resonated' with one another on the bed in this cheap hotel. I swear, every time Maka and I do it it gets better. I'm hooked on the sensations, the sounds, the vision of her sexy body wrapping itself around mine, the scent of her body when she's all turned on. I groan a little recalling just how good it is. Shinigami, I couldn't leave her if I tried. I am completely hers.

I put my hands behind my head and stare up at the ceiling as I consider this. I might actually spend my _entire_ life never having sex with just one woman. I remember a time when that would have bothered me. I think it probably _should_ bother me… it can't be normal to feel so committed when you're this young, but then again my meister and I have been through a lot and she gets me. She really does. I sigh. Dammit, I'm already horny again.

I get out of bed and survey the room in search of my boxers. The hotel is a real dive. The carpeting is rust orange and the curtains have big print that went out of style a good twenty or thirty years ago. While scanning the floor looking for my underwear, I discover a nasty looking stain on the carpet. I'm fearful of whatever substance made it, and refuse to step on it with my bare feet, but dance around it as though it's hot lava. Still unable to find them, I get down on my hands and knees and look under the bed. There is something under there, but I can't figure out what it is. Nervously, I reach into the dark and when I bring my hand back I see that my efforts have produced a candy wrapper and a used napkin. Maka must have been _really_ anxious to release some sexual tension, because otherwise she never would have let me get away with having us stay at a hotel this skuzzy.

I contemplate this and decide that the only way to prevent her from ordering me to march down to the front desk to complain about the filthiness of our room is to distract her.

Guess I won't be needing those underwear yet.

I walk toward the bathroom, a cocky smile on my face and a very erect cock bobbing in front of me. I stick my arm in the shower and give my meister's butt a gentle squeeze. She screams bloody murder.

"What the hell, Soul! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she shouts as I join her in the shower.

"No. I just thought…" I waggle my eyebrows and lean into her suggestively.

"Well, you thought wrong," she says pushing me back, completely ignoring the ginormous, hard as a rock dick pressing into her abdomen. "We have to get to work finding Crona. We don't have time to be messing around."

I put my hands on my hips and grin at her. "Excuse me, Meister? You're the one who said we were gonna contact Kid first thing and, instead, as soon as the door closed you were ripping my clothes off."

My meister frowns. "_Ripping_ is a bit of an overstatement."

"I barely managed to get the condom on. _And_ you popped the stitching on the neck of my t-shirt."

"Only because it was old and ratty," she says curtly.

"Whatever you say, Meister," I say smugly as I grab the tiny bar of soap from the edge of the tub. "But someday you're gonna have to be honest with yourself, and admit that you can't live without your daily dose of what this bod can do to you."

Maka rolls her eyes and mumbles something as she tips her head under the faucet to rinse the suds from her hair. I recognize this as the golden opportunity it is. I wrap my arms around her and bite her neck as I press myself into her back, especially the parts that really count.

She lets out a little sigh that sounds suspiciously like my name.

"You can deny wanting me, but I can't deny my desire for you," I whisper into her ear. "You looked so _hot_ today on the train. It made me want you so bad it _hurt_." Her green eyes open wide at this admission. "And I don't mean only when I was playing with you. You look so beautiful," I kiss her, "and strong," I kiss her neck again sucking on it a little, "and sexy when you're getting ready to annihilate the enemy." I prick her neck with my sharp teeth and she lets out a yelp that makes me want to bend her over and go to town on her.

"You think about _sex_ in battle?" She whispers as though the topic is forbidden. She's such a good girl it's amazing she lets me mess around with her like this. I remember a time when I thought she'd be a virgin till her wedding day.

I release my grasp on her neck and pause for a second to think about it. "I'm not ashamed. I admire you. I love being one with you. I love resonating with you in battle and seeing you look so fearless and then I love making love-"

Maka blushes, but then puts up her hand to signal that my adoration should cease.

"I think riding full throttle on the Gargoyle has made you a bit loopy," she says in an attempt to brush off my affection.

"Maka, deny it all you want, but you're the only girl for me."

"I'm not denying that you want me," she says sizing up my arousal. "I just think hormones-"

I can't take her denials any longer. I pick her up, flinging her upside down over my shoulder before carefully stepping out of the tub.

"Soul, what the hell are you doing?" she asks.

"Taking you back to bed. I'm not done with you yet, I can't find my underwear, and I heard you say the words 'ride' and 'full throttle'."

She groans. "That's no excuse. We need to talk to Kid and tell him what happened on the train."

"Hhhmm," I suddenly have a thought. "_Kid_. Every girl has the hots for him _except_ you… I wonder why that is," I say patting her bare behind before tossing her on the bed. She lies there looking up at me, her body glistening with moisture and those tiny tits of hers standing perfectly perk begging to have their nipples sucked and licked. And, Shinigami, does she smell nice. It may be a crap heap of a hotel but they have good smelling shampoo. "Could it be that Kid doesn't turn you on because there's someone else who gets you wet instead?" She starts to say something in response, but she shuts up when she sees me dive between her legs. I kiss her pussy gently before burying my tongue inside her. She thrashes and I reach up and clutch her wrists to hold her steady. I'm determined to make her cum.

"Soul!" she squeals.

I raise my head. "Yes, Meister?"

Immediately, she averts her eyes from mine. She gets embarrassed when I call her 'meister' while we're having sex. I think it makes her feel like she might be abusing her power over her weapon, but I don't mind one bit and I'll only stop if she orders me to, so after pausing for a moment I smile and plunge back into her, letting the tip of my tongue caress the inside of her. She moans and makes breathless yowls and I swear that every single sound makes me get even harder. I'm gonna burst soon and so is she. I can tell she's trying to resist, but her utterances are growing more and more ragged and she's so wet my tongue is gliding in and out of her at a ridiculously fast pace, massaging her until she begins to thrash like she's having a seizure. She throws her head back and lets out a scream that's so intense it makes my balls ache. Then she goes silent and a rush of warm sweet liquid meets my lips. I lap it up hungrily before crawling up the body of my post-orgasmic angel. She's panting harder than she ever does after sprinting and her green eyes have this glassy unfocused look, while her mouth hangs slack. I kiss her lips sucking on her bottom lip a little before letting it go.

"Love you," I say smiling at her. She's panting too much to speak but a hint of a smile crosses her lips and I snuggle myself up next to her body feeling pretty damn proud of myself.

Maka reaches down to grasp me and for a woman who appears to be a rag doll at the moment, she has one tight-ass grip. A thought flashes through my mind as she jerks me off that this is the same strong hand that wields me in battle… but the thought fades as I begin to find myself unable to think about anything other than how good her touch feels and how close I am to overflowing from the excitement. Soon I do and after letting out a groan of pleasure I'm done and drift off to sleep.

Sometime later, my meister wakes me up with a kiss.

"As fun as that was it isn't getting us any closer to finding Crona," she tells me.

I nod. "Thanks for letting me have my fun," I say.

"I had fun, too," she says smiling sweetly as though she's thanking me for an innocent afternoon spent playing shuffleboard or sharing an ice cream sundae.

"I know ya did," I say puffing out my chest a little.

She smacks me with the back of her hand. "Get dressed. We need to call Kid and I don't want him to know we've been messing around."

"What's it matter?" I say shrugging. "He knows we have sex. He's _heard_ us have sex."

"I know," she says frowning. "And it's embarrassing."

"No it's not. He's happy for us. I think we've inspired him to go for his dream."

"Of being with two ladies at once?" she says skeptically.

"Of being with both of the Thompsons. I really don't think he has a ménage a trois fetish. He's really fallen for both of them."

Maka shrugs. "I think it's weird… but it isn't my life and I guess if they're happy…"

"They will be," I say.

"We'll see what Rodrigo has to say about that," she scoffs a little as she walks around the room picking up her garments that are here and there. She gets dressed and heads into the bathroom. I follow her and lift up the toilet seat to pee.

She squeals, "I don't want to see that!"

"Excuse me?" I say mid-stream. "You certainly wanted to get up close and personal with it earlier."

"Ugh!" she groans as she dashes out of the bathroom and I chuckle. I love ticking her off.

I walk out a moment later to see her sitting on the bed looking genuinely pissed.

"Ah, Maka, what's wrong? I was just messin' around. You know that."

"I know," she says with a sigh. "It's just… oh, nevermind."

"What?" I'm genuinely curious.

"No."

"No, come on. You can tell me."

"I just don't understand how I can have fallen in love with you. You're so…" I wait expectantly. "You're just such… a _male_," she says crinkling her nose with displeasure. "You fart and you curse and you laugh at the _stupidest_ things sometimes."

I'm not offended by this because it's all true, but so are some other things I feel it necessary to point out to her. "And I bought you flowers and almost took you out on a real date… and I cook when it's my turn _and_ I've bought you your girlie stuff when you've run out unexpectedly."

"I guess," she says tipping her head slightly. "But you didn't wash your hands did you?"

"Uh…" She's got me there.

She shakes her head in disgust and grabs me by the _upper_ arm, yanking me into the bathroom. "Wash your hands. I'll steam up the mirror to call Kid."

"Ok, but if you don't want to see this, I kind of doubt Kid will," I say pointing at my nakedness.

She groans and shoves me back out of the bathroom muttering something about how she should have just teamed up with another girl.

By the time I locate my underwear wadded up in the tangle of bedsheets, Maka is shouting at me that the mirror is ready to make the call. I dash into the bathroom as she's writing the final number in the condensation.

To our surprise it's Stein and not Kid who answers. "Hello, Maka. Soul," he says with a nod.

"Professor, where's Kid?" Maka asks.

"He is making preparations for taking his weapons out for a night on the town." Dryly, he adds, "I suspect the current Lord of Death is attempting to stretch said evening out so that it lasts until the next _morning_." He pauses. "Rather like a couple other Crescent Moon students I know who are late to check in with their superiors because they have been too busy sucking face." I pretend not to realize that he's meaning us, but Maka doesn't like to play dumb about anything and she has a shitty poker face. "Or does slicing a train car in half somehow produce hickies?" Maka and I are mortified, but Stein just pulls a cigarette from his pocket and lights it. "So, the two of you have been able to modify Kishin Hunter to include those special flames of yours, huh?"

"How?" Maka questions.

"What you did isn't exactly low profile," he explains. "It's all over the news."

Maka grimaces. "Sorry, Professor, but our options were really limited," my meister explains.

"I'm sure that must have been the case, so explain to me how an excursion to retrieve Crona turns into an occasion on which to decimate a multimillion dollar transcontinental mode of transport," he says calmly.

"We discovered that the train was carrying a shipment of weapons for Avian Flu and we proceeded to destroy it, but we were discovered by the enemy." Maka hangs her head. "Professor, Erika has betrayed us. She was working with Avian Flu even before Jakob's death. We heard her talking about it with a birdman."

Our teacher's body stiffens, but he says nothing. He reaches up and tightens his screw, but instead of the usually click, click, click, he tightens it _much_ more, so much that I lose count of the number of clicks.

"Did you claim her soul?" he asks slowly as he pulls the cigarette form his lips.

Maka shakes her head. "We were at a disadvantage. They got ahold of one of the weapons in the shipment. They're some kind of gun with purple haze bullets. The proximity of the bullet forced Soul out of weapon form. Fortunately, it came within range right after we'd done Kishin Hunter."

At this moment, Stein looks older than I've ever seen him. His posture is slouched and he rests his arms on the chair back in front of him the way he always does, but it's as though the news of the betrayal has physically aged him. Eventually, he sighs. "I had hoped the rumors were untrue, but it would appear there can no longer be any doubt that Erika is a traitor. It's a sad day for the DWMA."

My meister and I nod.

"Kid's gonna freak out," I comment and Maka nods.

"Don't let that worry you. I'll break the news to him, and the Thompsons aren't letting him skip his meditation, so he'll be alright," our teacher assures us.

I nod thinking we are about to sign off, but Maka opens her mouth and then hesitates.

Noticing that Maka wishes to say something, Stein asks, "Yes, Meister Albarn?"

"Sir, when I was fighting Erika I…" She pauses as though she doesn't want to continue. "I was wondering if it is right to claim the soul of a traitor or should I simply incapacitate her?"

"Ideally you would incapacitate her and we would take her prisoner and then attempt to rehabilitate her." Maka nods. "But that isn't what you felt like doing, is it?"

My meister nods. "I wanted to kill her. I felt something I haven't felt before…"

This surprises me because I didn't pick up on a murderous rage from her. How could I have missed that? Maybe my own anger masked it or maybe she's exaggerating, but the way she looks right now makes me think she isn't. Her jaw is set and her nostrils are flared and I believe she could truly be cruel… and that's something I've never known her to be. It scares me a little and I find myself reaching for her hand. I draw a little circle in her hand with my finger and her hard edge seems to melt away.

Our teacher exhales. "That's the madness. Ironic that it's called that, because so often insanity grows out of unchecked anger."

Maka looks at me from the corner of her eye. "Sir, I'm scared. What can I do to make sure it doesn't take ahold of me?"

"If you dig deep within the core of your soul, you will find that there is something there that will prevent you from losing yourself completely to the madness. You've utilized it before and you can do so again. It's that _special something_ that will pull you back from the brink, returning your soul to a sound state." He pauses before suddenly displaying a lopsided, toothy grin. "But, why Meister Albarn would you ask me that question when you know how solidly I rest in the realm of the sane." I snicker, because sometimes it's easy to forget he has that screw in his head for good reason and that the first time I met the Professor I was trying to prevent him from dissecting Maka. "Maka, Your soul has already proven itself quite resilient to demonic forces, but it's good that you continue to question your motivation as it is a very crooked line that separates good from evil and justice from self-righteousness. Never stop probing your soul, because you never know when your humanity may start to slip away. Even the Kishin was at one time a sane soul."

It's a sobering thought and it must not be of the tone our mentor wishes to leave us with as he changes the subject.

"Both of you've done very well. Maka, I am continually impressed by your ability to turn this hapless slacker into something of a hero."

Maka shakes her head. "You hear that, Soul. You're 'something of a hero.'"

"Yeah, I heard it," I grumble. "What I wanna know is why the professor is always giving me so much shit."

Professor Stein smiles. "Because I know you can take it, and I need to do something to let off steam," he explains while he once again tightens his screw. "Of course, I know that _you_ have another relaxation method."

"Songwriting is a great stress release," I nod.

"I didn't mean that," our teacher says dryly. "Your shirt's on backwards, your fly is undone and Maka's ponytails are undone." He quirks an eyebrow and watches as blush overtakes Maka's face and she lets out a little 'eep' like a mouse.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Lord Kid that's why you're late checking in," Stein assures us. "It wouldn't be wise considering the level of sexual frustration he's experiencing at the moment."

"Liz and Patti running through the mansion in bikinis again?" I ask.

"Professor. Soul." Maka scolds. "Do I need to remind you that this is Lord Death's private line for _important_ matters?"

"You don't consider your best friends' love lives to be of importance?" Our mentor asks with mock disapproval. "I know you aren't _that_ cold, Meister Albarn."

Maka clicks her tongue in disapproval. "You've been hanging out with my father too much. He's rubbed off on you."

Stein shakes his head. "Actually, he's still gone. I miss him. It isn't nearly enough fun around here without him… which reminds me I have some intel on Crona. There have been sightings of him in Wisconsin in the last thirty-six hours. He seems to be ok, but he may be heading out of town as he had luggage with him. So, I would hurry before we lose his trail." Stein gives us the details of the sightings and then orders us to be safe.

"We'll find Crona and bring him home," my meister says confidently.

Stein frowns. "Maka, have you considered the possibility that Crona has joined Avian Flu?"

"I have," she tells him. "But I cannot believe that he would do such a thing."

"Hhhmmm," Stein reflects on this for a moment or two. "Preparation for all possible scenarios is the job of the meister. There need to be contingency plans. You are not to approach Crona without a plan of attack." My meister immediately protests, but Stein will not listen. "No, buts, Ponytails. I need you to be prepared to fight him. I know he's your friend, but if he's been lost, we can't afford to lose you and Soul, too."

Maka nods. "Of course, but Crona would never-"

"There are many things happening I never thought would," Stein confesses after taking an especially long drag on his cancer stick. "In a world gripped by war, madness can make anything possible. Therefore, be ready for the unlikely."

Maka nods her understanding, but her soul wave length indicates that the thought of Crona defecting is greatly distasteful for her. I swallow. Professor Stein is right, but it never works well for me to side with someone my meister disagrees with. The problem is I think Maka feels that if she admits there is the _possibility_ of Crona joining Avian Flu that she would be betraying our friend. Instead, of looking at it as something we just need to be ready for just in case. I wonder if I should talk to her about it.

Professor Stein studies the two of us. "Please hurry back to DC. Marie would be a wreck if something were to happen to you."

We nod and terminate the call and immediately Maka makes an extremely loud growling sound. "Where does he get off?! We're always prepared for battle! But there is no good reason for me to specifically plan an attack on Crona. Crona won't have turned. I feel it in my soul."

"But it wouldn't hurt-"

She glares at me. "We are not going to strategize how to kill our friend. Understood?"

I don't know whether to cuss or smile. She has incredible loyalty. I can only hope that Crona is deserving of it. "Whatever you say, Meister."

"Now let's go locate our comrade," she orders and I obey, because that's my job and I love her even if her blind faith scares me sometimes.


	92. Chapter 92: Worth Protecting

**Risenfromash:** Thank you for all the warm thoughts. I am hanging in there as are Soul and Maka…

_**Chapter 92- Worth Protecting; Where's the Local Freak Show?**_

Before first light we rise, determined to find our friend. We stop at a nearby convenience store and purchase donuts, yogurt, and granola bars to snack on throughout the day. Crona was most recently seen in a neighboring town that's about thirty minutes from our trashy hotel. Maka's so eager to get on with the hunt that she is stilling munching on a powdered donut when she gets on the bike and points forward to indicate she wants us to get moving.

"And you say _I _have appalling table manners," I comment as I mount up. Her mouth still too full to reply her soul wavelength trembles a little from embarrassment, and I just laugh and rev the engine.

The town of Rockwell, Wisconsin is about the size of DC in terms of population, but is far more spread out than our oasis in the desert. We find signs up around town pointing to a paleontological dig that's happening on the outskirts of town and some kind of flea market/swap meet. All in all it's not a bad place except for one thing. It's fucking _cold_ here and everywhere we go people comment on Maka's exposed legs.

"We need to buy you some pants," I tell her after yet another local tells her she's not dressed sensibly.

She shakes her head. "I'm not cold and we don't need to waste DWMA money when there's so much more important stuff to buy for the war effort." We've parked Serif in front of the main branch of _Great Lakes Savings and Loan_ because it seemed like as good a place as any to take a break and figure out what our next move should be. We've been accosting a ton of random people telling them about our search for our missing friend and while many have been sympathetic, none have had any leads to share with us. It's disappointing and I have to keep reminding myself that the town is really big and that there are still plenty of places Crona could be hiding out.

"Ok," I tell her. "But if another guy offers to warm you up, like that one douche, I will _carry_ you into a store and force you into a pair of the ugliest sweatpants available, got that?"

Maka groans her understanding as she pulls out the map we purchased of the local area. "So, we've searched between Lincoln and Cosswell streets. The north part of town seems to be primarily business... hhhmmm, that one woman said that a lot of young people like to hang out around _Club 24_. Maybe we should go there."

I reach into the grocery bag we have strapped to the bike and pull out a donut. "Crona isn't the clubbing type. I don't think he'd go anywhere near one."

Maka considers this. "Yeah, you're probably right. He wouldn't like all the noise and the crowd. It'd be like sensory overload."

"He wouldn't know how to handle it," I say borrowing Crona's favorite catchphrase.

"She also said lots of teenagers like to hang out over by the mall," Maka continues.

I groan. I hate malls. Their absence is one of the great things about DC. Each store or restaurant is its own unique entity not some homogenized, cohesive thing. And what exactly is a 'court' of food? It doesn't even sound appetizing.

"Maka, we're looking for _Crona_. Crona doesn't hang out. Crona hangs out by himself or finds one or two people to cling to. The dude is _not_ going to be where the local high schoolers hang out."

"Fine. Then _where_ should we look, _Soul_?" she says sounding flustered.

"I dunno. Are there any creepy, gothic churches here? Or houses that are believed to be haunted?"

"Soul, that's such a stereotype. Crona doesn't only like the kind of places witches hang out."

"He thought the basement of the academy was great, and it's _super_ depressing. Oh!" I exclaim grabbing the map from her hands. "Are there any mental institutions around?"

"Oh, my _God!_" Maka complains. "Are you serious? Crona is our friend! How can you say that stuff about him?"

"Meister, just cause Crona is our friend doesn't mean we need to deny that a good majority of the world would proclaim him to be 'looney toons'."

She gives me a dirty look, but I continue. "Oh, come on, you know I love Crona, but he's… easily misunderstood. Hell, he doesn't even 'get' himself. I guarantee you that if Wisconsin had a version of that Freak Fair we found Brian at, Crona would be there." My meister's sour expression grows more intense. "Hey, we'd be there, too," I explain to her unashamed.

"I guess," she says. "So, I'll ask again. Oh, _wise one_, where _should_ we look then?"

"Once we visit that last location he was spotted at, I say we check out some of the weirder places we've heard about," I tell her. "Like that creepy art galleria that blonde woman told us about. It's near here, on 7th and Poplar, right? Or that really old graveyard we saw?"

"I suppose, it can't hurt," my meister concedes. "But Crona's pretty timid. I doubt he would be too eager to be hanging out near a bunch of ghosts."

"You never know," I say with a shrug. "Sometimes Ragnarok makes him do stuff."

We ride Serif to a couple more sectors of the sprawling city, but our investigation garners no leads and by sundown we are tired and hungry. We grab some teriyaki from a café around the corner from our hotel and fill our stomachs with noodles and meat while watching a poorly written sitcom on television. I fall asleep first, too exhausted to try any funny business.

At some point in the night, a series of very small noises reaches my ears. In my half asleep state it takes me a while to recognize the sounds as sniffling. I roll over and, despite the darkness of the room, confirm that my meister is crying.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

The crying stops and she answers automatically, "I'm fine."

"I didn't ask if you were ok. I asked what's wrong."

"I don't know."

I pull her close to me. I can feel her heart beating fast and the waves of her soul forming sharp peaks before plunging back downward. I hold her for a while hoping she will subconsciously mimic my more relaxed soul wavelength, but her's remains dramatically pointed. She's really upset about something. Either that or she's so wiped out that her brain has lost control of her soul wavelength. That will happen sometimes when a person is really, really beat.

"Maka, it's going to be ok," I tell her slowly.

"How do you know that?" she shouts the words, despite my close proximity, as her soul wavelength shoots upward to an arrow-like point. "Erika is a traitor. Avian Flu has witches helping them. Professor Stein is warning us not to trust Crona. This is wrong! It's all so wrong."

"Yeah, I know." It isn't super helpful, but it's all I can think to say. "It all sucks," I whisper. "Just remember whatever happens I'm not going anywhere," I say giving her a squeeze.

She gives me a little kiss. "Thank you, Soul."

"No worries," I tell her. "Now, how about you get some sleep."

"I'm having a hard time shutting my brain off," she tells me.

"Hhhhhmmm. Tell it your weapon is here and it can take a rest."

"I wish it were that simple," she says sadly.

"Meister, I can guarantee you that wherever Crona is he would rather you get a decent night's sleep than stay up worrying about him and birdmen and shit."

Maka exhales. "You make it sound so easy to relax."

"It is," I tell her.

"Only cause you're a guy."

I cluck my tongue in disapproval. "Meister, you know I disapprove of sexism. It's not 'cause I'm male. It's 'cause I'm a musician."

"I thought musicians were all emo."

I ponder this for a moment. "Maybe the ones who do it as a career 'cause that's the wrong thing to do. You gotta play music 'cause you love it, not for a job."

"You think you're ever gonna regret not pursuing a professional career in music?"

"Naw. That's ok for Wade, but not for me. Demon huntin' is the life for me. I like the adventure, the glamor-"

Maka laughs. "Yes, this hotel is one of the world's finest."

"Oh, and here I thought you were too depressed to notice," I laugh.

"No, it's hard not to notice that stain-"

"I know, right?! What do you suppose made that?"

We spend the rest of the night speculating on what witch's brew or alcoholic concoction led to the prominent discoloration on the carpet, until the ideas are fewer and fewer and make less and less sense and eventually we both fall asleep.

The next morning, I find that I've slept with one arm pinned under Maka and when she gets up the pins and needles hurt like hell. As I thrash my arm around trying to get the blood flow back to it, Maka gets dressed. She shows no signs of the upset she was suffering from last night which means that she's buried her fear somewhere deep down inside of her. It's what she does. It's what we're taught to do. Shove it aside and concentrate on the mission. The mission…

Maka will fall apart if Crona has joined Avian Flu, and I will, too, I think. Not only because he's our friend, but because Maka worked so hard to prove to other DWMA members that Crona deserved a second chance. Not only was Crona the spawn of a witch who betrayed the academy she had appeared a staunch loyalist by serving as the school nurse for a time, and later she made Crona do some of her dirty work for her. So, no one was exactly thrilled to put their trust in Crona, except, of course, for my meister, who seems to relentlessly believe in people. It's something I love and hate about her, because there are times when it would be a hell of a lot easier to just give up. Like with Crona. It would have been so much easier to just say he was a messed up dude who was evil, but Maka insisted his actions weren't entirely his fault, that when you haven't been shown love you just don't know how to behave. At times it was a tough sell, but when people saw that Maka and I were willing to forgive Crona, everyone else was willing to try as well and eventually people learned that Crona was way more scared of them than they were of him, despite his deadly black blood.

Most DWMA students have had a troubled family life, but I've never met someone who was as badly abused as Crona was by Medusa, even the Thompsons' mother who abandoned them on the street seems like mom-of-the-year by comparison. Medusa wanted so badly to ascend to the rank of Great Witch that she chose to use Crona as a tool. She experimented on him, left him alone for days at a time, and allowed Ragnarok to be unspeakably cruel to him. I try not to think too long on what that must have been like. It makes me feel cold on the inside. But despite all of this, Maka ventured past all the protective barriers that Crona had to create for himself, and underneath it all she had found a sweet, thoughtful person, but what would happen if that sweet, thoughtful person was once again influenced by someone evil, like a member of Avian Flu, or what if Ragnarok's love of mayhem rubbed off on Crona?

"Soul, is something wrong?" Maka asks me as I plunge my tea bag into my cup.

"Nope. Why?"

"Look at yourself," she says. I look down and see that I've been so vigorous in dipping my tea bag that I've sloshed hot water all over myself.

"Oh, uh…" I stammer. I'd rather she not know I was calculating the odds that our friend has turned to the dark side.

She flattens her lips into a straight line. "You can talk to me, you know."

I nod and take a sip of my zesty morning orange brew. "Really? I didn't know that," I say not betraying my sarcasm with even a hint of a smirk.

As usual, she rolls her eyes at me. "I mean, you've been acting weird ever since last night."

I say nothing and look away. Have I been acting odd? Can you really define 'normal' and 'abnormal' in a time of war? Aren't we just in fucking survival mode?

"You're worried that Crona's joined Avian Flu, aren't you?" she asks. Her voice is sharp. She's asking it but she seems confident that it's the cause of my 'oddness.'

"No," I tell her with a sigh. "I swear that's not it."

"Then you mind telling me what it is?"

I shrug. "I'm tired. I _have _been doing a lot- sawing train cars in half, driving the bike, _pleasin_' my lady…"

Her eyes grow to be the size of planets. "Excuse me? I was resonating with you to do kishin hunter, you know, and driving the bike isn't that hard when we aren't on the run… or gravel… or ice…"

"Oh, you think you helped out with kishin hunter, huh?" I say dryly and she replies by whacking me in the stomach with the back of her hand. I snicker. "Ok, ok, so where do we look today?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she says.

"What are you asking me for? I'm your weapon and chauffeur; just tell me where to go."

"Oh, I'll tell you where to go, believe me," she mutters under her breath as she yanks me out the door, cup of tea and all. "Come on."

After some argument we decide to divide the city into sections and visit a few popular spots in each. As we search, a strong sense of deja-vu overtakes me. What if Crona was captured? Sure, he has Ragnarok to protect him, but Avian Flu managed to overpower Justin and Black*Star's loyalty to the academy and they were also heavy-hitters. Doubt lingers in my mind about Crona's ability to fight off Harold and his birdmen, but he did hold his own against Kid…

I catch Maka reading my soul wavelength several times throughout the day and I know that she's disappointed in me. I can't have the kind of undying faith she has, at least not about anybody but her. My meister I will never give up on. I will trust her with all my soul till my dying day, but everyone else? Not so much.

At lunch, Maka and I argue over all you can eat pancakes at a local greasy spoon.

"You could have just said that he 'identifies himself as male,'" Maka scolds me.

I growl and turn on her. "What I said was close enough, Meister!"

"No, it wasn't. Mumbling that 'he's a little o'both' is entirely ambiguous! And we're expecting these people to help find him!"

"I'm sorry. I was just getting tired of all these fucking idiots asking me whether Crona's a boy or girl. I wanna slice 'em in two!" I shout angrily. The elderly couple in the booth next to us turn around and look at me with distaste. "Sorry," I mumble. I guess they must have virgin ears or some shit.

"Soul! What has gotten into you? You know I will not tolerate you threatening civilians while you are _my_ weapon!"

I grumble, "I'm your weapon, but I'm also a person, Bookworm, and I'm tired. We've been all over town and we haven't gotten one lead. Admit it. This is a dead end."

"It is not," she insists.

"Maka, you have Soul Perception and you're not getting anything."

"Crona is obviously using measures to counter Soul Perception, probably in an effort to evade Avian Flu."

I shrug. I'm not sure she's being realistic anymore.

"Maybe Crona has been away this long because he doesn't want to be found. You ever thought of that?" My voice is ratcheting up in volume again.

"Soul! You're making a scene. Calm down!"

I roll my eyes and slump backward. "Fine," I mumble. I don't seem to have the ability to control myself right now.

"Why are you so agitated?" she asks. "Your soul wavelength is like a roller coaster, for Shinigami's sake."

"Because he's not here. If he were here someone would have noticed him. He has Ragnarok riding around on his head half the time! How could no one have noticed him?!"

"He's obviously hiding," she says shortly and I glare at her.

"Maka, I will continue this hunt for another twenty-four hours, but after that we are returning to DC."

Maka is silent as she considers this. She isn't happy with me because were it up to her I'm sure we'd keep searching till we find him, but I have to set some limits for my sanity. I need us to do things we can be successful at, and right now it ain't lookin' good for finding Crona… or Blair. I can't believe Spirit hasn't found her. And where is Jakob's partner? How many are on the missing list now? What if they're all dead?

"You think he's betrayed us," Maka says sadly.

I close my eyes for a second. Do I think that? Is that why I'm freaking out? "I think it's a possibility." I pause. "And as your weapon…" I'm still thinking about what my soul is telling me I need to get out. My soul knows what it is, but my brain… I start again. "As your weapon…. I think… that you need to entertain _the possibility_ that Crona has changed. Not necessarily joined Avian Flu, but decided to be a witch… or a recluse… or something." I think some more. Maka says nothing. "Being realistic doesn't make you any less of a good friend."

"What are you talking about?" she asks irritated. Shit, I'm making her mad. Of course!

"I'm just saying, admitting to yourself that things may have changed between you and him doesn't make you any less of a great friend." Maka gazes downward as though her blueberry crepe holds the answer. "Hey, Meister, it's ok."

She remains silent for the rest of the meal. Even when we mount Serif she's still quiet.

"Where to, Meister?" I ask smiling at her over my shoulder.

She seems to agonize for a moment or two before saying, "Northwest quadrant."

The northwest quadrant is mainly an industrial area with manufacturing and packaging plants. We find a camp where transients live, but they haven't seen Crona. Maka gives them some of our snack food and wishes them well before we head to the southwest quadrant.

It's only been a few hours since lunch, but I'm already starving and, once again, feeling exhausted by the stupid questions people ask when seeing the photos of Crona.

"I need a break," I announce as we near a park.

"I could use a ladies' room," Maka says in agreement. I ride the motorcycle into the park on the paved paths that meander this way and that through groves of leafless trees before stopping it outside the bathrooms. When Maka comes out I'm already gnawing on a granola bar.

"You gave the homeless people all the chocolate chip ones," I pout.

"I'm sorry next time I give something to someone in need I'll make sure to run it by you and your stomach first," she answers grouchily.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm just stating fact."

"And since when have you been so enamored with facts? I know that Crona may have turned! I know it, ok!" I find her yelling to be unexpected. "Has it ever occurred to you, Soul, that I might be terrified that he's been changed to a birdman? Or tried to have one of those experimental separation surgeries to get him and Ragnarok apart, or that he's got a new best friend and-"

"_Maka, _is that what you're worried about? That because Crona left, you think he meant more to you than you did to him?"

Maka twitches a little and suddenly begins digging through the remaining snacks with a vengeance.

"Oh, I see. Well, let me assure you of something, Meister. There is nobody else like you out there and I think it is far more likely that Crona joined Avian Flu than that he would ever want to give you up as a friend."

"Really?" she asks with tears welling in her eyes.

"Positive. Whatever took him away from DC had to be important." I hold up one of the photos we've been showing people. It's of Maka and Crona with Ragnarok in his usual resting position on Crona's head. Maka and Crona look happy, Ragnarok does not, probably because he wasn't able to flip off the camera since he doesn't really have fingers, anymore. "I mean, look at the two of you. You guys are best friends!"

"Excuse me." The voice comes from a little ways off the path. We look over and see a young girl who must have come over from the nearby play equipment. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Can I see the picture? I can't look at it when you're waving it all over," she says precociously. I raise an eyebrow at Maka as I hand the little one the photo. This kid barely reaches my waist and yet she seems to have a meister's bossiness. I wonder if this is what Maka was like at that age.

As the girl examines the photo and Maka hands her the one she has, I give my usual spiel, "This is a friend of ours who ran away from home. We have reason to believe he is in the area and," I sigh. I've said this same thing at least a hundred times today. "We were hoping you might have seen him."

She nods. "Yeah, I've seen him before. He comes here almost every day… I think he cuts through here on his way to that store over there." The little girl points to '_Foodland, Home of Low Prices and Friendly Service.'_

"You sure it's him?" I ask not ready to believe it after such a long, tedious day of dead ends.

The girl nods. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've always wondered why he wears a dress, but Mom always says it isn't polite to ask that kind of a thing."

Maka smiles. "No, it isn't polite. It's best to just say nothing about it."

The little girl continues, "But, it isn't the dress that I wanna ask about. It's the suitcase. I wanna know why he talks to his suitcase."

Maka's eyes roll my direction. I guess that means it's her weapon's job to ask for clarification.

"He talks to his suitcase?" I ask sure that we misunderstood what she meant.

"Yeah, at first I thought he was talking to that stuffed animal thing on his head, but he talks to the suitcase, too, and I was wondering what kind of stuffed animal he has in there."

"When's the last time you saw him?"

"Yesterday afternoon. He usually goes to the store in the afternoon."

"With his suitcase?" I ask.

The little girl nods. "I think he doesn't know you're supposed to carry a purse."

We thank the girl and head toward _Foodland_. There we ask a number of clerks about Crona and finally find one who tells us that he thinks Crona lives in an apartment complex called _Meadow Brook_ on the other side of the park.

Maka looks so happy she appears as though she is about to burst as we dash from the supermarket to the apartment complex. Our smiles fade when we see the sign proclaiming that Meadow Brook is a one hundred and thirty-six unit complex boasting its own pool, basketball and tennis court, meeting center, and library facility.

"Shit," I hear Maka mumble as she reads the sign.

If it wasn't war time I'd suggest we split up to cover more territory, but givens as we could be ambushed at any moment we stick together and go door to door asking about Crona. A few people recognize him, but they can't tell us which unit he resides in or even which building. It seems from the remarks of the residents, if they are telling the truth, Crona doesn't live in building A because no one there even recognized Crona, but building B residents told us they thought he visited friends or lived in D or maybe G which puts Crona most likely in the furthest corner of the complex butted up to the tiny creek that runs by.

"I have a good feeling about building G," Maka tells me as we walk by C, D, E, and F. "If we don't find what we're looking for there, we can hit those others on our way out."

I agree. G is in a quieter corner of the complex away from the tennis and basketball court and the pool, just the kind of place a timid person like Crona would prefer. Again we go door-to-door asking the same questions, but this time we get more definitive answers. Yeah, he lives somewhere around here. Maybe in G-20something. My favorite response is the person who thought Crona was a 'damn fine ventriloquist' and could be making some 'real money' if he applied himself. This made me laugh so hard Maka had to apologize for my rudeness, but all it's done is give me a great way to break the tedium of our quest by randomly throughout the day imitating the man's voice and proclaiming Crona the best ventriloquist in the Tricounty Area.

"Soul, it was funny the first time, but you have got to stop!" Maka yells before turning to face door G-25.

"I'm just trying to keep things light," I say smiling innocently at her.

"You're trying to drive me batty!" she tells me.

I laugh. "Trying? I do believe that I have been successful."

"Don't let it go to your head, Soul Eater," she says turning to smack me in the face with one of our photos of Crona, but I'm faster. I grab her wrist and kiss her. She sputters, "Not here! We're working."

"Right…" I say grinning at her. "I know you don't like it when you can't get everything you want."

This time it's not my head she's looking to hit, but I jump backward bringing a centimeter between her foot and my balls.

"Feisty! What has gotten into you today?" I ask genuinely concerned.

"I just don't want to be distracted. We have to find Crona. If we got this close to him so could Avian Flu."

I nod and wave my hand in the direction of G-25. "And who's slowing us down? Your job is knocking."

Maka mumbles something under her breathe about wondering what exactly my job is and when I open my mouth to answer, she scolds me, "Don't even, Soul!"

She knocks on the door that looks exactly the same as every other one in the complex except that there is a wreath on the door made of driftwood with a little wooden seagull resting in it. At first there is no answer, so Maka knocks again, and a gruff voice shouts at us to go away.

"Don't worry, we're not selling anything," Maka calls cheerfully. "We're just trying to locate a really good friend of ours."

"Get lost," the deep voice says uninterested.

"Please, could you just take a look? Our friend is missing and might be in danger and-"

"Fine, slide the flier under the door."

"Uh," Maka says looking down at the photos in her hand. "We don't have fliers. We just have a couple photos. You think you could open the door and take a look?"

"I could, but I won't," the gravelly voice says. "Get out of here."

Nothing irritates Maka more than people who are uncooperative for no reason. I think it's my influence that's made her this way. She used to be much more patient with civilians, but these days she's been getting as frustrated as I do.

Spitefully she spits, "_Fine!_ But if you ever had a friend as nice as Crona you'd be looking for-"

The door opens slightly, chain lock restricting the door from opening further. "Let me see those photos," the voice says as a hand appears. Maka puts one of the photos in the hand and it disappears from view and the door is closed.

We wait while we hear shuffling from behind the door. Maka's eyes meet mine and they have a hopeful twinkle. This could be it. We could be about to be reunited with Crona!

The door is cracked open again and the hand reappears offering the photos back to us.

"What are your names?" the person on the other side of the door asks.

Maka's emerald eyes sparkle. "Why? Do you know Crona?"

"Who are you?" The person asks. "Are you with the DWMA?"

I crouch slightly, ready to transform at any moment.

"Who wants to know?" I ask.

The voice ignores this question and instead asks, "Are you… Maya… and Sam… Saul…"

"Soul," I correct. "I'm Soul and this is my meister, Maka. And if you know something about Crona we are going to make you tell us, you got that?" I flash him my scythe arm and I hear a loud, 'hey' from the other side of the door.

"Give me a minute," the voice says and the door closes as the speaker, presumably, undoes the lock and then the door is opened slowly.

"You can come in," the person says. As we enter we discover that the voice belongs to either the ugliest bearded lady ever or a very hairy man wearing a dress. His dark brown beard flows from his face and over the provocatively cut neckline of his dress where it comes to rest on his bush of chest hair. He wouldn't be an unattractive man, but in a dress he's _hideous_ and I find myself wanting to cringe. To prevent this I avert my eyes and then worry that I'm working so hard not to look at him… or her… that it might be considered rude.

I look to Maka for support and find that she is amazingly unfazed by this individual's unconventional appearance. Damn her; she always makes me seem so insensitive. How in the hell can she be ignoring this? It's like we're on one of those shows where they hide a bunch of cameras and prank you! Leave it to Crona to befriend someone with even more gender identification issues than him.

"Hello, friends of Crona," the man… er… woman in front of us says. "You can come in if you'd like."

We step inside and find the apartment to be filled with all sorts of odd salvage and clutter. In one corner are mannequin parts and another appears to be piled with neon signs advertising beer companies. Our host sits down on a futon and with a wave of his/her hand indicates we are to have a seat on two giant cauldrons that have been converted into overstuffed stools by having pillows stuffed in them.

We sit down, but our host says nothing and after an awkward silence Maka introduces herself again.

"I'm Maka," my meister says. "And this is Soul. We came from Death City to find Crona. He left before the war started and we're worried about him."

"We are too." The voice comes from across the room and I realize that sitting among the heap of disembodied mannequins is a real person that I had completely overlooked. This person appears to be a woman, but is so extremely thin and willowy that she reminds me of the race of aliens in _Star Rally _rather than a human being.

"That's why we encouraged him to return to DC now. He was wanting to wait, but it sounds like things are really heating up between Lord Death the Kid and Blitzengard," the person in the pink dress explains.

"What do you know about the war?" I ask.

"Enough to know that if Blitzengard has his way we will be exterminated. Harold doesn't have tolerance for those who are different," the lanky one tells us. "We don't know anything about Lord Death other than what we hear on the news, but we suspect he may be more understanding."

"He is," Maka tells them. "He has his own… quirks, but he thinks people should be free to live in the way they choose."

"Crona has told us as much," the skinny one says. "But we have never known whether or not to believe him. The black and white… thing… conjoined to him often proclaims him to be lying and Crona says he doesn't know how to deal with the black and white one's lies."

"That sounds like Crona," Maka says smiling.

I nod. "And just so you know you should _always_ take everything Ragnarok says with a grain of salt. He's a bit of an asshole. If I could rip him out of Crona I would."

The bearded lady's eyes come to rest on me, studying me as though trying to figure out if being a demon weapon is some kind of illusion created with smoke and mirrors.

"Please," Maka begs. "If you know where Crona is tell us. We really need to find him."

The lady who opened the door for us joins the narrow one and the two converse in low voices for a few minutes, evidently debating about whether or not to tell us the information we want. After what seems like forever, the huddle parts and the one who answered the door says, "Crona is leaving for Death City, Nevada today. He may already be on a bullet train or he could be at the train station."

Maka lets out a happy squeal and we skedaddle out of the apartment and to the train station as quickly as we can. We park the bike in an alley near the train station, not wanting the Gargoyle to give away our location should any Avian Flu be prowling around and we head into the station hoping that we'll locate Crona somewhere in the throng of commuters and travelers.

For a relatively small city the train station is awfully big. I suspect it's because no one really wants to be here, as inbound trains seem to carry few passengers, but huge lines exist for the outbound trains.

I scan the depot and platforms, but don't see a sign of our friend.

"Let's start asking around and see if anybody's seen him," my meister instructs.

Here we decide to split up. She heads to where people are beginning to line up to board and I check out the clusters of people in front of the coffee shop. There seem to be people of every shape and size here, except for our ambiguously gendered pal. I'm about to give up when I see someone of the right height with the right color hair meandering around the spinning racks of postcards and keychains in the gift shop. It's him! I dash into the shop elated to have located him. We've found him! He's turning this way!

"Crona!" I shout putting my hand up to wave to him. But the face that meets mine is not that of my friend, but of a woman probably several years older and with a distinctly longer nose. "Oh, uh, sorry… I thought you were somebody else," I mumble as I walk out of the shop, disappointed that I will once more have to report to my meister that I can't find him.

It takes me a bit to locate Maka. When I do, I find her talking to a couple staff members at the ticket counter. As I walk up I catch snippets of the conversation and gather that Maka is asking them if they've seen Crona. One of the train station employees, a dark skinned, exotic looking woman with an accent I can't identify shakes her head, but the older man beside her interrupts her.

"Wait a minute. I think I did see that lady… er… young… person. Earlier today, when you were on break," he says to his coworker. "Kind of a peculiar one. Said he wanted to get a ticket to 'DC'. I thought he meant District of Columbia, but he corrected me and said he meant Death City, Nevada and I explained to him that no trains go to Lord Death's town. I was going to arrange for him to take the train to Denver and then transfer but he said he'd prefer the bullet train, but he didn't even have enough money for a _regular _train ticket let alone a ticket on the bullet train. Then he tells me not to worry that if I sent the bill to the Demon Weapon Meister Academy attention Death the Kid. He was sure Lord Kid would take care of it. Said that Lord Kid was a personal friend of his. I told him that there was _no way_ that Lord Death would send a student out without enough money to return home and that all employees of the _Eastern Westward Rail Transport Company_ have been _expressly_ told in _no_ uncertain terms that we are prohibited to extend credit or billing of any kind to the DWMA or its representatives since one of our cars was recently vandalized by a demon weapon and his meister."

Maka's expression reveals nothing. Calmly she says, "I'm sure that the DWMA would be more than happy to reimburse your company for the damages to the bullet train. Lord Death has always made good on his debts and just because his son, Death the Kid, is temporarily in charge does not mean that there has been any change in this. The DWMA will see to it that the _Western Eastward_-"

"_Eastern Westward Rail Transport Company_," the man and the foreign woman say in an eerily unison fashion, as though they're both androids owned by the corporation.

"Pardon me," Maka says slightly flustered. "I can assure you that," she pauses and closes her eyes for a second trying to recall the correct name for their employer, "_The Eastern Westward Rail Transport Company_ will be appropriately compensated by the DWMA."

The man looks at us shrewdly and then suddenly lets out a hoot and begins to wag his pointer finger at us. "It was you two, wasn't it? I recognize the ponytails."

The woman next to him begins to frantically shuffle papers on their workspace as though looking for something.

"Meister," I whisper to Maka under my breath. I don't like where this is going.

The female _Eastern Westward_ employee seems to have found what she is looking for and nods to her coworker as she whispers something to him.

"Security! Security!" The man shouts. "These are the vandals that sliced the _Midcross Marathon_ in half!" A number of security officers who were positioned at strategic locations around the depot now suddenly begin to converge on us.

"Aw, _crap_," Maka wails as we both take off running. As usual, I'm having a hard time keeping up, but this time it's not just because Maka seems to have superhuman speed. Idiotic passengers frightened by the hubbub step directly into my path or inadvertently create trip hazards with their baggage. Plus, I stupidly gorged myself on like six granola bars and they don't seem to have agreed with the pile of pancakes I ate earlier as now I feel as though I have a ball of lead in my gut. I leap over a bulging at the seams duffle bag and moan. I am feeling very unwell.

"Damn it, Meister," I moan. "Carry me," I say transforming as she reaches back for me and swoops me up.

The good thing about running through a train station carrying a scary looking weapon like a scythe is that people get out of your way fast. The bad part is they usually do it while screaming something moronic at the tops of their lungs, and in this instance it's no different. I think I actually hear someone call me a 'demon spawn' instead of 'demon _weapon_'. Sometimes I fucking hate people. No, I take that back. I _always_ hate people.

We run out of the station being shouted at by employees and gawked at by travelers. If I had any dignity I'd consider it embarrassing, but I find that being a DWMA student gets me and Maka into so many situations where we make spectacles of ourselves that I lost any self-consciousness I once had.

"I think we lost 'em, Meister," I tell her. We're about three blocks from the train station. My meister takes a few moments to catch her breath next to a large dumpster.

"Ugh! What Neanderthals! Why can't they just bill the school like everyone else does?" She complains.

I pop back into human form and shrug. "Forget them. They'll get their stupid train fixed, if they aren't in cahoots with Avian Flu, which they could be for all we know. They were awful damn fast to call security."

She nods. "I noticed that, too," she groans putting her head in her hands. "It feels like the world's been turned upside down… I don't know who we can trust and…"

"Hey," I interrupt loudly. "You know you can trust me and you know about our friends. Forget about Erika, she was just a newb and she was probably tainted from the getgo. It just got missed in her assessment at admission."

"But they turned Justin-"

"They didn't turn him. They medicated and brainwashed him. Same as Black*Star."

She inhales and then slowly exhales.

"I'm sure Crona hasn't been turned," I assure her. "He was trying to get to DC. He's headed back to help us out."

"You think so?"

I nod. "Crona's weird but he wouldn't come back home to kick our asses. He's trying to get back because he's part of the team."

"But why's it taken him so long? As soon as you heard about the bombing you came back."

"Yeah… but I had more than one motivation," I admit with a wink to my meister. "And Crona's still got a lot of shit he's trying to work out."

She seems to be contemplating something, but says nothing. "Right. So let's find him and help him get home safely."

We scour the neighborhood, keeping as low a profile as we can manage, and just when we are about to give up we see a person sitting alone under a tree in a park. Winter is coming and the trees are mostly bare but sitting by the trunk of a big hardwood tree as though enjoying a shady spot we see a familiar silhouette. A young person in a dress is sitting beside what appears to be a large rolling suitcase he has set up like some kind of screen so that you can't see what he's doing.

"Crona!" Maka shouts.

The figure ducks and Ragnarok appears leering in our direction from behind the suitcase. The obnoxious creature pounds his fists together.

"You make one move on us, we'll keeellll you!" he shouts.

"Ragnarok, it's _us_!" Maka shouts and Crona stands up. His eyes are wide and a smile breaks out on his face.

"I can't believe it," Crona says slowly. "I never expected this. Why are you guys here?"

"We came to make sure you're ok," I tell him.

"Yeah," Maka adds. "Things have been really crazy since the bombing of DC."

Crona's gaze falls downward. "Yeah, I heard about that… but… I…"

Crona isn't rushing up to hug us, but I can't say that I find that entirely surprising. He still likes his space most of the time. Ironic, since he has his weapon permanently attached to him.

But it isn't only Crona's timid manner that appears to be keeping him from tackling us in an embrace. He has something in his arms that he's holding onto very tightly. I think he was protecting it when he heard us call his name.

"Hey, Crona, whatcha got?" I ask.

Crona remains silent, but assumes that forlorn look that is sadly too familiar on his drawn face.

"I didn't know what to do. I couldn't leave her with Medusa. I know she's her mom, but I can't… I couldn't have her go through what I went through." Understanding of his words is slow to dawn on me, but when whatever is wrapped in the black cloth wiggles and a chubby pajama-clad baby foot slips into view I realize why Crona left us.

"She's…" Maka starts.

Crona scans the park and whispers, "My sister. Her name's Adeline." He pulls down the black cloth that is protecting her from view and turns her a little. I don't know much about babies but I can tell she's not a newborn. She's pretty big making skinny Crona look like even more of a shrimp by comparison.

The baby grins at me and reaches toward my face.

"She likes your eyes," Crona says. "She likes red things. She's got this little toy spider and she's always messing with its red legs. Aren't you, Adeline?"

"This is why you left," Maka says.

Crona nods. "I heard a rumor that mom was having another kid and I knew that if it was true I had to do something. Only I didn't know quite what… and then the war started and it sounded like Avian Flu was rounding up all the witches and demon hunters and… is it true they killed Justin?"

Maka nods.

Crona looks like he wants to cry.

"Crona, why didn't you tell us?" Maka asks putting her hand on Crona's shoulder.

"Maka, you and Soul have already done more than enough for me. I didn't want to cause anyone else any trouble… but it looks like I will be…" He says staring down at his sibling as she babbles.

"Crona, quit being an idiot," I tell him. "You're one of us. You gotta quit worrying about stuff like this. This isn't gonna cause any problems-"

"Well… it could," reluctantly agrees Maka.

What the hell's gotten into her? I turn and look at her shocked that she would say such a thing when I know she'd do anything for Crona.

"Yeah," Crona says. "I don't think the Professor knows."

Then it hits me like a ton of bricks has fallen on me from a helicopter. I look at the kid again. The hair's a silver and the eyes are a funny grey and her smile is… oh, Shinigami, it's Stein's kid. I let out a whistle.

"I don't wanna make things bad for him and Marie, but I couldn't leave her with Medusa," he explains quickly. "Maybe I can raise her. I've had her for," he pauses to count on his fingers while shifting the baby's weight to his other arm. "About a month."

"Where's Medusa?" Maka asks.

"I'm not sure. I snuck in when she went out. She'd left Adeline all by herself. Even Ragnarok said she was being a lousy parent."

"I didn't say that," denies the black and white being. "I just commented that at least with you she usually stayed in the house."

"It doesn't matter. She never should have left her, especially with Avian Flu all over the place."

"You've run into them?" I ask.

Crona nods his head. "Ragnarok and I took out several birdmen when we were in Maine."

"Maine?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"I've been all over," Crona moans. "All I wanna do is get back to DC so I know Adeline will be safe."

I don't say that DC isn't exactly what I would characterize as 'safe' right now. There will be plenty of time later to recount to Crona Avian Flu's attempts to terrorize us and our stuffed giraffes.

"Problem is I'm pretty sure there's a warrant out on me for taking her. I think Medusa must be bewitching some cops 'cause we've had some people tailing us. I don't know if they're bounty hunters or what. But I gotta keep Adeline safe. I can't let Medusa get her back. She'll hurt her… the same way she hurt me."

"Crona," I say. "Medusa isn't gonna get her back. We're gonna help you get her back to her father."

Crona shakes his head. "I'm not gonna tell him. I've decided… I think… I dunno…"

Maka's eyes flick to mine and I know she's thinking that the Professor has to be told the truth, but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she tells me, "Bring Serif around."

I drive the bike right into the park on the paved walkway.

"What's this?" Crona asks.

"It's a vintage Gargoyle."

"Oh," Crona says and I realize he probably doesn't know much about motorcycles.

"Her name's Serif. Liz won her in a game of cards with a witch," Maka explains.

Crona's eyes get big and he says emphatically, "Liz knows better than to mess around with witches!"

"Yeah, well, I guess Kid doesn't," I laugh. "Cause one showed up on his doorstep saying she had a signed contract that said she had the right to sleep with him."

Crona scrunches his face in confusion and looks to Maka.

"It's a long story. We'll tell you on the way," my meister tells him.

We all stand there next to each other by Serif and it becomes obvious that I'm going to have to be the one to broach the subject. "Uh, Meister, we've got a problem. We can't all ride on the bike." She smiles at me and I shake my head. "You never let me teach you! You told me you're terrified of driving it. I know I made it look easy, but it-"

"Relax," my meister shouts putting her hand up. "Crona knows how to drive a motorcycle. Don't you Crona?"

Crona scratches the earth under his feet with the side of his shoes. "Sort of… I guess… it's been a while, but-"

"See, there you have it," my meister pronounces. "Crona will drive. I'll ride, holding you in weapon form."

"And the baby?" I ask.

"I'll hol' her," Ragnarok says holding out his hands eagerly.

Crona looks up at the person above him. "I don't think so. You can hold Soul. Maka can hold Adeline."

"Why don't you trust me?" Ragnarok whines. "I'm your weapon. You're supposed to trust me."

"You taped a 'KICK ME' sign to my back yesterday."

Ragnarok chuckles. "Yeah, that was funny."

"No, it wasn't," whines Crona.

"Crona's right. I should hold the baby," she says glaring at Ragnarok.

I moan and Maka hushes me. "Serif will be fine!" she says impatiently. But that isn't why I'm annoyed. Well, it is one reason, but there are two more reasons, two very _good_ reasons, I might add, as to why this arrangement makes me unhappy. One, it leaves Maka with no hands free to hold onto Crona, which worries me because it can be a bumpy ride with _me_ at the helm let alone a novice who may or may not actually know what they're doing and as Maka's weapon I'm sworn to protect her from danger. Second, it puts me in the hands of Ragnarok, and while I've forgiven Crona for nearly severing me in two I have not forgiven Ragnarok. He's a jackass and I can't stand him even in the shrunken, more docile form he has been forced to take these days.

I try to come up with another plan, _any_ other plan. "You sure it wouldn't be better to-"

"Soul," Maka says exasperated. "What else can we do? They're not going to let us on a train and renting a horse and buggy is out of the question."

"But, it's a _Gargoyle_ and it's beautiful," that wasn't the point I meant to say. I meant to say something about her safety, but, instead, my voice is sounding like a little girl whining for a new toy. I'm so ashamed, but I can't help myself.

"You sure are a wimp when it comes to your motorcycles," Maka comments flatly.

"He has his baby and I have mine," I explain flatly, as I stare at my bike as though looking at it for the last time.

"Aw, I won't letcha fall," Ragnarok says. "I don't hate cha that much."

I frown at the creature.

"You _better_ not drop me," I grumble. "Or I'll cleave you right off-"

"Oh, you wouldn't do that to poor little Crona!" Ragnarok says chuckling.

"And I won't scratch the Gargoyle," Crona offers nervously. "I'll be really careful. I just gotta get my bearings. Let's see… this is the throttle and this is the break and this…"

I feel as though I may vomit. Maka wraps her arm around me and kisses my cheek. "Thanks, Soul," she says.

"It's your bike, too," I grumble as I watch in horror as Crona orients himself to Serif. I'm in misery. I'm getting short of breath. Crona is going to trash it and I know I should care more about getting Crona and Adeline back to DC safely and swiftly, than I should about my bike, but it's my bike. I've already lost one to this god damned war and… I find myself whimpering a little.

"What can I do to make it up to you," Maka whispers in my ear. Her ton is seductive and I know she is expecting me to answer with some horny response, but all I say is, "You're learning how to drive a motorcycle."

She nods and puts her hand in mine. "Ok, but you're gonna look ridiculous in a sidecar."


	93. Chapter 93: Prelude to the Epoch

**Risenfromash:**__Hi, everyone! You get two chapters today and I get continuity issues I discovered when looking back at some old chapters. Whoops! At some point I'm going to back and smooth out a few of those, but today I'm going to simply enjoy the accomplishment of getting these chapters done. Hope you are all well!

_**Chapter 93- Prelude to the Epoch; Maka's Top Secret Share?**_

"Arrrrggghhh!" I growl as I stretch my back. "Now I know why Liz is always bitchin' about having to ride around in weapon form all the time. This blows."

"I'm sure you'll survive," Maka tells me. "And besides, it'd be a long ride even if you weren't in scythe form the whole time. My butt hurts."

My ears perk up. "I could rub it for you," I whisper seductively. Maka ignores this come-on entirely, either because she's too tired to respond or because she considers it too tired a line for me to use, I'm unsure.

"I wish we could have camped." She says sounding forlorn as she slides the key into a hotel room we've rented for the night.

"Are you insane?" I ask. It's fast becoming winter and I want an actual bed beneath my cramped back. "I call first to the bathroom."

My meister groans, "I hate it when you do that!" and flings the door open so I can rush past her to the toilet.

"Thanks for paying for a room for us," I hear Crona say as I shut the bathroom door.

I pee in the toilet and breathe a sigh of relief before exiting. I strut out of the can feeling like a new man. Maka is standing outside the bathroom door impatiently waiting for her turn, but it doesn't stop her from pointing to the sink as I step out. Obediently, I turn around and wash my hands… she points to the soap, too, as though I don't actually understand the concept of handwashing. Just to irritate her I take my time making a big show of each step of the process so that she ends up doing the pee-pee dance before shoving me out of the way. I'm laughing my ass off as she slams the bathroom door in my face groaning in annoyance at my antics.

"I'm glad to see the war hasn't changed you two," Crona says.

I smile at him. "Yeah, Maka and I are doin' alright. We've had our moments though. They almost killed her once and I had to haul her to a safe house through the snow. Good times. And then there was a point when she was held captive for days and almost had to marry Justin. She was supposed to be part of Harold's 'enlightened people' or whatever the fuck he calls them. He's such a maniac." I shake my head as I yank off my shoes and settle on the bed nearest the door.

I grab the TV remote and start channel surfing as Crona helps himself to the spare pillows and blankets housed in the closet and sets to work creating a makeshift baby corral on the floor with them.

"Adeline can't sleep in a bed," he explains to me. "So, I'll just lay with her down here on the floor. So, you can have the second bed… if you want." He hesitates as though giving me an 'in' to confess that Maka and I are doing it now, but I'm gonna leave that conversation up to Maka. Somehow the thought of me being the one to tell him that the two of us are together now seems weird since the two of them are closer than I am with him. When I don't say anything Crona continues, "One of the first nights I had Adeline she fell off the bed and hit her head. I felt so bad… I was convinced I'd damaged her for life."

"And I told him, Mommie Dearest had already done that!" Ragnarok says butting in.

Crona ignores this comment by his constant companion. "But she seems ok and the lump's gone now. I was so worried. I'm pretty sure I cried about it more than she did."

"Soul had his own adventure with a little kid," Maka says appearing in the bathroom door. "He and this adorable little boy got stuck in the desert for days by themselves. Just the two of them with no camping or survival equipment and they both lived to tell about it." Crona looks at me with admiration.

"Maka's making it sound like a bigger achievement than it really is. Jerome wasn't a baby so it wasn't that hard, except he never shut up. I think he talked more in the time we were in the desert than I do in some years."

"You'd never know it from the way he's talking but Jerome and him hit it off big time," my meister says with a smile.

I shrug. "He's a good kid. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to him. Jule must be going nuts without him around." I think about the demon kids. We're really letting them down by having left them to do this person retrieval operation, but seeing Crona trying to be Mr. Mom confirms for me that it was the right thing to do and not just cause we missed him. Taking care of his sister is really too big a job for Crona to handle all on his own. I'm shocked he hasn't had an embolism from worry.

Maka glances at the television. "Any news?"

"I'm lookin'," I mumble. Whenever we are near a TV we search for media coverage of the war. Usually we're more up-to-date than the general public, but it's interesting to see the way things are being covered and every once in a while we learn something from watching… like getting an idea of Crona's location.

"Maka, you said you were gonna tell me some news about Tsubaki," Crona says satisfied that Adeline is safe and amused at the moment. The pudgy one lays on her back waving her stuffed spider around above her and making funny little baby sounds. I watch her out of the corner of my eye. It's hard to believe everyone was once that small.

"Oh, right, Tsubaki. Shinigami, where do I start?" Maka comments to herself.

I butt in with a very brief overview never once releasing my eyes from the television screen. "Tsubaki got knocked up by some asshole we don't know."

"What?!" Crona says. "She's pregnant? You're making that up, right? Maka, Soul's just messing with me, right?"

Maka shakes her head. "No, Tsubaki went out on a few dates with some guy she knew from before she joined the DWMA and she got pregnant. She's putting the baby up for adoption."

"Wow, that's gotta be hard," Crona says looking down at Adeline. "And she's sure it's not Black*Star's?"

"Oh, it's _definitely_ not Black*Star's," I assure him. "He hasn't even made it to first base with her. Hell, I don't think he's even been up to bat. I guess it didn't even occur to him that someone else might ask her out. He did almost make it with Harold Blitzengard's daughter, though."

"What?!"

Maka sighs. "He was under the influence of Avian Flu's mind control at the time. He doesn't even like Sandra. He tolerated her. Don't confuse Crona by telling everything all out of order."

"I'm not," I say turning to face my meister. "Tsubaki got pregnant, Black*Star was an idiot. Black*Star got captured by Avian Flu and forced to shack up with Sandra. We rescued him before they did it, no thanks to Sandra and her crappy ass attitude. _I'm hitting the highlights._ You'd take all day to bring him up to speed."

"Is Harold's daughter a student at the academy?" Crona asks confused.

"See. This is how rumors get started!" Maka says waving her hand in Crona's direction. "You're confusing him."

"Sorry," I say. "I just wanted to get to tell him the funny part."

"You mean when Black*Star kept referring to Tsubaki as 'his woman' even though they aren't in a relationship and it's a horribly misogynistic thing to say in the first place?" Maka asks

"No, that was actually kinda painful. No, I'm thinking of when Lord Death let the news slip out in the war council meeting that Tsubaki was preggers and Kid scolded his father for sharing the news and that made everyone assume Kid was the father."

"Why'd he know?" Crona asks. "I would have thought Tsubaki would have confided in Black*Star."

"The situation was awkward and she was freaking out," Maka explains. "I was actually the first person she told. Kid only knew because his Soul Perception is so advanced."

"How's Kid holding up?" Crona says sounding worried. "It's gotta be hard… I wouldn't know how to handle all the responsibility he has."

"He's doing ok," Maka says. "But he's a little more unpredictable these days, mainly when it comes to the girls."

"Patti and Liz, you mean?" Crona asks.

"Yeah, he dislocated the shoulder of some dude who came around to talk to Liz," I tell him.

Crona's eyes get big. "I didn't think Kid knew hand-to-hand at all."

"Apparently he does and somewhere in between running war council meetings, fighting Avian Flu, and playing doctor with the Thompsons he's honed his skills."

"Playing doctor?" Crona asks and I'm unsure whether he's confused by the meaning of the phrase or the fact Kid would be blatantly flirting with the twin pistols.

"The sexual tension's been building between the three of them," Maka says then abruptly she shouts, "Wait! What day is it? Is tonight Twin Pistol Day?"

Crona blinks. "Oh, yeah, Kid and the Thompsons' big anniversary thing…"

"I think it's tomorrow," I comment. "And guess how they're gonna celebrate this year, Crona?"

Crona takes the question very seriously and ponders for a bit before answering. "A surprise vacation… to somewhere tropical?"

"Nope," I say. "Though I'm sure Kid'd enjoy that. The girls'd be in their bikinis."

Maka shakes her head and I begin to defend my comment by saying that I _know_ he has a special spot on his computer for photos of them scantily clad and that his subconscious mind has practically built a shrine to them with photos of them in heart shaped frames and a Twin Pistols fountain, but Crona is ready with his next guess.

"A puppy?"

"Not even close," Maka says with a sigh.

"A party at the mansion?" Crona suggests.

"Nope," I answer eager to tell him the truth. "Give up?" Crona nods. "This year they get a night of romance: dancing, fancy dinner, the works and a confession of love from the reaper."

"For both of them?" Crona asks.

"Yup," I say grinning triumphantly. Let the freak out begin!

"That's good; that makes sense for Kid," Crona says. "He could _never _choose between those two and the three of them are so close… seems natural he should want to be with both of them. He obviously cherishes them."

I stare at Crona and blink. That was not the reaction I was expecting; how disappointing. Crona's the only person who hasn't been shocked by this, and I was really looking forward to watching him wig out. Oh, well. I guess when you've been through all Crona has it takes more than a dude wanting two girlfriends to get yah worked up.

"Speak of the devil," I say as I hear a news anchor say Kid's name before cutting to a story about the battle front at the horn of Africa. Lord Kid is pictured on the front steps of the academy giving an impromptu news conference to an assembled throng of reporters. I see Ganglehoff near the front scrolling notes on the pages of a spiral-bound notebook.

"I'm very proud and thankful today for the work of our DWMA members in South Africa. Their perseverance has made this decisive victory possible. Avian Flu can expect more of the same in the coming days, as our students and faculty take down more and more enemy strongholds, and to Blitzengard I say, 'We know where you are hiding, and as a reaper I am watching the number of your days dwindle."

"Wow, he sure sounds dramatic," Crona says.

"Yeah, pretty amazing since that's all total BS. I don't think we have a clue where Harold's at. At least when we left town we didn't," I comment.

The news flips to a bunch of DWMA supporters chanting, "The DWMA will ground Harold's birds!"

"Ugh, I told Black*Star he needs to come up with something catchier. Something that rhymes," Maka complains. "It makes us sound so amateurish."

Crona picks up Adeline and carries her in front of the television completely blocking my view of the picture. "Look, Adeline. That's Death City. That's where we're gonna live."

"That's where your dad lives," Maka adds in baby talk to Adeline. Then to me she says, "That's good about South Africa. It's been Avian Flu's for a while now."

I grunt my agreement as Maka plops down on the bed nearest Adeline's pillow fort. I toss Maka the TV remote and let her and Crona know I'm gonna sleep for a bit. My head hits the pillow and I'm out. Being in scythe form for hours can be exhausting even if all you're doin' is hanging out and not fighting.

At some point later, Adeline cries and Maka and Crona hurry to her. I sit up in bed, but they tell me she's fine and to go back to sleep. I don't argue. I wouldn't have any idea what to do to get her to stop crying anyway, but I have trouble falling back to sleep and I end up eavesdropping on Maka and Crona as they catch up.

"So, how long have you and Soul been…?" Crona asks timidly.

"Did he tell you?" Maka whispers.

"No, but when I told him he could have the second bed cause I'd be on the floor with Adeline he gave me this look like there was a fat chance he wasn't gonna be snuggling up with you. He finally ask you out like you wanted?" What? She wanted me to ask her out? Was that what I was supposed to do, instead, of just confess my painfully conflicted feelings to her?

"No," Maka says laughing. "It was actually kind of horrible. He ran off for like a week-"

"He must have had some _Soul_ Searchin' to do!" Ragnarok busts in loudly. "Get it?"

Crona and Maka groan before proceeding with their conversation as though Black Blood hadn't interrupted.

"He was still gone when the attack on DC happened, and he came back for me. He was totally freaked out I think he was scared I'd been crushed by the collapse of the school or killed or something."

Ragnarok moans. "When're we gonna get to the sex part?"

"Ragnarok! How many times do I have to tell you?" Crona whines. "Asking people about their sex lives is impolite. Not everyone wants to share."

"Well, everyone _should_ share, 'cause as long as I'm stuck to you I'm not gonna get _any_ action," Ragnarok complains.

Maka interrupts the bickering between Crona and his weapon. "It's ok, Crona. I can tell you guys." She pauses and I can only guess what shade of cardinal she must be. "It's really great." Yeah, it is! I grin with pride careful not to in any way rustle the bedsheets and reveal that I'm actually awake. "It… it… feels really right…"

Crona gasps. "You're really… doing it? Maka! I can't believe you. You could end up like Tsubaki!"

"No, we're being safe and smart about everything."

"You _promise_?" I can hear the concern in Crona's voice. "Adeline is great, but believe me you _don't _want a baby. I thought having Ragnarok everywhere I go was bad enough-"

"Hey," Ragnarok says, before I hear Crona whine. Ragnarok is probably torturing his meister by pinching Crona's cheeks or smacking him in the face or something.

"Crona, I promise. Nothing like that's going to happen, but…"

"You really love him, don't you?" Maka must nod because Crona continues. "I'm happy for you. I don't really understand what that feels like, but I know enough about bad relationships to know that you two are good together. Soul's funny. He tries to act all cool like some tough guy but he's really a sweetheart." Hmpf. I don't act cool. I am cool. I'm gonna have to teach Crona the difference.

"Yeah," Maka says sounding unusually wistful. "He is." She pauses and then asks conspiratorially, "You wanna know something I haven't told anyone, not even Soul?"

"You trust me to keep that big a secret?" Crona asks nervously.

"Of course! But you better plug Ragnarok's ears."

"You don't trust me?" The demon weapon shouts. "I'm hurt."

Ragnarok continues to complain and I hear what sounds like a good deal of struggling between the three of them which isn't surprising since Ragnarok is an uncooperative asshole a lot of the time, but I pay little attention as I contemplate what Maka's secret could be. It's obviously something she's happy about, but something she hasn't shared with me. Intriguing… maybe she's bought some naughty lingerie… or she's gonna let me try that thing I hinted I'd like to try... or maybe she's-

"I think I want to marry him," Maka says. What the fuck?! It takes all my self-control to not whirl around and say it to her face. This is Maka Albarn, Little Miss-Marriage-is-A-Pointless-Institution, and I'm so enlightened I see no point in such a thing. Didn't she say that? I know she's said that. And, wait, what? We're in high school. We need to slow things down in a major way. What is with all the baby and wedding talk? I'm short of breath and struggling to make my hyperventilating quiet enough so as not to attract attention from my meister. What is Tiny Tits thinking? Holy crap! She's crazy. Even Crona and Ragnarok must think so because I hear them gasp and then stutter a bit before saying anything intelligible.

"Stop freaking out!" my meister says in a loud whisper. "I don't mean _now_! I mean eventually, some day… when we're older."

"But, Maka, I thought you didn't believe in marriage. He isn't pressuring you into anything is he?"

"Soul? No! I don't think he cares one way or another… he's a guy you know how they are… but he has kinda hinted he wouldn't _mind_ it and we want to always be together so what the heck? _Someday_. Obviously, someday." She's starting to ramble a bit like that time she met that world famous meister-somebody and became a blubbering idiot when introduced to her. "I dunno what it is exactly… I just feel differently now. I feel like maybe he and I could save marriage. Maybe the problem with marriage isn't the institution itself, but the idiots that rush into it like my mom and dad. Maybe it's _their _problem…. And if we're together for a long time and stable and happy and then we get married, maybe…"

"Or maybe you just wanna lay claim to him because you don't like how all the freshman girls look at him," Crona teases. What girls? They do? Crona's gotta be confused… I don't think any girls have ever liked me besides Lydia and that one girl on the yearbook committee, oh Shinigami what's her name… Harriet? No, that's not it. It sounds more masculine. Henrietta or Hermes or something… ah, it doesn't matter she's way too big a weirdo to be flattered by her interest. Then I guess there's Misty…

Lord Death, Maka wants to _marry_ me! Oh, shit, Soul, breathe, breathe! Air in and out. You do not want her to find out you've been eavesdropping. She will be murderous.

Meanwhile, my unsuspecting wannabe fiancée laughs. "No. It isn't like that. If I worried about his groupies I could just glare at them. I am a pretty powerful three star meister, you know."

Crona laughs. "Oh, do I needa wear a blindfold?" He sounds serious, but Maka laughs. "I'm not like the Thompsons. I'm more secure than that."

"I suppose. You were pretty cool about the rumors about him and Kid."

"I can't believe anyone would _seriously _think Soul is gay," Maka says

"I think sexuality is more of a continuum than an 'either' 'or' thing," Crona says thoughtfully. "But, yeah, I'd put Soul in the almost exclusively turned on by girls end of the spectrum."

"Almost exclusively?"

"You know how excited he gets around Black*Star," Crona says seriously. Oh, he can't seriously think I get a hard on from the ninja. Crona, man, please! Kid _maybe_, cause he's got that whole Shinigami sexual mojo thing going on, but _Black*Star_?! Really, what is wrong with people?!

Maka laughs. "You're lucky he's not awake. He'd slice you in two if he heard you."

"Black*Star wouldn't mind," Crona says laughing.

"That's cause Black*Star is an egomaniac who thinks _everyone_ should love him and when they don't he gets that sad puppy dog look. He had it for _days_ after he found out Tsubaki went out with Kyo."

"So, are you and Soul gonna have kids?" Crona asks seriously as though conducting some kind of interview, like a guidance counselor collecting data before making a recommendation of career.

Maka gasps a little. I gasp a lot. When did Crona become confident enough to ask these kind of questions? I listen intently and then realize I have no idea how she's gonna answer. We've talked about how we always want to be together, but we've never once talked about what that forever looks like. I _think_ she wants kids, but, then again, I dunno. Demon hunting is our life and, historically, it hasn't been the best line of work for parents.

"I don't know," Maka says sounding sad. "I don't think he wants to be a dad." What? Why would she think that? I like kids.

"Have you asked him?"

"_No!_ I can't _ask_ him. He's a _guy_. A _teenage_ guy! He'd get all scared. You should have seen him when he realized Avian Flu had taken me off the pill. I thought he was gonna start wearing a hazmat suit around me. He kept looking at me like I was infectious."

"Oh," Crona croons. "That's so sweet. It means he cares for you. Not like that Kyo guy. Though, I guess it wasn't entirely his fault."

"No, but when she told him she was pregnant he ditched her without even paying for his lunch. _That _was nothing less than _deplorable_ behavior_._"

"What an assbag!" Crona shouts. "Ragnarok! You keep your eyes out for this guy. We needa teach him a lesson about how to treat people."

"You'll have to take a number. Black*Star would like to castrate him slowly, but Kyo skipped town, of course," Maka says and I can practically hear the eye roll that accompanies her comment.

"Convenient," Crona says before changing topics. "So, is this thing that Kid and Patti and Liz doing tomorrow a real date?"

Maka must shrug as I don't hear a response. "Who knows. I think they're like me and Soul they don't really need to date."

"But you and Soul go out on some dates, don't you?"

"Not really," Maka admits. "There's been the war and we've both been in and out of the hospital a couple times and Blair's missing and we haven't really been in the mood. Usually we just crash. We did go out with everyone to the movies one night. We were, actually, about to go on our first real date when he saw you on TV and we dropped everything-"

"I'm sorry," Crona apologizes. "I'm so sorry, Maka, you've been waiting for so long to-"

"No, no, it's ok. We aren't like other people. We don't need to date. We're happy."

I lay there and think about it. She's right. Despite multiple brushes with death, the fact an inexperienced person is piloting my motorcycle, and that I abandoned my guitar in that greasy spoon way back when, and Maka gave away all the chocolate chip granola bars, and my mom being gone… I _am_ happy. _I'm happy_. When did that happen? I don't think I was happy when I met my meister. I was dark and brooding. I wanted to scare her away with my experimental piano concerto. I _wanted_ no one to understand me and yet here I am genuinely content. I think she did that. Sure, I love the DWMA and all my friends, but it's her that's influenced me the most. She's the one who challenges me to get over things I want to pout about it. She's the one who knows what's bugging me when I can't even figure it out. She's the one who knows when to let me vent and when to tell me to get the hell over whatever it is that's pissing me off.

Sometimes I think she knows me better than I know myself. So, is she right? Do I not want to be a dad? I don't think I actually know what a dad is supposed to _do_. Clearly, I could be a dad… I don't think they're a problem with my swimmers… Lord Death knows I seem to produce enough of them… that one time I got it everywhere in the shower. Thank Shinigami, Maka took her shower first… of course, I think that was part of the problem. I kept thinking about where that soup had been… So, yeah, technically I could be a father, but a dad? Who do I know that's a dude with kids? Spirit… worst father ever. Lord Death, well, he's a Shinigami and a world leader, I think that's kind of different. Stein… I'm betting he doesn't even _know_ he's a dad… Nope, I got no clue what a dad's job is.

What if she's right? What if I'm not dad material and she wants kids? She'd cry. I know she'd cry. I hate when Maka cries… shit, I find myself rolling over before I remember I'm supposed to be asleep.

"Maka?" I say her name and she looks up from where she's been sitting gossiping with Crona.

"You lonely?" Maka asks. I nod and she smiles.

"It's late," Crona says. "I've almost got Adeline settled. How 'bout you two get some sleep?"

Maka walks over to the bed I'm sacked out in, yawning as she comes. I lift up the blanket and she climbs in with me.

"Wait!" Ragnarok says angrily. "She's sleeping with Soul. Then why the hell are we sleeping on the floor?"

"Because of Adeline," Crona answers wearily. "Look, if you don't know how to handle it just go into my veins."

"There's no reason to be rude about it," Ragnarok says.

"I think you're the one who's rude," Crona says. "It still hurts where you pinched me earlier."

"What'd you want me to say? 'Sorry?'" the weapon asks his meister.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Crona answers. "I don't pinch you."

"You made me carry Soul all day," the weapon says sounding disgruntled.

Crona yawns and mutters something to the effect of there will be more carrying me tomorrow and to please get over it, and then, finally, the room is quiet. I start to drift off, comforted by the spooning of my meister's body. I inhale deeply to allow the sweet scent of Maka's hair to drift into my nostrils.

"Love you, Meister," I whisper into her neck.

"Love you, too," Maka mumbles already half asleep.

"You doin' it yet?" Ragnarok shouts startling me and Maka so badly that we both jump a little and Adeline starts to whine. I drift off to the sounds of Crona and Ragnarok having a heated discussion over what constitutes comedy and what is simply asinine.

The next morning I have to work really hard not to give away that I heard the middle of the night conversation about me, but I'm feeling pretty good. All except for that baby thing. I don't know how to be a dad, but why's Maka think I don't want to have kids? I don't remember ever _saying_ that. Maybe it's because I keep telling Black*Star that there is no way in hell he and Tsubaki should be considering raising the baby themselves. I _desperately _want to ask Maka about it, but then I'd have to admit I was listening in on her and Crona which would probably earn me a smack with a _very heavy_ book, perhaps an entire set of encyclopedias.

The final leg of our journey is uneventful. No pesky birdmen or Avian Flu zealots materialize to terrorize us. Crona, with a day at the helm of Serif now under his belt, handles the powerful bike with much more confidence than the day before and we find ourselves sailing across the desert blissfully ahead of schedule for once. At about one o'clock in the afternoon we start to see the outline of our home town coming into view.

"It's DC! Whoo-hoo," calls Crona as he lets out a joyful hoot and inadvertently sends the bike into a huge wobble. "Whoa-ah! Sorry about that!"

"Careful!" I say bending my handle so my scythe eye is level with his line of sight. "Watch what you're doin', Crona!"

"It's ok, Soul. I got it. I've made it this far. I'm not gonna hurt her now, I promise," Crona says seriously and it's almost enough to make me feel bad for yelling at him.

"You better not," I grumble. "'Cause I wanna take this baby in to the _Screaming Eagle_ to show her off."

"Oh, God," Maka moans. "Soul, do you really think picking a fight with the man who weaseled you out of one of your other most prized possessions is smart?"

"Smart is over rated, Bookworm," I tell her flatly. "You ever heard the phrase if you've got it flaunt it?" I hear what may be an annoyed grunt from Maka or some weird baby noise. I'm not sure and I don't care. I'm too busy thinking how great it is to be going home. I always think that there will come a day when I won't get excited about seeing Death City from across the sand but it hasn't happened yet. I always think of DC as a pearl in the oyster of shit that is Nevada.

"Um… ah… Did they build a bunch of suburbs since I left?" Crona asks.

"No, why?" I ask turning to look at Crona.

"I was just wondering what all that stuff is," Crona says as he tries unsuccessfully to lift one hand from the handlebars to point at what he sees. "It looks like it could be a bunch of people… or vehicles, maybe, I can't tell."

"Where?" I ask stretching my scythe eye. "Ragnarok, we got incoming birds?"

Ragnarok shouts back that he doesn't think so and Maka leans out to one side to get a better view. "That's affirmative. I don't see any fliers, but that doesn't mean they aren't under attack. They could be using those weird cart-thingees they had in Mexico."

"What should I do?" Crona asks his voice tremoring with concern. "I don't know-"

"Keep going," Maka tells him. "If DC's under attack they'll need our help."

Crona nods and stares straight ahead as I struggle to figure out what we're looking at. I think I can _almost _make out combatants. This is making me nervous. "Crona, you better slow down. If the DWMA is engaging Flu we don't want to blast into the middle of it. We should come from the side… more subtle, like."

"Maybe you should drive," Crona says uncertainly. "I can make her go in a straight line ok, but I don't think I could handle any evasive maneuvers…" Then he mumbles, "And Ragnarok and I aren't real good at subtle." He slows down the bike so I can take over driving, but before we're stopped something begins to fly across the sand in our direction. Whatever it is is big and dark and fast and headed right for us.

"Incomin' birdman!" shouts Ragnarok.

"Ragnarok, take Adeline! Soul and I will fight it off," Maka shouts as she hands the baby up to Black Blood. Maka then pulls herself up to a standing position with her feet on Serif's passenger seat.

"Meister, are you insane?!" I scream as Ragnarok tosses me into her hand. She catches me and leaps off the motorcycle in one fluid movement, landing on the ground in a perfect crouched position. She raises her head and springs up, ready to face the incoming black bird. She watches its madly flapping wings propel it forward at breakneck speed, and then suddenly she laughs and her whole body relaxes.

"Maka? What the hell are you…?!" I ask, but she's laughing too hard to answer and then I see why. The black bird flying toward us isn't Avian Flu at all. It's Kid on Beezlebub, his super high speed making his black Lord Death robes flap behind him in the breeze giving him a bird-like appearance.

Maka steps over to the bike which Crona has stopped and reaches up for the baby.

"Come here, you," Maka says. "It's time you meet Death the Kid and his Twin Demon Pistols."

Kid is coming up extremely fast with no evidence of deceleration. I start shouting for him to stop. "Kid, slow down! This isn't funny, you idiot!" I scream as he comes to a screeching halt directly in front of Serif.

"Crona!" he shouts with delight as he flings his guns behind him and hops off the board as though he was just doing nothing more physically exerting than drinking a margarita by a swimming pool. A split second later Liz and Patti appear looking a little dazed.

"Kid, we keep telling you! You can't stop that suddenly. Sometime I'm gonna _barf _all over you," Liz complains as she puts a hand on each of her calves and lowers her head.

"Oh, Liz, it's just like an amusement park ride!" Patti squeals.

"I don't like amusement park rides!" Liz shouts back at her.

"I'm sorry," Kid says walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I forget how much more that affects you guys especially while you're in weapon form. I'll try to remember next time." He brushes the hair from her face and tucks it behind her ears. "Maybe we can get you some peppermint tea…"

"Hi, Crona!" Patti says ignoring her partners and bouncing over to our friend. "Is it really you? You look all studly driving the bike."

"I do?" Crona asks looking down at himself confused.

"Yeah," Patti says. "But don't you be trying to steal me away, because tonight's the night Kid's gonna make me a woman."

At this Kid freezes and then turns to eye the younger of the two Thompsons. "I don't recall saying that," he comments, but I can detect a teasing undertone to his voice.

"You didn't need to. You're taking sister and I out for dinner and dancing. It's going to be romantic and I know why. I sense a night of passion _cumming_!"

Kid rolls his eyes and groans at her x-rated pun. "Patti, do you sincerely believe that I would be incapable of having a nice evening with my partners without succumbing to the desires of the flesh?"

Patti giggles. "Nope, you won't be able to resist. Not when you see what me and sister are gonna be wearing!"

Kid's eyebrow arches as he sizes up Patti from the corner of his eye. "Liz, please tell me that your sister isn't planning to wear one of those togas that only covers one breast."

Liz laughs. "Nothing that blatant, but I agree with her. You will have a hard time taking your eyes off of us."

Dryly the reaper replies, "Only because I'm going to be trying to make sure you don't get the three of us arrested-"

"That only happened once!" Patti interjects. "And it was because _you_ had been drinking." Patti says pointing at the Lord of Death.

"Shinigami do not get drunk," he says with finality.

The Thompsons' antics having momentarily distracted Kid from his reunion with Crona he now appears to remember his purpose and returns to welcoming our friend back home. "Crona!" he says burying the young man in a hug, which is challenging since Crona is still seated on the bike.

"I'm so relieved that you're all right," Kid says smiling what is an unusually broad grin for him. "You _are_ ok, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Crona says nodding. "And I'm glad to be back."

"_Excellent_," Kid says. "Good. Good. Looks like we have yet one more thing to celebrate. Though, I do have a lot to update you on. We need your assistance in fortifying the- Wait, who is that?" the reaper asks pointing to the baby wiggling in Maka's arms.

"That's Adeline. She's my sister," Crona says dismounting from the bike. "I've been trying to keep her safe."

Kid walks up to the baby as though transfixed. "Well, aren't _you adorable_? May I?" Kid asks outstretching his arms. Uncertainly, Maka places the baby in his arms and Kid smiles with delight as though it's perfectly normal for a teenage boy to be enamored with babies. In silly baby talk he says, "Aren't you adorable? Yes, you are. What pretty eyes you have. They're just like…" he pauses. "So, I take it Medusa is still out there somewhere."

"Yeah," Crona says.

"She with Avian Flu?" Kid says his eyes still on the baby as he makes a goofy face and the baby giggles back at his antics.

"I'm not sure. I basically just grabbed Adeline and ran. I know Medusa's her mom, but…"

Kid turns to Crona holding the baby. "You did a very brave thing and I'm sure when Adeline gets her words she will thank you, won't you?"

"I never knew he liked babies so much," Maka whispers to me.

"I know, it's bizarre," I mutter back. "But the Thompsons are loving it." Maka murmurs her agreement as we watch the sisters eyeballing Kid with the baby.

"Ok, Adeline, I gotta give you back to your big brother now," Kid says handing the baby to Crona. Then he takes a step back, straightens his spine, clears his throat, and with great formality asks, "Have any of you come in contact with any purple haze, purple fizzy drinks, or purple potions within the last 72 hours?"

"No," Crona says confused by the question.

Maka starts to tell Kid about our altercation on the train and the weapon, but her comment is drown out by Ragnarok sarcastically asking, "You sure _you_ haven't, Kid? You're acting _odd_."

"Good," Kid says not acknowledging the comment by Crona's weapon. "And have any of you infiltrated or been held prisoner by Avian Flu anytime within the last 72 hours?"

"No," Crona answers again while Maka and I murmur no, as well.

"Good, then I won't be forced to quarantine you. Crona, you and your sister can stay at my place. Pick a room and make yourself comfortable. Louis will get you and the baby anything you need. The Thompsons and I have to finish up these war games and then get ready for tonight. I am delighted that you're back in one piece. Good work freeing the little one from Medusa. Tomorrow we can talk about how best to break the news to Stein. I fear Adeline's existence is going to come as more of a shock to him than it did to any of us."

"It came as a shock to me," I offer.

"Good, then you can commiserate with him. He will need a lot of support and we will need to aid him in communicating this truth to Marie. It must be handled delicately. All those baby hormones are making her a tad vulnerable to mood swings right now and we all know how much she despised seeing Medusa and the professor together." Kid seems to be talking more to himself than to the rest of us as he hops on Beezlebub and stretches out his arms expectantly.

"Ladies?" Kid says.

"Hold your horses, Kiddo. I didn't get to give Crona a hug," Liz complains. "I know you're determined to work us to the point of exhaustion today so we'll be too tired to dance tonight, but-"

"I am doing no such thing," Kid counters. "As a matter of fact, I am looking forward to showing off some new moves."

"Better than your chorus line dance moves?" Patti says with a giggle.

"Oh, not you, too," Kid says shaking his head as Liz hugs Crona. "I'm not trying to wear you out. I'm trying to get finished early. I have a few surprises to prepare and I don't want anything to spoil them."

"Surprises?" Patti squeals as Liz mumbles, "You giving us a subscription to _Science Monthly_ again?"

Kid ignores Liz's sarcastic remark and taps his foot. "Ladies, I must insist that we-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we heard ya the first time, ya blowhard," Liz says as she flips up into the air and transforms. Kid catches her easily.

"I won't go so fast this time," he assures her.

"Fast is fine. It's the sudden stopping. You know what G-Force you're putting on Patti and I?"

"Ooohh," I moan. "Don't be talkin' like that in front of us. That's disgusting!"

Patti giggles and blushes and flips up into Kid's other hand. "I'm so excited!"

"You need to focus," Kid grumps to the gun in his left hand.

"I'm trying. I'm just so excited. We're gonna _do it_!"

"Would you _please_ stop saying that to everyone? It's embarrassing," Kid says.

"Embarrassing, but not untrue?" Patti squeals and the gun trembles with elation.

Kid sighs. "Could you just behave yourself?"

"Nope, not with you around. You're like a tree to a giraffe."

"I'm one of many things you want to eat?" he says poking fun at her analogy.

"No, Kid, you attract me like a magnet-"

"Crona, I'll see you at the house later," Kid says waving goodbye to us as Patti launches into a long explanation of her attraction to the current Lord Death.

We watch the reaper sail back to the assembled regiments of students.

"Seriously?" Crona asks. "Am I gonna be the only virgin left?"

"You and me," Ragnarok says in a gruff voice and I see Crona sigh a little.

"I'm not sure how to handle this," Crona says as he turns back to Serif just in time to see her fall over. He hadn't gotten the kickstand down all the way.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Soul!" Crona says starting to sob as he runs over to the bike. He picks it up and starts brushing and blowing the dust off of it frantically. "Oh, Shinigami, I'm so sorry."

I walk over and see that she has a small ding and several scratches to her beautiful red paint job, but for some reason seeing it doesn't make me angry. I don't feel sick or sad that she's less than perfect now. I run my hand over the marred spots as Crona rambles, "I'll pay for it to get buffed out. I can't do it right now because I spent the last of my cash on formula, but-"

I grin at Crona and throw my arm around his shoulder and tip my head back laughing in a big ole belly laugh. Serif survived the fight on the bullet train and a cross country trip during war time without a blemish but within view of home she gets her first dings. Somehow it seems fitting; you don't call Death City home without some scars.

"It's ok. Now she's just like you and me. She's got scars, but she gets right back up and keeps on working."

Crona, Maka, and Ragnarok all look at me as though I've grown a third eyeball, but I just grin. "No worries, my friend, no worries. Now, let's get back fast so we can get the pool going on if Kid and Patti are really gonna have sex tonight."


	94. Chapter 94: The Reaper's Secret

_**Chapter 94: The Reaper's Secret; Soul's Huge Talent?**_

The afternoon is a whirlwind of filing reports and post-mission stuff. Crona goes to set up a nursery for Adeline while Maka and I go and check on our wards in the basement and a few of them actually seem like they might be pleased to see us… maybe. Afterward, Maka tells me that the Thompsons asked her to come hang out for a while. I walk her to Kid's and then decide that rather than heading home I'd like to go to the academy's music room which takes me around the backside of the iconic mansion. As I pass the refuse bins I see clouds of smoke coming from them and get concerned that something in the garbage can is on fire, I jog over and discover that the smoke isn't actually coming from inside the cans but instead next to it where Lord Kid is leaning against the wall puffing on a cigarette while Black*Star looks on. Judging from the number of cigarette butts at the reaper's feet I'd say he's been at it for a while.

Kid says nothing, but tips his head to acknowledge me as he takes a long drag of nicotine.

"I thought you were heading home," I say to Black*Star.

The ninja nods. "I was, but the girls wanted Tsubaki to do their hair or something so I'm hanging out for a while. Besides, I thought Kid could use some moral support. It's his fifth one in a row," Black*Star tells me pointing at the cigarette dangling from the reaper's lips. "And I don't think he's done yet."

I shake my head. "Dude, you know you're supposed to smoke _after_ sex, right?"

Kid doesn't laugh but instead gives me a rather malevolent look. "It's not about that," he says a puff of smoke coming from his mouth with each word. I say nothing, but stand there with my hands in my pockets as Black*Star amuses himself by kicking and punching random pieces of trash.

After what seems like forever, but is in actuality a cigarette or two, I decide Black*Star and I better get Kid talking if we don't want him to finish off the entire pack.

"Kid, did something happen?" I ask him. "Avian Flu didn't take Cuba did they?"

He smirks. "No, it's the _girls, of course_." Then his yellow eyes take me and Black*Star in sharply as though sizing up a challenging enemy. "But, it's _not_ about _sex_. I'm not especially worried about that. I'm terrified because after today everything could be different and a great deal rides on us being a very functional threesome." Black*Star chortles at the word and Kid glares at him. "They're my friends and my partners."

"It'll be ok. Whatever happens," I assure him. "Look at me and Maka-"

"Things are more complicated for me. For all three of us."

Black*Star nods. "I can think of an easy way to uncomplicate things. _Pick Patti_. Forget about Liz. She's bitchy and-"

"Ignoring the feelings I have for Liz would not make the situation less complicated. Instead it would create dishonesty and regret. The three of us must be honest with one another if we are to continue as partners."

Black*Star's eyes meet mine. He and I heard one little word in there with huge implications. "'If'?" I say and Kid looks at me.

"You're not giving them some kind of ultimatum are you? Cause that shit never goes well. Remember what happened with Florence and Peter?"

"Florence and Peter were horrible together," Kid says. "The Thompsons and I are great together, but things are going to change whether we want them to or not. I'm a Shinigami."

I'm not really following what any of this has to do with him being a Shinigami, but I don't say anything. It's probably best not to argue with him.

"Dude, we understand," Black*Star says. "You know we do."

Kid nods and suddenly tears come from his eyes. "What do I do if Liz turns me down? I could lie and say it's not a big deal, but when we resonate she'll know. My pain is gonna be there. This could destroy the three of us."

Black*Star shakes his head. "Bro, let's look at the big picture here. We all know Patti wants your bod more than anything else on the planet. Doing the deed with her is in no way going to alienate her. In fact it may save her from getting jailed for rape."

Kid shakes his head, but the tears have temporarily stopped.

"He's right. Patti is no problem. She's been head over heels for you for a long time."

"Patti's love is never in question," Kid says flicking ashes off his cigarette. "But Patti insists Liz also has those kinds of feelings for me."

"Liz is harder to read," I admit. "But she wanted to have sex with you before-"

Kid growls and reaches for my throat. "It isn't about sex! Are you two such numbskulls you can't see that? I love them both and Liz is lying about her feelings." He has me by the collar of my t-shirt despite Black*Star jumping him from the back in an attempt to wrestle him off me.

"Let him go!" the ninja shouts. "You bastard, your reaper side is showing! You're better than this. Don't make Black*Star kick your ass."

Kid freezes and lowers his head in shame. "I'm sorry guys, I don't know what's wrong with me." He releases me and walks over and grabs his pack of cigarettes and pulls another out.

"I'm sure these aren't helping," I say yanking the cigarette from his lips and throwing it in the garbage can before snagging the pack from his hand and disposing of it. His pupils follow its descent into the garbage with a sigh.

"Shit! I'm a mess," he says with a half-hearted laugh.

"It's cause the Thompsons aren't here to kick you into shape," Black*Star says with a laugh. "You're totally right, dude. You screw this up and you're done for."

I punch the idiot ninja in the shoulder. What is he thinking?! How's that supposed to help?

But then Kid laughs. "I love you guys. I'm sorry. I guess I'm being a bit melodramatic."

"Ah, we're used to it," the ninja says with a grin. "It keeps things interesting."

"It's just that I have a great deal riding on this evening… the _least_ of which is getting laid, believe me."

"Yeah," Black*Star says, "but the girls love you. You know that. They're not gonna abandon you. And Liz has hinted that she wouldn't mind being with you so it's not like you're pulling this idea out of your ass. You should have just done it with her when she asked. Then you wouldn't be in this mess right now. Why didn't you worry then about it hurting your partnership, ya dumbass?"

"It's more than a tad ironic to be scolded for not making a move by you of all people, Black*Star," Kid says.

"I got a plan," Black*Star says confidently smacking his fist into his palm.

Kid and I crack up. "Ya planning on beating Tsubaki up or dating her?" I ask.

"Well, if you're so smart why'd you not sleep with Liz? You've never really told us why you turned her down and she's hot."

Kid blushes a little. "The Thompsons are like works of art."

"You say everything like you walked out of a romance novel," I say. "Not that I would know or anything," I hurry to add.

Exasperated the reaper admits defeat. "Fine, you want me to talk all carnal? Fine! The day I met you was the first time I felt any attraction to the girls. The pharaoh had strung them up with bandages and I walked in and I could see… well, more than I should see and they were so happy to see me and so very hot. I only saw them that way for a moment before I averted my eyes-"

"I suspect it was more than a moment," I snicker.

"No, really a moment was all it took…" he says. "I've wanted them ever since."

"How'd I know his fetish would be S and M?" I ask, nudging Black*Star.

"Cause he's a reaper. I think they're all into that," Black*Star whispers back.

Kid sighs. "I do not have a tying up fetish! They are just so rarely helpless that I felt things seeing them like that, that and I- Oh, God, maybe I do."

Black*Star and I laugh. "Those girls better watch out tonight," the ninja proclaims. "You get too close to a garden hose or a length of rope or-"

"An extension cord," I add.

"Oh, please," Kid moans. "I'll be doing nothing of the sort. I'm just going to tell them how I feel about both of them and then if the mood is right-"

"You're gonna bone the hell outta both of 'em," Black*Star says grinning.

"The three of us will make love," Kid says sounding determined. I smirk. Kid says 'making love'. It's so cute, no wonder every girl wants in his pants.

"Excuse me, is there a _problem_, Soul Eater?" the reaper asks me, irritated.

"No problem," I say grinning at him. "Just wondering if you _have_ balls and a dick."

"I was raised differently," Kid says with a frown. "As a Shinigami I was taught that a way to show respect to a lady is to-"

"Deny every male impulse you have?" I ask.

"No," Kid says. "To not be so _goddamned vulgar sounding_ all the time."

"But you want the exact same things we do," Black*Star says. "Guys like you give me and Soul a bad rap because you think all the same things we do, but you manage to pretty it up somehow so you get labeled a 'gentleman'."

"Kid's no gentleman," I tell the ninja. "Twenty bucks says he's kinkier than the two of us put together."

"I am not," Kid says shaking his head.

"Well, we know you've got a thing for threesomes-" I say.

He opens his mouth to interrupt, but we keep talking.

"And tying up," Black*Star says.

"I am not at all kinky," Kid says. "I just want to be with someone in the normal-"

"Liz on all fours with a collar and cat ears," I say and I see his eyes dilate and he trembles a little.

"Thought so," I say. "Add leashes, collars, and cat ears to the list."

"I think he's had too many old, dumpy maids to be turned on by that," Black*Star says. "High heels, maybe?"

"Naw, Patti never wears those and Liz is already taller than he is," I access.

"How is determining my 'turn ons' helping me?" Kid asks annoyed.

"Oh, it's not helping you. It's just keeping us entertained while you wallow," I tell him.

"I've been blessed with such supportive friends," Kid says sarcastically.

"Anytime, buddy, anytime," I say patting him on the leg. "All part of getting you ready for your big night. Now, let's talk positions. Black*Star has no experience so-"

"You want me to slam you down, smart ass?" threatens Black*Star. "You've got no experience with pleasing two girls at once either and I've watched more porn than you."

Kid tips his head back and laughs and laughs. "I guess I am overthinking things a little… and my other turn on, if you must know, is cowboy boots."

"Damn it," Black*Star shouts. "I knew that! You always act like a moron around Tex when she's in town."

"She's intimidating," Kid says in his defense.

"So, which gets you off more? Patti on your lap or Liz on her knees?"

"Oh, my god I am not having this conversation."

"It's obviously a tie," Black*Star says and Kid groans.

"Could we talk about something else, perhaps?" the reaper asks.

"Nope, we gotta hear and approve the plan for the whole evening."

"Talking about tonight is only going to make me more nervous."

"It's not like you're taking on Blitzengard," I remind him.

"I'd be _less_ nervous if I were about to take on Harold, but the Thompsons… the things I need to tell them. Liz…" He shudders.

"You figured out who gave you that BJ?"

"Not for sure, no," he says stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You gotten any more?" I ask grinning.

"No," he says frowning. "And I don't know what that means."

"Ah, I wouldn't fret. They're probably just trying to make you good and horny for tonight." I glance at my watch. "In another couple hours Patti is going to be all over you."

Kid trembles a little.

"Is there some reason you're nervous?"

"Besides all the normal ones?" he replies.

"Yeah, is there something we don't know?"

"Yeah," Black*Star asks. "What's the big deal?"

"Some very important things, even Liz and Patti don't know," he says casting his eyes downward. He is silent as though debating whether or not to confide in us. "You know how I didn't have a mother?" he asks slowly.

"Yeah," I say puzzled by where this conversation is going. I thought we were talking about screwing and stuff like that.

"I wasn't my father's first attempt at a child," he continues. "He was successful twice."

"Man, everybody's finding siblings this week," I mumble before noticing that the expression on Kid's face is grave even for a reaper. Obviously, what he's about to tell us is going to be something disturbing. "So… what happened to your father's other kid?"

Kid inhales deeply before saying, "We killed him in the underground chamber beneath the academy."

I blink a few times. I hate it when Kid goes all poetic on me. It makes me get lost, but we've only been down in the underground chamber once and that was when we killed the kishin. My eyes lock on his.

Black*Star beats me to the question. "The kishin was your brother?"

Kid nods. "And the girls have to know. I have to tell them that if they remain my partners-"

"That you might eat them?" the ninja asks confused.

That breaks through Kid's worry and he cracks a little smile. "I don't think I would _eat_ the Thompsons, but-"

"You'd like to eat them out," I say waggling my eyebrows.

Kid shakes his head the tiny smile still upon his lips. "How is it that I can open up to you about my greatest fears and you somehow manage to bring the topic back to oral sex?"

I shrug. "What can I say? It's a gift. I'm cool like that." I pause. "But you can't seriously think that you would ever harm Patti or Liz."

"I may lose control. The power given to a Shinigami can change a person, few can handle it."

"Your father did," I remind him. "And I know you don't want to hear this, Kid, but your father isn't the brilliant superhero you make him out to be. I think he's actually relatively normal… _eccentric_, but normal."

Kid groans. "My father is the last person I want to think about right now. He is going to kill me if I'm with both Patti and Liz."

"Naw, man. He's gonna say his son is one wild mo-fo," Black*Star says. "He's probably gonna go to you for dating advice."

"Hardly," Kid says scoffing. "He let me choose them as my partners on one condition, that I was under _no_ circumstances to have a romantic or sexual relationship with either of them."

"You aren't. You'll be having it with _both_ of them," I say smiling broadly at my own cleverness.

"I don't think my father will honor that loophole. He's going to be pissed."

"Pissed enough to make you call off your plans for tonight?" Black*Star asks.

"No," Kid says with determination in his eye. "I didn't know what I was agreeing to at the time; they were just guns to me then. I had no idea what amazing partners they would be and how I would grow to feel lost without them. I've lost my father. I can't bear to lose Patti and Liz, too."

"You're not going to," Black*Star tells him. "Even if Liz isn't into it she's not about to run off and you _know_ Patti wants you."

"But, our partnership is critical to the war effort. The Twin Pistols must remain Lord Death's weapons. Therefore, I've made up my mind; if I can't be with both of them, I won't be with either of them. That's how it has to be." Black*Star and I stand there stunned. It never even occurred to me he might do something so extreme. This means it is all going to come down to Liz and her behavior tends to be the most erratic of any of us. "In truth, I'm scared because I need the girls far more than they need me." Kid looks very sad. "On the bright side, by tomorrow we'll know where we stand… and I will find that refreshing."

"So, really I see one of two scenarios playing out. Either Liz turns me down, which will break Patti's heart. If that happens Patti will forgive me, but things will be bad between the two of them, because Patti will insist Liz is in denial. Then again if she returns my advances the two of them may think renting a hotel suite was too presumptuous of me and when we get my father back, he and I will be forced to have a very, long, tortuous conversation which is most likely going to focus on why keeping my fly up was so god damned hard and how I'll be lucky if I'm not called before the Grand Council of Shinigami for misconduct."

I laugh. "Wow, when you say things are more complicated for you I always think you're just saying that but-"

"Then there's the fact that I will most likely not age at the same rate as the girls which could create some awkwardness down the road. People already accuse me of being a cradle robber, which is totally uncalled for. Patti is my age and Liz is older than me, for Shinigami's sake. It's a free country! If Patti wants to play with toys and do her homework in crayons that's fine. She's a productive member of society and a valuable DWMA team member. Plus, Shinigami are supposed to refrain from having romantic entanglements with humans, and-"

Black*Star cuts off what sounds like it could be an endless list of factors that make Kid being with the Thompsons more challenging than a typical relationship. "I think the girls will be happy you got a room. Weirdos are always showing up at the mansion. The last thing you want is Blitzengard crashing your date."

"If Blitzengard shows up he will be eating Liz and Patti's bullets," Kid says darkly. "I will see that we claim his soul if it's the last thing we do."

"Getting back to this hotel room where'd you get it?" I ask curiously.

"At the _Silkweed_," Kid says. "I reserved that penthouse suite on the top floor and the room downstairs."

"In case Liz doesn't want to participate?"

Kid grins conspiratorially as he shakes his head. "If she does. She's a screamer."

Timidly, Kid puts out his fist and with gusto Black*Star bumps it with his.

"You're sure you're willing to disobey your father?" I ask surprised.

"Oh, yeah," Kid says. "Father owes me. How long's he been on vacation now?" Kid shakes his head. "I wasn't supposed to have to deal with all this crap for another few years. When he comes back and gives me a hard time I'm just gonna tell him that it was too much to fight my feelings at war time. Then maybe next time he'll think twice about letting himself get kidnapped. Really, sometimes he is so unprofessional." The reaper looks at his watch. "Shit, I need to get dressed."

"And use mouthwash," Black*Star says. "Lots of mouthwash. Those are some stinky cigarettes. What kind were they?"

"_Twisted Witch's Root_."

"Shit!" I exclaim. "You smoked like half a pack!"

He shrugs. "I'm a Shinigami. I'm impervious to toxins."

"I'm on guard duty tonight near the _Silkweed_, so send me and Tsubaki a signal tonight to let us know it's going ok," Black*Star says.

Kid contemplates that a bit. "Sure, but I'm not wearing my communicator tonight. I need to focus on my partners. I'll send a shot up. One bullet I got turned down, two shots…"

We nod.

"Dude, it's gonna be ok," Black*Star says. "No girl can resist you."

"If only that were true. There is an exception to every rule and Liz is an anomaly to me in many ways."

The Shinigami begins to walk away and then turns back to us. "Thanks, guys."

Black*Star and I watch as the reaper strolls toward the house.

"I thought it was only sex," admits my friend. "But if he's willing to upset his Dad…"

"It's definitely love."

"Poor guy, that sucks," Black*Star says and I nod, because, of course, Black*Star and I know all about how much love hurts.


	95. Chapter 95: An Unforgetable Night

_**Chapter 95: An Unforgettable Night; Stalkers, Bodyguards, or Busy Bodies?**_

After that little heart to heart with Kid I lose focus and can't remember what it was I meant to do. Is this overwhelming sensation of being entangled what it feels like to be a reaper?

I head home deciding what I really want to do is to get some sleep. About a block away from Kid's, I see something that looks like the flourish of a cape disappear into an alleyway ahead. It could be nothing, but something in my gut tells me that it was moving at such a fast clip because whoever it was didn't want to be seen by me. Remembering the cloaked figure Maka and I saw the day of the attack on Mr. Longneck (and the more troubling break into of the Death family estate), I don't hesitate. I take off after the person; turning into the alley, my suspicion is confirmed when I see the person running full speed in the direction opposite of me. There's nobody else around and no other reason to be sprinting than to get away from me. It's hard for me to judge the person's height to determine for sure if this is the exact same person that Maka and I pursued previously, but I know one thing for sure whoever this is does not want me to catch them. Cursing my meister for assisting the Thompsons with girly preparations for their big night, I run as fast as I can which is not as fast as the assailant.

The other person seems more agile and with ease hops up on top of a dumpster, using a pipe to pull himself onto the roof. I groan. I'm good. I passed all the necessary fitness exams the DWMA has thrown at me, but there's more than one reason I haven't pursued a career in b-ball. I'm not that good. I curse and spin around in the alley heading back to the front of the building and entering the business, _Sally's Hair Boutique_. I startle a number of elderly ladies as I storm in. One of the women who has her head in one of those big hair dryer things let's out a shout as though we're under attack. She may think we are.

"D…W…M…A… business," I pant. "Need… go… roof…"

An employee of the salon, perhaps Sally herself, points to the back of the shop and what appears to be a hallway that leads to other rooms presumably offices and a bathroom or something like that.

"Second door on the left," she shouts after me. "Be careful."

The building is three stories tall and the stairs are of an abnormal steepness that makes it virtually impossible to run up them without tripping. I'm sure I've lost him but I still don't allow myself the luxury of stopping to catch my breath. This person may be here to harm or spy on the citizens of DC or DWMA leaders and I will do everything in my power to stop them, though my power is sadly lowered by the absence of my meister. Damn, Maka and her need for female bonding time!

I burst out onto the roof looking every which way for the dude or dudette in the cape. I don't see them at first and I do a three sixty scanning the rooftops. There he is! The bastard is already three roofs away. I run in his direction and then see that there's a significant gap between this roof top and the nearest one. It's too big a gap for me to feel I can safely jump. This dude is either very athletic or has had some augmentations by the enemy. I make myself feel better by telling myself there's a possibility he _flew_ from this roof to the next.

Disappointed, I tromp back down the stairs.

"You got what you needed?" asks one of the elderly women. Her hair is done up in bits of aluminum that are securing globs of goo to it. It reminds me of a demon Maka and me fought a few years back that had these shiny things all over it. It was a pain in the ass because the glare from the mirror-like things blinded both of us in the battle.

"Naw, I lost the bast- person," I say correctly my speech so as to be 'appropriate' for a woman of her age.

"Oh, that's a shame," says another who's in the midst of having her hair trimmed. Something about the lady's expression reminds me of my grandmother. I'm trying to put my finger on what the resemblance stems from when she continues, "In my demon hunting days, there was this one witch my partner and I-"

"You're with the DWMA?" I ask as any commonality between her and my grandmother is thrown completely out the window.

"Oh, yes. A long time ago. I'm a meister. You're a weapon aren't you?"

"How'd you know?" I ask genuinely curious.

"You run slow," she says with a smile that isn't unkind. "Wait. Are you that boy who's partnered with Maka Albarn?"

I nod.

"Oh!" She is obviously delighted by this. "She's _good_. I've been following her achievements. Has she ever thought about switching to a weapon with ranged capability? I'm partial to crossbows myself, but the tradition-"

"She's not switching weapons. We work exclusively with one another," I growl, once again unable to maintain a poker face at the suggestion of my meister branching out to work with other weapons.

"Oh, I see how it is," the old lady comments with a wink. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

"I need to go find my meister," I say gruffly as I head for the door.

"Your meister enjoys reading doesn't she?" the elderly meister calls after me. "Get permission to go in the restricted section. Check out some of the books around… 923.58. They could be most helpful." I nod my head paying no attention. She repeats the numbers, but I'm not listening. Damn bookworms are all alike; they can't comprehend that someone might not be interested in some dusty old books.

At home, I find my bibliophile (that's what Maka has informed me on an number of occasions is the polite term for book nerds) sitting at the kitchen table totally absorbed in her reading while whatever it is she is cooking on the stove boils over. She glances up from her book and smiles happily at me before noticing the odor and haze caused by the burnt food.

"Dammit!" she says springing from her chair and pulling the lid off the overflowing pot. She turns down the heat on the stove and grabs a wooden spoon and begins to stir whatever hot mess she was making.

"Forget about dinner," I tell her giving her license to halt her vain attempt at salvaging our dinner. "I saw that person in the cloak again."

She lets go of the spoon and turns. "Where?"

"By the mansion on my way home. I lost him when he went roof hopping."

"Did he have a weapon?" she asks.

"I didn't really get a look at him. He's a fast mother fucker," I pause. "What do you think we should do, Meister?"

Maka sighs. "We'll have to report it to Kid."

I knew that's what she would say. "He doesn't need this right now," I tell her, slowly easing into the conversation I really want to be having with her. "Kid's kinda freakin' out right now."

"There's no reason for Kid to be like that. It's just Liz and Patti," Maka says dismissively.

"And you _never once_ freaked out about your feelings for me." I'm challenging her but doing it in a very gentle way, with my meister you've gotta go slow and be delicate about certain subjects. You do it right and she'll come to your way of thinking without so much as one single braining to the head with a book.

She scrunches her face. "That's different. Kid's charming."

Whatever it was that my meister meant by that comment is lost on me and I scowl at her. "Excuse me?" I grumble. It isn't fair to compare me to a Shinigami.

"I didn't mean it like that, Mr. Sensitive," she teases reaching to give me a hug. "I just mean the girls adore Kid and there is no way they will hold anything against him, even if he were to make a total wreck of this evening."

I put my arms around her and her head snuggles into my shoulder. "Agreed, but both the girls and Kid are very committed to the DWMA… and it would be awful if…" I look at her with the puppy dog eyes. After all, this is for Kid and I'm not gonna let a stupid birdman-spy-person stand between Kid and his chance to officially win the girls hearts… and get laid. If there has ever been someone who needs to get laid it's him.

Maka pulls back from me a little to look into my eyes. "You think that if this gets reported to Kid he'll cancel the date?" she asks, but she and I both already know the answer.

"Their romantic evening will become just another night of slavery to his position as Lord Death," I say dramatically. "They deserve a night when they aren't world leaders, just a couple… er, three people having a night on the town."

She nods. "But, not reporting this could be dangerous. We'd be putting the entire population of DC at risk." She pauses, deep in thought and then smiles as she looks up at me. "Unless we take care of it before Kid finds out."

I'm pleased with myself. This was relatively easy considering it involves Maka breaking DWMA regulations. She's usually quite the stickler for them, but like me she has a soft spot for helping out our friends who have been sucked into roles with far more responsibility than any teenager should have.

"What do you have in mind, Meister?" I ask her grinning.

She tells me that we can try to locate the caped marauder and that if we can't we'll just do our best to ensure that whatever may occur is dealt with swiftly and efficiently by us rather than involving Kid.

"What if Kid or the girls are the target? The last time we saw this caped guy was when they broke into the mansion," I remind her.

"That's true," she says tapping her chin in a way that makes me think of Kid. "We follow Kid on his date and make sure no one gets close enough to him and the Thompsons to cause them a problem."

"You think we can manage to do that?" I ask.

"Sure, if we get a little help," and her confidence bolsters my own and before long we are seated on the roof of the southeast corner of a building across from the Death family mansion on a stakeout complete with binoculars, night vision goggles, and walkie-talkies. Maka and I have recruited Brian, Crona, Black*Star, and Tsubaki to help us out on our little project, with Brian and Crona in charge of ensuring the security of Kid's house and the grounds of the estate while Maka and I will tail the three partners. Black*Star and Tsubaki are already assigned to guard duty across the street from the club Kid is planning to take the Thompsons to, so it was a no brainer to have them keep an eye on the popular night spot. We asked Kirikou to help us as well, but he told us that he already had plans that he couldn't get out of.

"There will be no poisoned food, no egg bombs planted on their transport or falling from the sky, understood? Nothing but old fashioned date fun," she told our co-conspirators as she explained to them that since she wasn't able to locate the caped figure with Soul Perception our job would be to prevent any kind of 'incident' from occurring that might directly or indirectly screw up Twin Pistols Night.

Maka looks at me her jaw set with determination, "We won't let anyone ruin this for our friends."

I nod. I'm proud of Maka. I know she isn't really hip to this one dude with two chicks concept, but she seems to have gotten over it. And I don't think I have to worry that she thinks since I'm ok with it that I'm harboring some latent desire to have a second girlfriend. Thank, Shinigami, for that.

"The coast is clear inside the house," Brian reports over the two-way radio. "Sid stopped by and met with Kid for a bit. I think he's in the Death Room tonight in Kid's place. Then Kid took off. Over."

"Where'd Kid go?" I ask. "Oh, yeah… 'over'."

"And you're an upper classman? Tsk, tsk. We newbs are wizs with walkie-talkies protocol! Me and this chick were-"

Maka yanks the walkie-talkie from my hand. "Now's not the time, Bri. Where is Kid? Over."

"Dunno. He left a while ago. I don't think he's coming back until he picks the girls up. He probably wants it to feel like a real date. Over."

"So, you don't know where he's at? Over?" I'm sure that Maka's agitation is readable even over the static of the radio.

"What are ya freakin' out about? You have Soul Perception. Over," replies Brian dismissively.

"He's blocking it," she says. "Over."

"Gee, I wonder why," Brian says sarcastically. "Let the man have a little dignity. Maybe he went somewhere private to release a little tension before-"

"Gross!" Maka shouts into the walkie-talkie.

"I'm just saying. He's about to go on a date with two of the hottest chicks in DC. The guys gotta be about ready to pop. I know I would be. Over."

"Thank you for that in-depth analysis of the situation, Brian," Maka growls into the radio. "The issue is that it's more than a little challenging to protect someone who's hiding. Over."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you promoted yourself to bodyguard. Over." Brian is in rare form tonight. Usually, he seems respectfully afraid of my meister, but tonight he's showing no fear, probably because it's easy to be bold from a distance.

Maka sighs. "No, we couldn't tell him because he's super private about his feelings for Patti and Liz and you know how Kid is. It's duty before anything else. If he gets even a _hint_ that there is an Avian Flu operative in DC he'll call everything off and have him and the Thompsons bird hunting all night. Over."

"I guess you're right about that, but you don't need to worry about him right now. It's _Kid_," Brian answers calmly. "If he gets jumped he can take out a couple Flu easy, even without his guns. I've seen him. He doesn't sleep. He goes to bed with the girls and then gets up and trains on hand to hand or sits up on the rooftop at night. The dude's a machine. Over."

"You better be right. If he's in danger and we didn't tell him that-" I pull the communicator from my meister's hand.

"Ignore my meister. She's worst-case scenarioing. It's what she does. Over."

"No worries. Oh, here come the girls." He whistles. "Da-yam! You should see what the girls are wearing. They are going for reaper blood tonight, I swear. Gotta go gawk. Over."

"Don't get distracted," I order. "Over."

"Don't worry. I only look, never touch. My shoulders like being in their sockets, thank you very much. Over."

Maka rolls her eyes and asks me, "Is this what going through puberty was like for you?"

I think about this for a bit before answering. "Maybe… on the inside. I hold a lot inside."

"I guess," she says with a shrug.

We hear nothing else over the communicator for several minutes and then Brian checks in again. "The girls are expecting Kid any time now. I'm heading out front to monitor his arrival. Over." We watch the front door of the Death Family mansion and see Brian exit. He finds a place in between some shrubs where he can step back between the bushes and be almost completely hidden from view.

"Good camouflaging," I tell him. "Over."

"Thanks. Mina and Sid have been giving me pointers. From here I should get a great view. Over."

"Just remember you're looking for the enemy not the Thompsons tits," I remind him not remembering to sign off properly.

"But, they're so big," he whines. "Over."

"Safety first, Brian," I tell him using what I consider to be my strong, authoritative voice. "Over."

"Yeah, ok," he concedes with a deep sigh. "Over."

From our vantage point, we can see all the streets that feed into Death Drive, the short pathway that leads to the front door of the estate. Everything seems peaceful and normal at this point, but that almost makes me more nervous. I have to remind myself that Crona is patrolling the inside of the mansion making sure it remains free of Avian Flu and that the school is being protected in its normal fashion by a shit-ton of underclassmen. What is our enemy up to right now?

A foreign sound meets our ears and Maka and I turn to see what the strange whirring, clopping noise could be. Something is heading past the school toward the mansion. It looks to be about the size of a booth at the market place. Maka pulls out the binoculars to take a closer look.

"It looks like some kind of mechanized carriage with robotic legs in the front and a set of wheels behind. Wow, that thing is something. It's got a gold gargoyle on each corner. Windows are tinted… I'd bet money Kid's in it," Maka says after observing it for a bit.

"He does like to make an entrance," I say watching the bizarre contraption make its way down the street before halting in front of the Death mansion.

Our walkie rings in.

"Soul, is that weird thing coming your way?" Black*Star asks. "Is it Avian? Cause if this god needs to intervene, me an' Tsubaki'll-"

"Negatory. Maka thinks Kid's probably riding in it to come pick up the girls. She thinks it's some kind of horseless buggy. Over."

"Oh, that makes sense," he mumbles and we hear Tsubaki in the background saying something about how she had told Black*Star the exact same thing and why didn't he ever listen to his own partner. Evidently, someone's thumb is still holding down the communication button.

"Aww, Tsubie don't be mad at me. I just don't want anything to mess up Kid's big night," he says.

"It's a big night for the girls, too. Do they not count?" Tsubaki asks.

"No, but you know Liz. She's had sex before, Kid hasn't. It's a big rite of passage. In my village they'd be painting him up with a bunch of war paint and stuff-"

"Ugh! Kid's told you this isn't about sex! Why is that all you think about, Star? What do I have to do to get through to you that sex is a lot less important than other stuff in a relationship?"

"Tsubaki, what's wrong?" Her meister asks. "Are you crying?!"

I stand there awkwardly until the communication cuts out.

"Uh, guys. Could you make sure to not hold down the button after you're done talking? Over."

"Oh, sorry, man. Over." The line cuts out just as Kid appears in the door of the carriage and steps down. I report to Black*Star that Maka's suspicion was correct as my meister proceeds to look through the binoculars at Kid and the coach.

"Man, he's lookin' good. The girls are gonna be all over him," she coos as though she's using opera glasses to review the costuming at a performance. "That's one thing about Kid, he knows how to dress."

I frown. "If there were only two colors in the world. _Black and white_. The dude needs to add some color."

"Funny thing for you to say, Albinoboy," she teases. "Here take a look for yourself."

Through the binoculars I see that Kid is dressed in his traditional black and white, I called it of course, but his coat is short and kinda shiny… maybe leather. His dress shirt is white, impeccably clean and for once it looks like he's let the top button remain undone. A chain extends from his belt to his pocket and he grasps it pulling out a shiny pocket watch which he uses to check the time before turning around and reaching into the coach. From there he produces two long stem white roses. After nervously twiddling them between his fingers for a bit, he strides toward the door as though on a mission.

"Oh, my God. This is it!" Maka squeals like a fangirl as she sees him approaching the house.

"Who are you and _what_ have you done with my meister?" I tease her as I watch the action through the binoculars. He's ringing the doorbell. Louis answers and Kid stands in the threshold of his own house for a little bit before Liz and Patti emerge. Patti clobbers Kid with a hug as soon as she sees him. The reaper manages to narrowly save the roses from being crushed by clutching them above his head as the exuberant Thompson envelopes him in her embrace. Liz stands back waiting patiently until Patti releases Kid, and then the three stand there for a moment before Kid takes each of them by the hand and with a little bow presents them each with one of the roses. Patti appears to be just as bouncy and bubbly as usual, but from this far away it's impossible to hazard a guess as to what Liz is feeling. Kid then ushers them toward the thing they'll be riding in, and, always the gentleman, assists each of them in boarding.

"Did he kiss them? Over." Tsubaki asks.

"I couldn't tell. He might have done that cheesy kiss on the hand thing. Over," I comment back.

"Cheesy?" Maka says grabbing the walkie-talkie to speak to Tsubaki. "Guys, are so stupid," my meister says.

"I know. I'm jealous," Tsubaki whines. "How could any woman resist him?"

"Now, listen here you two," Black*Star grumbles into the walkie. "Kid may seem like more of a gentleman than the other males you know, but remember it's still _Kid_. He's pompous, delusional, OCD, _and_ a _reaper_. He isn't perfect."

"All I'm saying, Black*Star," Tsubaki explains. "Is that if a guy showed up at my door looking all nice like that and held the door open for me and-"

"I hold the door open for you all the time," Black*Star says impatiently.

"Only when my arms are full of groceries or luggage," Tsubaki answers back.

"Yeah, well why else would I hold the door for you? You've got two hands and being pregnant hasn't changed that."

I hang my head as Maka cringes. Why, oh why, must my best friend flap his damn lips all the time? He really needs to just quit talking. He's not a bad guy and when he isn't saying stupid stuff Tsubaki doesn't have cause to want to murder him.

"Guys, we gotta save battery power. Black*Star, take your damn finger off the button when you're arguing. Over."

"Oh, sorry, dude. See you over by the club. Over."

After a few minutes the mechanized carriage begins to move and Maka and I toss our stuff in the backpack and follow Kid and his ladies. Tailing them is stupidly easy as the carriage is yet another example of a horseless buggy that has _miserable_ functionality. It is gorgeous to look at but is _incredibly_ slow making it a piece of cake to follow, and were we to ever actually lose sight of the thing we could still manage to locate it without any trouble due to that distinctive sound it makes which reverberates off the narrow cobblestone streets of DC like the carriage is trying to sing to us.

On Main Street the gargoyle-adorned ride turns to the west and makes its way to the corner of Marx and Hammer where a little bistro is lit up by fancy candelabras of iron and brass. Looks like tonight's dinner will be French… or is it Italian… whatever. Anyway, a person appears in the doorway of the tiny establishment and steps forward waiting for the passengers to exit. Kid emerges from the belly of the iron beast first and then assists each of the girls out. We watch as introductions take place and then Kid holds the door open for the bistro employee and the two Thompsons. Maka and I use a metal fire escape to lower ourselves down to ground level figuring that we will park ourselves diagonally across from the carriage to make sure no one tries to sabotage it while Kid and the others are occupied with their meals.

I'm a couple paces in front of my meister when my body slams into something in the middle of the cobblestone street. "What the…?!" I exclaim as I push myself back. I don't see anything, but I sure as hell ran into something.

"Meister!" I say as I reach out toward whatever it is I ran into and for the first time feel the nature of it. It's smooth and slightly pliable almost like a layer of plastic cling wrap has been stretched across the road. "Maka, there's something here."

Maka has now caught up to me and she reaches forward to examine the strange phenomena. "I think it's an enchantment. I've heard of invisible barriers before," she tells me. "I've never encountered one though."

"But, _they_ got through," I say pointing to the carriage. Maka hums a little as she walks to one edge of the street her arm outstretched feeling for any breaks or weak points in the obstruction. I hop out of the way when she gets to where I'm standing and I watch as she makes it all the way to the other side of the street without pausing.

"I think there's a very good reason Kid and the girls got through. I think Kid put this here," she says.

"Kid isn't a spell caster. Even a Shinigami couldn't do this. This is just weird," I argue.

"True, but Kid knows people and there are quite a few witches who have taken him up on the offer of refugee status. I'm betting he called in a favor."

"Why would Kid go to this much trouble? He's not that scared of Blitzengard's lackies is he?"

"No, I think he just wants privacy. Think about the media frenzy that would occur if word got out that he's dating _both_ of _his weapons_. It's more than a little unorthodox. It could even make some people switch sides."

"Anyone who would support Avian Flu just because Kid wants to be with both of his partners is a complete idiot and should have a reaper claim their soul immediately."

Maka shrugs. "People are dumb, Soul. You know that, and the world is far more provincial outside of Death City."

"Remind me never to move out of DC," I say, one hundred percent serious. "I don't think I could deal with living with the idiots that exist in this world outside the DWMA."

Maka laughs. "Well, we have our share of idiots, too. Just look at- Soul!" My meister's voice suddenly becomes an unmistakable battle cry. I transform.

"There, in the shadows. I saw something. I think it was watching us," she says as she runs.

I can't make it out in the dimly lit alley, but I trust my meisters senses. Maka ditches our backpack as we dart down the road following a shadow through the labyrinth that is DC's streets. I notice that the person we're following knows their way around town well; they don't make the mistake of heading down any dead end streets, which is a common problem for those who are new to navigating the streets of DC.

"Keep going you're gaining on him," I order. In response, my meister stretches her legs even further, her strides becoming so large that it only takes a few of them to cover the length of a block. We're starting to get in an area that is better lit and I see that the mysterious person is wearing a cape like the person I pursued earlier in the day.

"Dammit," she pants. "If he gets to Poe and… Nightingale we're screwed!"

"You can do it," I tell her, but in reality I'm not sure. My meister is gaining on the person, but there's still a good half a block between us and the person in the cloak which doesn't bode well, and if he can cast any kind of concealment…

A horse-drawn cart comes around the corner laden with people who appear to have started partying early. They are singing drinking songs and happily waving beer steins in the air sloshing ale all over each other. They remind me of the patrons at the dwarven inn in _Warlands,_ and I'd be laughing at them were they not so incredibly reckless that they are about to collide with the person we're pursuing. The driver of the cart, obviously under the influence of some alcoholic spirits himself, sees the potential catastrophe in front of him and yanks the horse back to prevent trampling the person in the cape. This causes the cart to topple sending drunken partiers tumbling into the street along with a couple kegs.

"Wash wheres you're goin', you idiot!" The driver shouts waving a fist at the caped person.

Normally Maka and I would be bound by our duty as DWMA students to stick around and ensure that everyone is ok, but right now we are on a special mission and these drunks have provided the opportunity for us to close the gap between us and the person in the cape. Maka reaches forward and grabs the back of his clothing and swings me around so that my blade is at his gullet. The caped person squirms and writhes, attempting to wiggle his or her way out of my meister's grasp, but we have him and I grin with an almost demonic delight as Maka pulls him backward into an alleyway.

"Quit fighting me! Soul and I aren't… going to… let you get away," grunts my meister as she struggles to hold me at the person's throat at the same time as she yanks one of his arms behind his back.

"Ugh!" The person shouts. "Fine! I give. Camel, camel, camel!" My eyes flip to my meister. Avian Flu knows the DWMA's obscure and rarely used code word? "Please don't kill me. I'm not actually gonna hurt Kid. I swear."

My meister looks just as puzzled as I am. Who exactly is this person we have captured? The voice sounds vaguely familiar. I screw my scythe eye up to take a look at the person's face, but the cloak's hood casts a dark shadow over it obscuring my view. My meister, both of her hands occupied, uses her teeth to yank down the hood and standing before us we see another DWMA student.

"Tran?!" the two of us shout in unison.

The underclassman hushes us. "Not so loud. We can't let them hear."

Maka looks at me from the corner of her eye. Way back when we first encountered the mysterious figure in the cape we had discussed the possibility that it was a student, but now when faced with that reality it occurs to me that we never devised a plan for what to do if it actually turned out to be one.

Jakob's former partner smiles, "Man, am I glad to see you two."

"You shouldn't be," Maka snarls. "Soul and I do not take kindly to turncoats."

The young man lets out a yelp as though only just now remembering that my steel is at his throat. "It isn't what it looks like, I swear. I'm a mole. Here, I was hoping to get this to Kid tonight," he says starting to reach for something.

"Keep your hands where I can see them!" I shout in his face, never moving my blade from his neck.

"Oh, sorry! Uh, Maka, if you reach into my pocket-"

"_I'll _do it," I thunder as I keep my arm in scythe form and the rest of me appears human again. Gingerly, I reach into his pocket and feel something small, hard, and rectangular in shape like a wooden box. I pull it out and hand it to my meister who bends a little in order to get a look at it in the light cast by a nearby street lamp.

"What is it?" I ask, my scythe still at his throat.

"It's a puzzle box. Avian Flu thinks it's a normal match box, but open the secret compartment and you've got the intel I've collected. When they captured me and Jakob they split us up and without a weapon I'm no good, but they went to use these indoctrination concoctions on me they didn't work on me… not at all. Like I was immune or something and I kept fighting and fighting determined to get back to him, but when I heard about," he pauses struggling to get the words out, "when I heard that Jakob was… I knew I had to fight back in a different way so when they tried yet another drug on me I pretended it worked and I've been playing along collecting all that I could from them so I could inform Lord Death of their plans and strategies. I know it's not what we're trained to do, but I couldn't come back here and be with another weapon. Jakob was my best friend… and this way maybe I can make a difference."

"You snuck into the mansion," my meister says angrily.

"Yeah, but I fed them bad intel, I told them that the girls were there. Harold wants to kill them. He wants to crush Kid. He thinks if he destroys Kid he'll bring down the entire organization. A bunch of his plans are in there."

Maka's face does not betray what she's thinking and even I'm not sure if she believes him or not. I'm not sure if I believe him or not. "Your cover's compromised," she says to him unemotionally.

"No, it isn't," Tran insists. "Only you two know, and you'll tell Kid. Keep me listed as MIA. Let me do this. I've got to do something."

"How do we know we can trust you?" she asks.

"Because we slaughtered a _stuffed giraffe_ instead of a Thompson. Because Jakob was my best friend. Because I know you and Soul haven't exactly played by the books when you were separated."

Maka's eyes scan his.

"You seem well informed about what's been going on," she comments.

He nods. "And until returning to DC everything I knew I discovered from Avian Flu, so you can imagine how much they know. You can't underestimate them. Kid needs a man on the inside and they're so damn cocky they think no one can withstand their drugs and their powders and their torture, but I have. I will never betray the DWMA. I swear."

"Whatda think, Meister?" I ask. This is one time I'm relieved that this is my meister's call and not mine. I want to believe him and everything I've ever heard about him would indicate that he was a DWMA loyalist, but so were Black*Star and Justin and Geoffrey and they turned. He could be feeding us one big lie.

My meister is silent as I inch my blade closer to the flesh of the young man's neck.

"I'm telling the truth, Maka. Please, you're a meister, feel my soul and you'll know."

Maka says nothing, but abruptly lets him go and orders me to do the same. The young meister steps back.

"Make sure that gets to Kid," he says tipping his head to indicate the tiny box. "And, please, if something happens to me tell my mom and dad the truth. I don't want them to think I died a traitor. They've always been so proud of me."

"You could come with us," Maka says. "You could be safe. We'd make sure they couldn't hurt you anymore."

Tran shakes his head. "They can't hurt me more than they already have. My place is to thwart them and to exact revenge on Harold and Erika. Don't worry about me, just get that to Kid. I'll escape when I can and if I don't, it doesn't matter. But don't assume if you see someone in a cape that it's me. There's four of us. They call us 'the Shade Dwellers'. Our job is reconnaissance within the city, mayhem, and intimidation… stuff like that and the Shades are good. They know about everything going on. They know about the demon kids under the school and Kid's search for his father. They know where Lava Snake's headquarters is. There isn't much they don't know."

He walks away as Maka and I stand there stunned. After he turns the corner and is out of sight I ask my meister, "You believe him?"

"Honestly, I don't know," she says sounding bewildered. "I really don't know. I guess it all depends on what is in here." She flips over the intricately carved matchbox in her hand.

"How much could be in there?" I ask her and she shrugs. We run back to where we ditched our backpack and find that, thankfully, it is still there. I pull out the walkie-talkie and radio to our friends. "Black*Star, Tsubaki, come in. Over."

"We're here," Tsubaki answers. "Over."

"We've got intel that there are four Avian Flu members planted in town. Keep your eyes open. Over."

The dinner seems to take a long time, maybe it's a multiple course affair, but it's dark by the time Patti, Liz, and Kid exit the restaurant waving goodbye to their server and climbing back into their strange vehicle.

"They're heading your way. Over," I advise Black*Star.

We are assuming that the partners' next stop will be the dance club Kid promised to take the girls to and we're correct, though the transport doesn't stop out front but around the corner. Kid exits the coach and helps each of the Thompsons out. It's gotten dark so it's hard to tell what's going on. As they stand there another figure appears from the shadows.

"Dammit!" I shout sure that someone's about to hurt our friends, but Maka grabs me and holds me back.

"I'm not sure but I think this is part of Kid's plan," she says softly more to herself than to me. Then the four figures step under a streetlamp and we see that Liz is on Kid's arm and Patti is arm in arm with Kirikou and the four are putting on masks. We watch as they walk to the entrance of the club. The velvet rope is moved aside for them and they pass inside without having to join the long line of people waiting to get in.

"When Kirikou said that he had something else he had to do I had imagined it was something more war related," I grumble as Maka and I join the back of the line. "Why didn't he tell us he was already doing something with Kid? And why is Kid having another dude join them all of a sudden?"

Maka hushes me and points to several carts across the street on which sit a couple cameramen and some people jotting things in spiral notebooks.

"You're tellin' me Kid's _again_ doing stuff to throw off the media?"

Maka nods. "I would guess that Kid would prefer to keep their… unconventional relationship out of the news."

"Why is it a big secret that he has the hots for both of them?" I whisper back to her. "Anyone who is around him for any length of time knows that."

"Yes, but not everyone is around him like us. How do you think some little old grandma in Vermont is going to feel about supporting the DWMA if she learns its leader is into ménages a trois?"

"And tying up," I offer.

Her eyebrow arches. "And how would you know that?"

I frown. "Dudes talk. It's not like we practiced or something."

The line is long and moves slowly and as we wait to get in, Maka and I take turns griping to one another about our lack of VIP status. We're lucky to have Kirikou inside keeping an eye on things as it feels like we may be out here all night. While we stand there impatiently, I realize that my meister and I look conspicuous as hell because everyone else is dressed up and have masks on. When we finally get to the front of the line the bouncer eyes us up and down.

"Where's your costume?" He growls the question like an angry dog.

"We're DWMA students," I say. "That _is_ our costume."

"Original," he says, his gravelly voice dripping with sarcasm. "I call that lazy. I shouldn't let you in. This is a special masquerade night. There are posters all over town that say that masks are required. You can't tell me you didn't know the dress code. You just didn't bother to put in any effort. I got no respect for that."

Talk about a power trip! Is this guy seriously not going to let us in because we aren't dressed the part? Fuck! Why is it always the stupid little things that screw me and my meister over?!

"I'm sorry," Maka says. "My boyfriend and I are really broke right now. We lost a couple of the receipts from our last mission, and you know how that goes- right out of our expense fund. We're so broke we weren't even gonna drink tonight, but we wanted to be here with our friends, you know?"

The bouncer frowns. "Well… I _think_ I might have a couple extra masks here somewhere for just such emergencies, but next time put in some effort. Lazy students aren't gonna win the war, ya know." Like this guy knows anything about how to win the war! Give me a break!

The bouncer barks to another employee, a short stocky man, just inside the door of the club, and in a few minutes the short man returns with two Lord Death masks in his hand. The bouncer thrusts the masks at us as though we are entirely unworthy of his assistance and tells us, "No cover for DWMA. Now get outta my sight."

"Thanks," Maka says grabbing the masks and handing me one as she pulls me into the club.

The place is done up in a modern motif of mirrors and silver tinsel with the occasional neon sign thrown in for good measure. The ceiling is full of multicolor lights and the dance floor is _packed_ with bodies contorting and twisting to the beat of the music and the synchronized spinning and flashing lights. The DJ is orchestrating the chaos from the other side of the room on an elevated platform trimmed in blue rope lights.

"Wow, this is what my nightmares are like," I tell Maka. I have to shout to be heard by my meister even though she's right beside me. "Bad music, no room to breathe and people squeezed together like sardines… we're never gonna find them in here. Soul Perception?"

"Nope, he's blocking all three of them. Kirikou, too."

"Of course he is, the bastard. Does he really think that's gonna keep Avian Flu off their back?" I ask.

"I think it's more for the paparazzi out front," she comments taking my hand. "Come on."

She yanks me out on the dance floor and I stand there stunned for a moment as she bobs and sways in time with the music.

"Soul! Dance," she orders and I start stiffly moving. I've never had trouble dancing with her before but I guess we've really only ever danced in the Red Room in my head and that was to a _very_ different style of music.

"I don't think I know how," I tell her honestly.

"You're a musician. Figure it out. You're embarrassing me." I suspect that under that mask she is giving me a dirty look. I groan. I'm not sure how protecting our friends from having their date interrupted and protecting DC from a potential Avian Flu attack has turned into me being scolded for an inability to dance.

Maka sighs. "Soul, do I have to do everything?"

"Do you?" I ask. "Because I'm pretty sure I do a hell of a lot, but maybe 'cause I'm the weapon it doesn't count. You should have heard this woman today in the salon. She knows all about what you've done, but she thinks you ought to move on to a ranged weapon."

Maka stops moving. "Soul, why are you always so defensive about being a weapon?" she says as though I'm being silly. "You're a bad ass. You want me to survey everybody in this club? You'll see you have your own reputation."

"No, forget it," I mumble. There's no use arguing about it. Maka respects me and I guess that's what matters most.

Maka leans in close to me so I can hear. "You seem unhappy," she comments.

"I am. This place is seizure-inducing and I need a drink and you told the damn bouncer we're too broke to drink."

"You sure you're not jealous of the other dudes in here that have 'the moves'?"

"Oh, please," I grumble. "Most of these moves are just having sex with your clothes on."

Maka laughs as though I've just said something brilliant. "Let's get a drink."

She takes my hand and leads me to the bar where we stand struggling to get the bartender's attention for what seems like an eternity. That's when I see him. Kid is weaving his way through the crowd carrying a trio of brightly colored drinks, complete with little paper umbrellas, to a booth in the corner. Liz and Patti sit there happily bobbing to the dance beat.

"Maka, I found him," I say as Maka hands me a tall glass of water. "Water?!" I ask her.

She ignores this and demands to know where Kid is and when I show her she nods. Despite their masks those of us who know the three well can easily recognize Kid and his partners as once Kid gets seated the three are positioned in their typical way, Patti riding Kid's lap like he's some kind of bull while Liz sits by his side shoulder to shoulder with him.

I shake my head as I watch the younger Thompson grinding herself on Kid's crotch. "Patti's naughty," I comment.

"And Kid loves it. He denies it, but he loves every single minute of it," Maka says and I nod.

"All three of them are kind of attention whores," I tell her as Maka pulls me back out onto the dance floor. This time I try harder to dance and Maka doesn't criticize me but because her back is to the threesome, she makes me narrate their activities, which is damn annoying.

"What are they doing?" she demands as she shakes her hips and I wish I could just watch my own girlfriend instead of Kid's ladies.

"They're just talking, though Liz may be doing things to his ear. I can't tell if she's just leaning in so he can hear her talk or if she's- Oh, they're coming this way!" I grab Maka's hand and we dart through the dancers.

Liz and Patti each have one of Kid's hands and they are pulling him out to the dance floor. It's the first time I've gotten a really good look at what they're wearing and I see that Liz is in an entirely backless halter top thing and a short skirt with some fancy boots. Patti is wearing a low cut dress with a split in the skirt that goes up pretty much all the way to her waist. Brian was right. There is no denying that their sexiness is over the top this evening and Kid seems unwilling to stop them from doing anything they desire. On the dance floor, he stands still for a moment, not unlike what I did at first, but then Liz is behind him and Patti is in front of him and they are both pressing into him with their bodies making a little Kid sandwich. To my surprise Kid doesn't faint, but after a few minutes gingerly wraps an arm around each of them and begins swaying with them. His right arm wraps around Patti's waist pulling her closer to him while his left snakes behind him to encircle Liz's waist.

"Oh, my God. _He's grabbing Liz's ass!_" I tell my meister and he is. He _totally_ is and she's not slapping it away. The dance floor lights are spinning and flashing in such a way I only get to see the three of them for brief moments, like a slideshow of pictures of dirty dancing, but the next moment I see Kid has leaned his head back so that it's laying on Liz's neck and he seems to be kissing it while Patti unbuttons his shirt a little more.

"I think Kid forgot he's supposed to get them to the hotel first," I whisper to Maka who says to me that she's never seen Kid like this.

"_No one's_ ever seen Kid like this," I assure her. "How much do you think he's had to drink? Maybe he's on some kind of potion…"

"No, Kid's too honest for that," she shouts in my ear.

"Ha!" I laugh. "This is the guy who has secret entrances and exits and-"

"That's just being a reaper. Every Shinigami has to have secrets. It comes with the job."

"He had a hacker wipe out the girl's criminal records," I point out to her.

She shrugs. "He's in love and I think he has been for a lot longer than he thinks."

The three are no longer crushing their bodies into one another, but dancing happily together and while Kid's moves are definitely not the sexiest on the dance floor (he's stepped on Patti's feet at least twice already) he doesn't seem entirely uncomfortable, and the girls, like some kind of puppet master, use their power over him to guide his body and he bumbles along looking only mildly awkward.

After a while, a slower song comes on and Maka and I start to slow dance and I see that Liz and Kid are also dancing with one another, but I don't see Patti with them. Oh, shit. I've lost track of Patti.

"Where the hell is Patti?" I ask Maka frustrated.

"Right here," Patti pops up right next to us seemingly out of nowhere. I'm so startled I jump back almost knocking over some tiny chick who was dancing near Maka and me. After muttering my apologies to the girl I almost bowled over, Maka and I turn on the young Thompson.

"You're supposed to be celebrating with Kid," Maka tells her, agitation making her voice sound unusually nasally. "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving Liz and Kid a little time to themselves," she says, an impish grin on her lips. Then suddenly she demands, "So, why are you spying on us? What the three of us do together is our own business. And look at the two of them! Just look! It's taken _sooo_ long!" Patti says wistfully as she gazes across the dance floor before turning back to threaten us more. "You do anything to screw this up and I will-"

"We're making sure no one disturbs you," Maka says. "We know it's hard for you guys to get an evening without distractions."

"Oh," she squeals. "That's sweet, but Kid already took care of that. He put Sid in charge and told him that he trusted his decision making capabilities and to do whatever he deemed necessary to preserve _life and liberty_. So, the three of us won't be fighting Avian Flu this evening unless there is a direct attack on DC. This is truly a night off for us… which is good because Kid's gonna be needing his strength," she says her eyes twinkling with lust. "On top of that, Kid's taken measures to make it hard for those stupid reporters to give us a hard time. The masquerade was his idea. He's so smart… and _so hot_… This is the night! I can feel it! And the _two of them are dancing_ together! _She's letting him put his arms around her." _The younger Thompson lets out a happy little squeak. "Oh, my gosh! He's so close to ripping that mask off and kissing her! I can _feel_ it! Gotta go!" And without further ado Patti dashes off toward her partners as though simultaneously lusting after someone and thrilling at seeing that same someone with _someone else_ was the most natural thing ever.

Maka whispers to me, "How can she get excited about seeing Kid with someone else, even if it is her sister?"

I shrug. "It's all kinds of weird, that's for sure, but they're our friends and it seems harmless enough."

"I guess," Maka says shaking her head as a rather short boy in a Lord Death mask approaches the two of us.

"Soul, jeesst the maen I waus wonting to talk to." Though his attire matches half of the other DWMA students in the club there is no mistaking that voice; it is undeniably Nikolas'.

"Whaddup?" I ask, giving the Laughing Sun student only a sliver of my attention as I continue to watch Kid and the girls. The reaper is currently taking a break from dancing and is, instead, standing off to the side watching Patti and Liz as they gyrate and flex.

"You diwedn't say a dwamn thieeng to Lydia dwid ywou?" Nikolas demands.

"Hhhmmm?" I ask confused.

"You dwon't evwen remembr do yeu?" he asks sounding very annoyed.

"Uhh…"

"Aw, man," he whines. "Dwon't awgree to dwoing somethin' and twhen not do it! That's jeesst rwude."

"I'm sorry," I say prying my eyes from Kid to address him. "What was it I was supposed to do?"

"You have gwot to be keedding me. He dwoesn't even remembr, dwoes he, Maka?" Nikolas says. Maka shakes her head and the hearing impaired youth lets out a groan. "You were supposed to talk me up to Lydia, remembr? I'm twrying to gwet her to gwo to the dance with me, rember?"

Some part of me vaguely remembers knowing that Nikolas was 'interested' in Lydia, but I don't remember agreeing to play matchmaker. I would have never agreed to do that for two people so obviously completely wrong for one another.

"Man, now I'm gwonna haf to be the thwird weel with Magumoo and Jockques. I can't stwand that gwuy!"

"I'm sorry, Nik. I've had a lot going on, but you don't need my help. Lydia's a big girl. Ask her to go with you and if she-"

"It's too late. She's here wit that dwamn reaportter-"

"Ganglehoff?!" I whirl around looking for Lydia and the far too old for her intern.

"Yeah, thwey're heer somewere and they sweem hapee," Nikolas mumbles. "So, I'm nwot gwonna boter. She's prolly nwot my type anyway…"

"I wouldn't worry about it, Nikolas," Maka tells him. "There are plenty of other really nice girls-"

"Yeah, I _have_ a willy nwice girl in my life, my sistear, but I was jeesst hoping that someone else could lwook past my stwupeed voice and-"

As I scan the crowd for Lydia and Christopher I see a man encroaching on Patti's space bubble. I sprint in her direction fearing it is the enemy, but it must just be some dude trying to hit on her as Liz barks something at him and he scurries off. It's clear that tonight the Thompsons want nothing to do with any male who isn't their meister.

When I return to Maka, Nikolas has disappeared into the throng of people.

"You should have talked to Lydia," she scolds me.

"I forgot!"

"Because you never intended to do it in the first place. Soul, you and I both know Nikolas is not Lydia's type, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have put in a good word for him. He's a super nice guy."

"Maybe you should date him…" I murmur. The girls are enticing Kid back on the dance floor with some sensual dance moves you'd have to be blind in order to ignore. "Have you seen Lydia?"

"Oh, god, you're not going to get all worked up about her being here with Christopher are you?" Maka says sounding more annoyed. "If you wanted her to be with someone her own age so badly maybe you should have actually tried to get her and Nikolas to go out."

"Not listening," I say putting up my hand and then suddenly I laugh. "I wish I was Nik tonight."

"I doubt that," Maka says.

"No, I really do. He probably can't hear half of this garbage they're claiming is music."

I can't see Maka roll her eyes, but I know that she does. "For your information I like a lot of their musical selections. It's upbeat. Not all music has to be dark and brooding."

"With me it does," I murmur.

Right about when I give up on finding Lydia in the crowd the Thompsons tire of dancing and Kid walks off the dance floor with Patti wrapped around his body in a reverse piggy back ride and Liz's arm around his shoulder, headed back to their drinks.

"I think he's actually going to do it," I whisper to Maka.

"I know!" Maka marvels. "The girls are gonna be shocked. They were sure he'd chicken out, but he actually looks like he isn't going to faint or have a fit of OCD or anything."

I laugh. One of the world's most powerful leaders, intimidated by pleasuring ladies, that's only something that would happen in DC.

Just then the music comes to an end and the DJ says over the mic, "Hey, everybody, we want to thank you for coming out and partying with us tonight at our 21st Century Masquerade Ball! And now we have a _special _surprise for you. Many of you know Kirikou who's a Crescent Moon Meister, but tonight he's putting down his gauntlets of power and pickin' up the mic as Special K! Everybody put your hands together for our special guest who's gonna put on a live performance here tonight."

"My opinion of this place just increased," I whisper to Maka and she nods. Kirikou is by far the most talented rapper to come out of Lord Death's town in the last decade.

"Thank, Shinigami, Black*Star's not here," Maka comments as the crowd gets rowdy to welcome their favorite local rapper.

Kirikou comes from the back of the club and hops up on the stage grabbing the microphone from the DJ. He talks to the crowd a little and then sets to work rapping. He's spinning rhymes so fast that I can't keep up and I swear every person in the place is bobbing up and down in time to him. It's fucking awesome, and then he says, "Now, Special K's got a song to go out to our headmaster, Lord Kid. We all know he works awful hard and don't get a lotta play time so this one's for him wherever he may be tonight."

"_You know o' them gunslingers back in the ole southwest, cappin' them rustlers or hangin' 'em high,_

_Only stoppin' long enough to give sexy ladies a ride,_

_but the good guy ain't dead,_

_get that thought right outta your head,_

_we got one right here in our hood,_

_there's anotha' gunslinger whose doin' some good._

_Flyin' round the world on a skateboard with no wheels,_

_He's punishin' them bird people for all the evil that they've done,_

_Blasting them out of the sky with his gun,_

_His Twin Pistols, They gleam and they shine, always by his side,_

_And Harold, he's a comin' for you!_

_So, Blitzengard, you better run and hide,_

_Cause this G's got a determined look in his eye,_

_He and his posse are gonna save our freedom, our rights, and this land_

_Cause the Gunslingin' Gangster of DC has his twin pistols in his hand."_

The entire crowd goes wild hearing his tribute to Kid. That is everyone except for one skinny young man in a Lord Death mask who stands remarkably still as the girls on either side of him jump up and down and sing along with the chorus. The club is in such pandemonium by the end of the song that no one besides Maka and I seem to notice the two girls on either side of the quiet young man lift up their masks and kiss his chin as Kirikou moves on to his next song.

I push my way through the crowd to a number of tall tables littered with abandoned drinks. I select a bright blue one that has about a third left and take a big swig.

"I hope you get mono," Maka grumbles.

"If I get it, you'll get it," I tell her whisking up both my mask and hers before she can protest the kiss I have headed to her lips. I kiss her thinking it's going to be quick, but her lips meet mine and I find my body deepening the kiss, wanting so much more. I grab her hand and pull her into an alcove in the wall that is perfect for my purpose. I pin her against the wall and kiss her again and she whimpers. She wants me and I want her. There are a million girls here, all dolled up and looking fancy, but Maka, hair in ponytails with no makeup on wearing only a purple t-shirt and a tattered pair of jeans is the hottest of all to me, and I find myself wanting to rip that torn denim right off of her.

"How much alcohol was in that drink?" she asks laughing at me. I slide my hand down the back of her jeans. "Soul!"

I laugh devilishly. I'm so going to screw her tonight and _hard_. I'm gonna leave her absolutely breathle-

"Soul! Cape!" she shouts.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," I grumble as I whirl around. Can I not be allowed to make out with my girlfriend? Is the entire world against it or something?

"Four o'clock. Near the stage," my meister tells me.

"Dammit." We take off as fast as we can in the crowded club and it alerts the security that something's up and we soon have a number of buff dudes running with us as well as someone I think must be Geoffrey and maybe Nikolas… everything's happening too fast to know for sure. The caped person throws something behind them and purple smoke appears.

"Hold your breath!" Maka yells as I transform and we leap through the purple mist and out the fire exit in pursuit of the Shade. Black*Star drops from above blocking the caped persons exit and the bouncers block the person's only possible retreat.

Black*Star jumps forward and pulls back the hood and to my relief the person standing before us is not Tran, but an actual Avian Flu member armed with an egg bomb who appears to have had the mission of taking out a large number of students and creating chaos by attacking the event.

Kirikou appears from the door we came out of and grumbles. We run up to him.

"Don't tell Kid," I shout.

"Guys, I have to tell Kid," he says unhappily.

"Tell him it's completely under control," Maka says. "The Avian Flu member has been apprehended."

But when the three of us return to the club we see that Kid and his ladies aren't there. For a moment I panic thinking somehow Avian Flu created a distraction and snatched Kid and his guns, but then I realize how implausible that is. Maka and I run out the front door of the club and see that the threesome's coach is slowly lumbering away.

Our walkie-talkie sounds and I pull it from our bag.

"Soul, Maka, come in. Over." It's Black*Star.

"We're here. Over," I say.

"Well, you shouldn't be. You're supposed to be following that carriage thing. We got this covered. This dude ain't goin' anywhere. So, do your job. And let me know if they're headed to the Silkweed. Tsubee and me gotta know. Over."

Maka and I resume our tailing of the horseless buggy and after a few blocks it turns in the direction of the Silkweed Hotel.

"They're goin' to the hotel!" I shout into the walkie-talkie.

"There are a lot of other places that direction, too," Maka reminds me. "We can't assume."

I imitate her voice, "You hear that Black*Star? We can't assume. Over."

Black*Star snickers, "That's why I expect a play-by-play. Over."

"Yes, sir," I answer as my meister and I continue to follow the vehicle as it plods along.

When the carriage gets to the block of the Silkweed Hotel it turns into a side street and comes to a stop. Muffled voices can be heard from the wagon: the rumble of Kid's voice, the high pitched squeak of Patti's, and the occasional exclamation of surprise from one or both of the girls. Maka and I have a good view of the door of the carriage, but it's dark so I slap on the night vision goggles we brought and Maka laughs at how funny I look.

"Liz is coming out. Over," I report to Tsubaki and Black*Star. I nudge Maka. "See, I couldn't have figured that out without the goggles."

"You still look like a dork," she whispers.

"She's alone?" Tsubaki asks sounding nervous. The amount of tension we're all feeling is probably a little ridiculous considering it's not _our _love lives.

"No wait," I report. "She's turning around. Kid's right there behind her… she's not coming out... she is… closing the door. That's right. All three of them are back inside. Over."

The coach is silent and motionless for a while and over the walkie-talkies we speculate about what might be going on, until the whole thing begins to sway rhythmically.

"Is it just me or is that thing suddenly rocking back and forth?" I ask arching an eyebrow as Maka blushes.

"I think they might be doing it in there. Over," I say.

"Kid wouldn't do it in a carriage!" Tsubaki squeals.

"Well, the whole things rocking. What do you think they're doing, playing Parcheesi? Over."

A few minutes later the swaying stops.

"Oh, Kid's coming out… he's surveying the scene… and he's got a pistol in each hand." The young reaper steps out, looks around, and carefully places a pistol in each pocket of a long overcoat he is now wearing. Then he walks into the hotel.

Maka grabs the communicator from me. "Soul's right. He's got both girls with him. I saw the glint off each pistol. Over."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. He's always got them _with_ him," I comment trying not to get too excited for him. "The question is-"

"If they have returned his confession of love," Maka interrupts putting a far more romantic spin on what I was going to say. "Over."

The street is silent as we settle in to watch, bound by our duty to protect the gilded carriage and then a gunshot rings out in the dark. It comes from the direction of the hotel and Maka springs into motion, but I just listen. Could it be? A second shot rings out and something tells me it isn't a gunfight. It's the sign Black*Star had asked for.

"My man's getting' laid!" Black*Star shouts into the walkie. I guess, he could hear the shots all the way over by the club. I hoot along with him and dance around. Our elation is short lived, however, because just as Maka is about to scold me for acting like an idiot she shouts, "God dammit! Something just flew off the roof."

"What?! I grab the night vision googles and look up and sailing away in the night sky I make out the familiar form of Kid on Beezlebub a pistol in each hand.

"Fuck! Him and the girls just flew off! Over," I tell the others.

Tsubaki suggests that maybe Kid decided to take the girls somewhere more romantic, like Paris or Vienna, but something tells me that they are off to work again.

"He's blocking Soul Perception, again," my meister grumbles. "Liz and Patti are gonna kill him."

"Forget them. _I'm_ gonna kill him," I say shaking my head. "This is supposed to be their night off!"


	96. Chapter 96: Breaking News

_**Chapter 96: Breaking News; What Should Remain Hidden?**_

Eventually, Kid and the girls come sailing back onto the _Silkweed's_ rooftop, or so Maka tells me when she wakes me up for my turn on watch. Then, the next morning while I'm on watch, Kid appears early, around six am or so, and ascends the steps of the coach, presumably with a Thompson in each of his pockets. Once the carriage gets within range for Brian and Crona to monitor Maka and I head home to grab a shower and some clean clothes before going to today's war meeting.

This morning I'm feeling unusually out of sorts. Maybe it's because I have this fear that I'm going to learn that Maka and I stayed up half the night, tromped all over DC, and danced at a freakin' hipster club just to find out that Kid and the girls had some kind of slumber party. I don't care what they actually _did_, but if he chickened out on telling them his real feelings for them, I'm gonna punch him. I swear to god, I will.

Maka makes each of us a thermos full of tea and thrusts mine into my hand as we head out the door. She assures me that it's the caffeinated type and for that I'm grateful.

Despite the fact, Maka and I feel like we are dragging this morning we are the first to arrive for the meeting, besides Kid himself who is hard at work scrolling some kind of diagram on a large green chalkboard that has been rolled into the room.

"Good mornin'," I say. His chalk pauses.

"Morning," he says only glancing our way for a moment before returning to his work. I can't tell if the thing he's drawing is supposed to be some kind of flow chart, a battle formation, or the orbits of some celestial objects, but knowing Kid I'm confident he'll explain it to us in _excruciating_ detail once everyone is assembled.

"How was last night?" Maka asks feigning ignorance as Crona and Adeline enter.

"Quite pleasant," he answers without looking our way as though yesterday was your typical, average, normal day not a potentially life altering evening. "We had a great dinner at Valentino's, the girls enjoyed going clubbing, and we stayed up late talking and enjoying one another's company." At this, I grin broadly. Next time I'm horny I'm gonna tell Maka that it's time for us to 'enjoy one another's company'.

"That's good," I say. "Where are the girls?"

"The Thompsons will be joining us soon. I told them that I could handle the preparations for today's meeting by myself and that they could get a little extra rest. None of us got much sleep." He rushes to add, "We were up quite late."

"Yeah, sounds like there was some _action_ around town last night," I say strolling up to Kid and slinging my arm over his shoulder. "I even heard that there were a _couple of gunshots_ heard."

His eyes shift my way ever so slightly, but nothing in his demeanor betrays a thing. "Oh, that was just Liz and Patti and me," he says. "It's not Twin Pistols Day without a celebratory shot in the air from each of them."

I wink at him and his head lowers ever so slightly, like a child trying not to look guilty of helping themselves to one too many cookies. I walk away nodding excitedly to Maka who silently hops up and down in place with excitement until she recalls that one of the reasons she hurried us out of the apartment this morning was to talk to Kid about Tran.

"Kid," she starts. "Soul and I need to talk to you about some things-" Maka's words are drowned out by Black*Star who bursts into the Death Room followed by Tsubaki. "Dude! How was it! Ya feel like a new man?" he shouts running up and thumping Kid on the back.

Kid, who up till this moment had managed to reveal little, turns scarlet. "I had a very good time last night, if that's to what you're referring." His shy way of speaking makes Maka and Tsubaki swoon ever so slightly, but it only in site our blue-haired friend. "Ah, no, dude! Don't be playing dumb with me," he says yanking Kid backwards so he can thump Kid's chest to add emphasis to each word. "I want details! Positions, the dirty talk, all of it. I know the Thompsons have gotta be wild!"

Embarrassed, Tsubaki shifts her weight uneasily. "Pardon Star. You know he hasn't got any manners."

"It's ok," Kid says suddenly sounding more confident. He takes a moment to look at each of the five of us in the eye and then says, "I can understand your curiosity, but a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

Black*Star grins, "But something tells me you did a _lot more_ than kissing."

Kid places a hand on his hip and stares down his nose at the ninja. "You're _crazy_ if you think I'm telling you anything," and with a smirk turns back to the chalkboard resuming his drawing of the intricate gameplan-thingy.

"Hot damn! Something did happen!" Black*Star's eyes grow large. "Was it just you and Patti… or…"

"Kid isn't going to tell you anything. He respects the girls' privacy," Tsubaki says and I notice she's starting to look pregnant. Her normally lean body has a curve it didn't used to right over her belly. I'm surprised that I actually find it kind of cute.

Black*Star moans and pulls on his hair in frustration. "But we've all worked so hard to get them together!" he whines. "I wanna know what happened!"

Tsubaki clucks her tongue. "You did not work to get them together! You're too lazy to do something like that. You can't even get off your butt to ask a girl out for your own self."

"Lazy? Me _lazy_?" Black*Star asks stunned. "You can't seriously think of me like that with all I do."

Tsubaki doesn't get a chance to respond before Kid reaches back with one of his hands and snaps his fingers. "Knock it off you two. We have a lot to get done." Then with a feverish energy he draws a few more shapes on the board, steps backward, and brings his hand to his chin admiring his work. "Yeeesss," he murmurs softly. "That should work."

"Great," Maka says without any real enthusiasm. "So Soul and I-"

"Kid!" At that moment the Thompsons walk in, the younger one wearing a grin that couldn't possibly be any bigger. It's obvious that whatever happened last night really pleased her. The older sister, however, seems no different than usual.

"I managed to get it done in time," Kid says spinning around to face his partners. "Aren't you proud of me?"

"Yup, I'm real happy for you," Liz says sarcastically eyeing the diagram and her meister.

"Speak for yourself," Patti says grabbing Kid's face by the chin and bringing his lips to hers. He attempts to back up and loses his balance, falling backward causing his head to hit the chalkboard and making the entire thing skid backward as Patti eases him to the floor and climbs on top of him, her kisses growing more lustful by the moment. Pinned under the younger Thompson, Kid flails his arms and legs around as Liz sits down beside the two of them seeming disinterested.

Finally, she orders grouchily, "Patti, Patti! You're suffocating him! Let the boy have some air." Patti releases Kid's lips and he lies there panting for a moment before Liz leans over and kisses him gently on the lips planning to pull away, but Kid reaches up and grabs her arm pulling Liz towards him, closing his eyes and leaning back submitting himself to their affection. Liz's body begins to cozy up to him and Patti shifts over a little to give her sister more access to the reaper, meanwhile Patti's hand slides down Kid's body hovering _very close_ to his groin.

"Uh, guys," I say attempting to interrupt, but feeling super awkward about it. I _should_ be supporting my friends' romance, right? Kid appears to be starting to resist, probably fearing that the sisters won't have the good sense not to undress him in public. We all stare as Liz gropes the reaper's chest. This is far from the first time I've seen Liz making out with someone, but seeing her doing it with Kid is bizarre. I mean, it's Kid. Isn't she always making fun of him and arguing with him? I glance at Maka… I guess it wasn't that different for us.

Ragnarok appears and gawks opening at the threesome making out on the floor. "Gees, we leave for a little while," he complains. "And everybody starts gettin' freaky!"

Crona shrugs. "I guess it's to be expected. But, I'm not sure if I can handle this," he says softly and then suddenly Liz pops up like a jack-in-the-box.

"Ah, ha! We got em!" Liz shouts as she triumphantly holds a pack of cigarettes up over her head. She springs up to her feet and runs across the room as Kid struggles to wiggle his lips away from Patti's and attempts to pull himself out from under her straddle. "Oh, that is _not _fair!" Kid says annoyed. "I feel taken advantage-" The Thompsons look at him with an expression that dares him to make an issue of it.

Kid's nostrils flare, irritated as he uses his deep, influential reaper voice, "Patti, Liz, you know that I can't get lung cancer. They aren't hurting me-"

"They make your breath smell bad," Liz says simply.

Kid grumbles. "I can suck on mints afterward or-"

"We don't want you to smoke anymore," Patti pouts. She's still got him trapped under her on the floor which is ridiculous considering how damn strong he actually is. Continuing to plead her case, Patti says, "We had enough of a hard time tolerating it before-"

"But now that we're your _girlfriends,_" Liz's words elicit hoots and hollers from the rest of us, even Crona grins. "We're in charge," finishes the older sister as she walks across the room and drops the pack into a small trash can by the entrance.

"But you of all people should understand how important it is for me to keep my life in balance. At times, I'm tettering on the cusp of a very dark place and it helps me to relax!" Kid explains. "I'm under a huge amount of stress. I need _some kind of release!_"

Liz arches her eyebrow and without an ioda of sympathy replies, "Well, you _have_ a new stress release now. So, you won't be needing them."

"What stress release?" Kid asks genuinely confused, as the girls' glower at his yellow eyes.

"Oh!" The reaper blushes and mumbles that it's not as though he can have that anytime he wants.

Liz shakes her head. "Patti, I know you think our boyfriend's brilliant, but I'm not so sure," she says sitting down next to Kid. "He's kind of clueless."

"Did you just call me an idiot?" Kid says still not bothering to try to sit up.

"Yes, Kid, I did," Liz replies. "At least about some things."

"Like women," Patti says. "You're hopeless."

He frowns and lifts his shoulders in a shrug. "I dunno. I think I've done pretty damn well," he says wrapping an arm around Patti and drawing her and Liz nearer to him. I presume that he's kissing them but all I can really see is a tangle of the threes' limbs. I shut my eyes to give them a little privacy, but then when I open them a moment or two later the three of them are still going at it. It makes me feel like some kind of creeper and Kid must sense this.

"Ok, ok, we gotta stop," Kid manages to say. "I thought we had agree… d… based on our unique cir…cumstances… that public displays… of… affection… would not be the best idea."

"This isn't public," Patti says with a giggle. "This is the Death Room, and it's just Crona and Maka and everybody. So, you're me and sister's for a few more minutes."

"But we have work to do. It's not that I don't enjoy-" he lets out a sound that I can't categorize that's halfway between a moan and a squeal. "Ladies, remember how I said last night was special, and the three of us couldn't allow this to become a distraction?"

"Kid, could you please shut up and quit ruining the moment?" Liz grumbles. "We have like two more minutes before Sid and all the stupid teachers show up. You're not so smart that those two minutes are going to win or lose us the war, believe me."

"Liz, have you ever thought that perhaps the problem is that what I would _like_ to do would require _longer_ than two minutes?" His flirting is unabashedly blatant and those of us not a part of the tangle on the floor find our jaws falling open.

Patti's giggles echo off the domed ceiling and walls of the Death Room. "Kid, behave yourself or sister and I will…" she searches for the right form of torture for her boyfriend. "Erase your diagram!"

A gasp is heard and Kid struggles to get up but the Thompsons restrain him. "She was only kidding," Liz says gently.

"I know that. It's _you_ I worry about," he says smirking at her.

"Do you want me to shoot you? Because I will," Liz threatens.

"With what gun? Patti's not about to let you hurt me," he says his eyes twinkling wickedly.

Liz extends her hand for her little sister to jump into, but Patti simply rolls her eyes, "Sister, would you quit flirting with Kid and hurry up and give him another kiss 'cause they're gonna be here any second."

"I suppose," Liz says rolling her eyes as Kid kneels and reaches up and to brush his fingers on the side of her face before leaning in to kiss her on the lips.

"This is even weirder than I imagined it'd be," I whisper to Maka. "They don't seem any different, but they're totally _all over_ each other."

"I guess we're just used to them denying how they feel about each other," she whispers back to me. "You think this is how our friends felt when we started going out?"

"I'm pretty sure I've never made out with you in front of them," I murmur. "I've come close once or twice though… you know those ponytails do things to me."

She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder as the sisters lay down on either side of the current Lord of Death and he turns his head from one to the other kissing them as their hands tussle his hair and rove over his body.

"You think we should interrupt them to tell them about Tran?" I ask my meister.

"We _should_," Maka tells me. "But I'm not going to. I think Liz is right. A couple minutes won't make a difference. We can wait till everybody gets here. It should be just another-"

Just then Sid and Joe appear in the guilotinne hallway. Sid is in the lead and Joe is close behind him rolling in a television on one of those metal AV stands they use to move TVs around the academy from classroom to classroom. Immediately, Kid and the girls jump up, and, much to my surprise are able to appear entirely focused on the war. It's as though they flipped a switch and are now at attention.

"We have a problem," Sid says, not bothering to greet us or any of the other people coming in to the meeting.

Kid nods. "I know. Blitzengard's invasion of New Zealand was entirely unexpected. I wonder what he's up to, and we need to let the Oceanic Division know that I'm extremely disappointed that they did not notice increased Avian Aquatic Forces on the move. That's their job. And what would Harold want with New Zealand?"

"Maybe he's converting sheep to demons," Liz says and Patti nods.

"The fact that we have to consider that as a real possibility and not a joke shows what a diabolical _loony _we're dealing with," Kid says. "Of course, I'd _rather_ he use sheep, not that I have anything against ovines, but compared to torturing children-"

"We don't mean the invasion, Lord Kid," interrupts Joe. "I'm sure we can get that handled. The invasion force wasn't that large and the New Zealanders are fighting back admirably. It's last night; a video of the three of you has gotten leaked to the media."

Kid trembles ever so slightly, and the girls have become still as statues. They aren't even blinking as Joe rushes to find one of the elusive plug-ins that are hidden around the room under the floor tiles.

"Sid," Kid says, his voice sounding _distinctly _nervous. "We took extensive steps to-"

"What were you _thinking_?" Sid asks. "Maintaining your image is very important to the war effort and this was-"

"Ah, there we go," Joe says flipping up a panel in the floor and plugging in the television. A news program appears on the screen. There are two analysts having a discussion about something.

"It is highly inappropriate!" says a middle-aged black man. "The Lord of Death has to maintain his dignity and partying like this shows that he isn't taking the war seriously."

The woman on the other side of the table responds, "I think that saying that because he's messing around with his partners that he doesn't appreciate the sacrifice that-"

"He is relentlessness. Up till now we've seen a very restrained Death the Kid, but now we see the beast that is within, the way he is in private when he thinks no one else is watching and what do we see? We see nothing more than a spoiled teenager with all the same impulses and desires as any other teenager yet we think because of this young man's genetics he has the right to rule us and should be in charge of our fight for freedom. It's ludicrous. Yet even his own partners succumb to his whims-"

"There is no doubt that the girls were enjoying it," the woman counters. "It may have even been their idea. Have you thought of that?"

"He is their _headmaster and supreme commander as well as their __**meister**_**.** He is in a position of power over them-"

"You think he's abusing his power?" she asks.

"Yes. I believe that his behavior illuminates that he is nothing more than a _child_ and that he does not have the experience to-"

The female analyst laughs, "You believe that Death the Kid is less mature than _Harold Blitzengard_ who fits the classic-"

"Joe, what's on the tape?" Kid asks shakily as the girls snuggle up to him on either side, Patti nuzzling her face into his shoulder.

"I dunno. You tell me, Kid," Joe says as the television begins to lose reception and the picture is no longer held in place properly but gets distorted.

"Don't listen to them. You're plenty grown-up and we know exactly what we're doing and we choose to be with you," Liz says softly.

"Shit. Damn concrete bunker is horrible for reception," Joe says whacking the top of the TV with his palm and then reaching up to adjust the rabbit-ear TV antenna on top of the screen. "Ugh. I'm gonna try another station." He turns a dial on the front of the TV and a news reporter says, "The controversy stems from a video tape leaked from Avian Flu which appears to show Kid and his partners late last night."

"I swear there couldn't have been a camera in there!" Kid says falling to his knees.

"It doesn't matter, Kid," Liz says. "None of us did anything wrong. They're just old and stupid."

"Here it is!" the anchorwoman continues. "Folks, we've brightened the image as it was kind of dark and we know you want to see all of Lord Kid's moves."

Kid closes his eyes, but the girls stare transfixed as the screen shows some kind of surveillance video of Kid trashing some place and waving his guns around madly. He looks like he's on some kind of joyous rampage. The girls start laughing.

"Oh, that!" Patti says suddenly relaxed. "I had forgotten all about _that_. You can open your eyes, Kid."

Joe and Sid look puzzled. Sid asks, "What did you think we meant? Going into an Avian Flu base and trashing the place and grafittiing "courtesy of Death the Kid" is not OK. It makes the entire DWMA look undignified."

"Oh, good grief," Kid says dismissively as he stands up and brushes off his pant legs. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Because I'm the Lord of the Death I have to delegate and my guns and I can't go and get something done ourselves? _Please!_ Anyone who thinks that the girls were not completely supportive is on purple mist. Sid, when I got your message that the location of another child-to-demon conversion facility had been located, Patti, Liz, and I _unanimously_ decided to go get it taken care of before any more children could be harmed."

"Well, the public doesn't know that's what you were trashing," Joe explains. "Avian Flu is spreading rumors it was hospital equipment-"

Patti gasps, "Kid would never harm injured people or steal medicine or whatever craziness they think. He wouldn't do that!"

"Well," Sid explains. "They don't know him like you do and unless Lord Kid addresses this the news media will only show images of you and the girls dressed up for clubbing coming acting like spoiled rock stars trashing a hotel room, writing a cutesy message on the wall, and then flying out. It doesn't read well with the public-"

Joe tips his head, "In their defense, young women seem to have found the video 'hot' and it is adding to Kid's 'bad boy' image. That's what the girls around town have told me."

At this comment Liz snorts. "Kid? A 'bad boy'… oh, Kid did you not pay your library fines?"

"You're gonna get it later," Kid threatens and Liz responds by leaning over and whispering something in his ear that makes him sway a bit.

"May I remind all of you that my father was never the most professional Lord of Death either? Or did you forget the recruitment ad he did with Thora and the Bleeding Ulcers? Didn't he make some kind of blowjob joke in it?"

"That was only aired twice," Sid says. "And I believe your father when he says he didn't understand the double entendre."

Kid glowers. "Spirit was around. There is no way he didn't laugh his ass off when he read the script, so I refuse to have you lecture me and my ladies about professionalism."

"It isn't just the graffiti, Your Lordship," Sid explains. "It's the safety issue as well. That analyst was right going into a compound by yourself with only the girls-"

"There is no team stronger than me and the Thompsons," Kid says as Black*Star squawks his disbelief. "In fact, there have been a number of times when our performance has been hindered by the inabilities of others. On Beezlebub, we are faster-"

"You didn't even wear the mask, Kid!" Joe whines. "Dude, at least try to look the part, will you?"

Maka waves her hand. "I can see some relevance to this conversation, but Soul and I have some matters I think are more pressing we'd like to share."

"Proceed," Kid orders loudly and I see him mouth the words, 'thank you' to my meister.

"We need to discuss what happened at the masquerade last night," Maka says taking charge.

"We got the guy in custody," Black*Star says flatly.

"Yes, but there're three more," I tell the group. "Avian Flu calls them 'Shadow-"

"'Shade'," Maka corrects me. "'Shade Dwellers'. They are stationed within our city to cause mayhem and observe us."

"They were responsible for the break in at the mansion," I offer.

"They're the ones who stabbed Mr. Longneck?" Patti asks her eyes wide.

I nod. "But it's even more complicated than that. There are three more and one of them is Jakob's partner, Tran."

Everyone in the room gasps.

"But he claims he's tricked them into thinking he has been converted when he hasn't," Maka explains. "He gave us this and told us it contains valuable information that can help us in the war effort. He says that the Shade Dwellers have provided a lot of intel to Blitzengard including that we have the demon children under the school."

Kid takes the puzzle box in his hand. "And you believe him?"

"It was hard for me to read him even when I delved into his soul wavelength. He claims that he is completely immune to all the drugs and techniques they use to convert people."

"But he didn't rejoin us?" Kid asks suspiciously.

Maka and I shake our heads. "He's grieving for Jakob and he says this is the only way he can be of use since his partner has passed."

"What a hill of baloney!" Kid hisses. "Liz, what do you think?"

Liz shrugs. "It seems like a moot point now. Soul and Maka let him get away."

"Thanks for the support there," I tell her grouchily.

"Well," Sid says. "You really should have restrained him. Now he's in even more danger. If they find out-"

Maka hangs her head. "I know, but I…"

Kid puts up his hand. "Second guessing the actions of a wise, hard-working teammate does us no good. I'm sure that the decision weighs heavily on both Maka and Soul's minds. And I understand the desire to try to honor the wishes of a weaponless meister, but there has been too much death already. We need to create an extraction plan for him. Whether he is a conspirator or not he should be saved from a death by Avian Flu." Kid rotates the tiny box between his long fingers and something nags at my brain as I watch him. Eventually, I realize what it is. For as long as I've known Kid he has worn two silver Death mask rings, one on each hand. I thought of them more like a tattoo than a fashion assessory, but now they're gone. I hope he didn't lose them.

"So, Kid wader we going to focus on first?" Patti asks. "New Zealand, the giraffe killers, or opening the puzzle box?"

"You need to address the media…" persists Sid.

"Fine," Kid says. "I will grant an interview. Something one-on-one. The girls will _not_ be interviewed. The less publicity on them the better. It's ludicrous to think that I could somehow be vilified when you compare me to Blitzengard. I'd like Mira to be in charge of strategic planning with the New Zealand division. Sid, you're going to need to confer with the Oceanic Division and figure out why they didn't know Harold was making a move. If they need more people, we will get them more people. If they require more equipment we can do that, and if they simply had their heads up their asses, make sure it's a mistake they don't ever repeat. Understood?"

"I will handle the Shade Dwellers and dealing with opening the puzzle box and interpreting the information within," Kid says. "Meanwhile, Joe will continue his investigation into the purple mist equipped guns. Soul, Maka mentioned to me you had a diagram of it from one of the crates." The assembled group murmurs their appreciation of my find until I'm forced to admit that I totally forgot all about it and the paper is stuffed in the pocket of my other pants back at our apartment. How embarrassing. I do something right and then don't even remember to bring it to the meeting. Crap.

The rest of the meeting is terribly dull as Kid explains each portion of his diagram on the chalkboard. It's some sort of metaphor for the war or a flowchart for how we're supposed to win or something. Maybe it makes sense to the meisters, but all the weapons look bored out of their minds. All I know is that at some point I must have dozed off as a drowsy-looking Maka pokes me and says that it's time for us to go take care of 'our kids'.

"Wonderful. I can take a nap down there," I mumble. The lack of sleep and the amount of crap we've had to do in the last several days has final caught up with me.

"No, you're gonna go home first and get that schematic. I can't believe you forgot to bring it," she hisses in my ear.

"I can't believe my meister wasn't smart enough to _remind_ me to bring it when she knows I'm running on like three hours of sleep."

"I was distracted," she says gnawing at her lip. "Do you think I made the wrong decision with Tran?"

I shrug. "Who knows. There probably isn't a right answer. I think Kid's the only one who can still see black and white… everything's become shades of grey."

She nods as she looks around the room. "I guess I'll head downstairs. You can meet me…"

Her voice trails off as Professor Stein enters. He sees everyone leaving and looks confused. "Lord Kid, I got a message that you had changed the time of the meeting because you and the girls were making merry till all hours of the night," our mentor explains. "Did I misunderstand?"

Kid turns and smiles at him. "We held the meeting at the normal time, but I thought it best that you come afterward as Crona has an important matter to discuss with you."

"Crona!" Stein's eyes light up. The professor scans the room in search of our missing classmate. Maka's eyes dart toward mine. I think the bombshell that the prof is a dad is about to drop. "Let's get the hell out of here," I mouth to her not eager to be here when the shit hits the fan. "Crona! You're back!" Stein shouts elated. "Marie will be delighted. She's been so worried. You know how she is… such a fretter. She keeps bugging me about going to the dentist, as though any of us have time for that with the war on. Harold's birdbrains didn't give you a hard time did they?"

Crona has been sitting on the floor with Adeline in his lap bundled up in a black baby blanket decorated with pumpkins, Lord Death masks, and spiders. As he rises the bundle begins to squirm and a baby arm and leg escape from under the fuzzy blankie.

My stomach does flips. I think it's some kind of sympathy pain for the person in my life who is most like a father to me. He doesn't have a clue what's about to happen to him, does he?

"Well, me and Soul had better get going," Maka says taking my hand and leading me toward the guillotine hallway, but Stein is blocking the way as he stands there staring at Crona and the baby. Aw, shit! We can't get out of here. Maka grimaces and we awkwardly step to the side as Stein asks who the 'little one' is and tightens his screw a click or two.

Stein blinks. "Crona, where have you been hiding yourself and _what_ have you been up to? You know I told you that if you were ever in any kind of trouble Marie and I were here for you…"

Oh, my god, is our teacher so incredibly _deluded_ as to think that the kid is _Crona's_? It's plain as day that she's Stein's. I've never seen a baby that looks more like its dad.

"This is my sister," Crona says his voice quivering as he attempts to rewrap the wiggly baby in her blanket.

"Sister?" Professor Stein repeats, cocking his head to the side. "I never knew you had a little sister," he says commenting with a smile. Poor sucker, he hasn't figured it out yet. It's painful to watch.

Crona carries Adeline over to him. "I didn't either… but, I heard this rumor that Medusa might have had another child… biologically…" Crona gives Kid an imploring look searching for support. This conversation is even more awkward then when Spirit is around when people say shit about Maka and my's sex life. Fuck! Stein, move over so my meister and I can skedaddle!

"This is why I asked that you come at the conclusion of the meeting," Kid explains. "I thought you might need some time to process things and I wanted both you and Crona to understand that we're all here for you, as are the resources of the DWMA."

Crona looks down toward his feet, but instead almost bonks heads with the head of the chubby baby in his arms. "It's just, I know you went through a lot after the whole Medusa thing… and I didn't want to dredge any of that back up… for either of us… I wasn't sure you could handle it… I mean, it was really awful and I understand that this must be a shock, and I wasn't going to… I mean, I hadn't decided… but, me and Adeline (that's her name, 'Adeline') don't want anything from you, but Kid said that I had-"

Professor Stein remains puzzled as he reaches toward the baby. Fuck, how stupid is he? Is it that hard to guess the baby's age and add nine months to that and then think about exactly what he and Medusa were doing then? I mean, I figured it out _way_ faster than this! Besides, all kinds of rumors flew around the school about Medusa and Stein supposedly doing the horizontal tango together so it's not like it was a one time thing. I can't imagine I'd be this clueless if I were in his position. Oh, Shinigami, please never let me be put in his position!

"Oh, out with it, you!" Ragnarok barks impatiently as he suddenly manifests himself. "The kid's not Crona's, Screwhead. _She's yours_."

The Death Room is quieter than I have ever heard it. I feel too scared to breathe. Stein's hand which had been reaching for the child withdraws and his body trembles. Black*Star and Tsubaki lock eyes with Maka and me. The tension is terrible. This is ten times worse than when Black*Star found out that Tsubaki was pregnant.

Crona looks as though he's about to start crying. "Professor Stein, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you, but I didn't know where else to go. You guys are the only family I've got… and… ugh, I don't know if I can handle this!"

Kid walks to Crona's side and takes the child from Crona's arms. "You did the right thing, Crona. This is your home and you and your sister are welcome here, and Professor Stein will ensure that Adeline is taken care of." It isn't a question, that much is clear. Professor Stein's boss has just ordered him to take responsibility for his actions. The fact that a skinny teenager who was a virgin less than twenty-four hours ago is demanding that a grown man own up to his paternity of a fatherless child would be hilarious were it not for the torturous looks on the faces of Crona and the professor.

"Of course," Stein stammers as though he's just been scolded which is what it kind of feels like.

"I'm so sorry Professor. I didn't want any of this to happen…" Crona says and Maka rushes to Crona's side as she hushes him. To my surprise, I find myself following her and soon our entire group of friends is clustered around Crona and Adeline. Crona, bolstered by the nods of support from Tsubaki, Black*Star, and the rest of us, starts again. "It took me a long time to find her and stuff… but eventually I did and I know Medusa isn't a fit parent… I mean, just look at me," our friend says offering a weak smile. "So, I rescued Adeline and I'm raising her myself… even if you're her father, we don't want anything from you. You don't have to do anything; I wasn't even gonna tell you. The last thing I want is to ruin anything or make all those accusations about you being a conspirator come up again. We gotta trust each other right now and for all I know Medusa tricked you... she is a witch and…"

The pace of Stein's breathing has increased. He reaches up and frenziedly tightens his screw… one rotation, two, three, four, five, and he isn't stopping.

"She never told you, did she?" Crona asks.

Stein shakes his head, tears forming in his eyes. "I had no idea. I swear." Crona nods, but it feels like placating for some reason. "No, Crona, you _gotta_ believe me. I didn't know. I swear to you. I wouldn't have abandoned my child, _any_ child, with that madwoman-"

"It's ok, she might not even be yours," Crona says.

"The baby is _clearly_ his," bellows Ragnarok. "Just look at her silver hair! Medusa just didn't tell him because she wanted another guinea pig."

"It doesn't really matter now," Kid says. "There's no question that telling you was the right thing to do." Kid says firmly as he hands Adeline to Maka and takes a step toward the professor.

"Of course," mumbles Stein as he releases the screw from his hand. His forehead is creased and I wonder if it's cause he's overtightened the screw or because he's thinking super hard. My meister balances the child on her hip as Adeline blows some bubbles from her mouth and makes weird little baby noises. They are the only sounds in the room.

"Like I said," Crona continues avoiding the professor's eyes. "We don't need or want anything from you… as far as I'm concerned you're not under any obligation-"

"Crona!" Kid interrupts, but Crona puts up his hand. "Kid, I told you, I don't care about laws and stuff. I just want my sister to be safe and for her to have the chance to have a happy life here in DC with me… cause I love her. And I couldn't really hide her from you and-"

"You went looking for her on your own?" Stein asks.

Crona shrugs, "Yeah, I mean it was just a rumor. There're rumors about Medusa all the time. I didn't really think it was true, but if it was-"

Stein frowns. "You should have told me or Marie or _someone_. We've been worried sick about you."

"You shouldn't have been. I've got Ragnarok, you know, and we've gotten a lot better at working as a team. It's not that hard-"

Stein grips Crona's shoulders. "Do not _ever_ keep a secret like this. _Do you understand_?" Crona says nothing. "_**Do you understand**_?" He shouts. "Having a secret this big only hurts the people who love you." The words get stuck in Stein's throat as though he's choking on them. The sick feeling in my stomach grows. Stein should be grabbing the girl and hugging her, not yelling at Crona. He should be embracing Crona like he and Marie always did before Crona left DC. What is the problem? I know it's a shock, but Adeline's as cute as a puppy. I don't even like babies and I took to her right away.

I'm embarrassed that this is my mentor's reaction. I expected better of him: maybe a curse word or two, or a face palm, or some mutterings about how rubbers were more durable back in the old days, but this?! I'm disappointed in him. I'm not sure that I have a right to be, but nonetheless I am, and Maka's soul wavelength reveals to me that she feels the same way.

"Can I see her?" Stein's tone doesn't sound angry anymore, but not especially loving either, and Maka looks to Crona for permission before handing the infant over to Stein. The professor studies the child and I expect at any moment for him to suggest dissecting her. Instead, he reaches up to the enormous screw in his head and twists it four full rotations and then his body begins to shake as two streams of tears roll down his cheeks. His crying startles Adeline and she starts wailing and flailing her arms and Crona rips her from Stein's arms protectively.

"See? I _knew_ you couldn't handle this," Crona says getting teary eyed himself as he snuggles the frightened infant. "That's why I-"

"I _will _handle this, Crona. You're just a kid and this is too much for you to take on by yourself. I take full responsibility for the child," Stein says sounding not in the least enthusiastic about the discovery that he is already a dad not just a dad-to-be.

Crona stares at Stein with eyes of hate. "I don't want you to. I can take care of her. I love her and you don't and Adeline might not even be yours… I don't know what Medusa was up to…"

Stein once again puts his hand on Crona's shoulder, "I can see that child's soul wavelength and there's no doubt… she's mine, Crona."

"But, that doesn't mean you have to-" Crona stammers, but Stein won't listen.

"Crona," Stein says wiping the tears away with the back of his hand. "A man must take responsibility for the choices he makes in life."

"But she's a little kid not some plague!" Crona spits the words angrily.

"I understand that," Professor Stein says a hint of a smile on his lips. "I'm sorry that I'm not reacting the way you-"

"I knew it would be like this!" Crona says in a loud whisper so as not to disturb the baby. "Medusa just wanted to _use_ us and our dads didn't care-"

"Crona, don't accuse me of not caring. I just found out I'm a father. Like Kid said… I'm processing." Our mentor pauses. "Apparently, my demonic ex had my baby and never told me. It's a lot to take in. I've got a lot going on up here," the teacher says pointing to his cranium. "'Adeline,' you say?" he asks. "That's a pretty name."

"Yeah," Crona says nodding. "She likes the color red and carrots and poking Soul's eyeballs."

"Good to know," he says thoughtfully. "Lord Kid advised you well. You couldn't have kept this from me, nor would I have wanted you to… I just… I had _no idea_… and now I've got to think of how to tell Marie. This is going to come as an even bigger shock to her than it did to me."

"I'll help you," Crona says eager to help. "You know Marie loves kids. If she meets Adeline-"

"Thanks," Stein says shaking his head. "But I need to talk to her first. Please, don't let anyone tell her about this before I get to talk to her." Stein hangs his head. "Marie doesn't know I was ever with Medusa like that."

Kid's eyebrow arches almost as high as the doomed roof of the Death Room. Tsubaki gasps audibly. Maka's eyes look like they may pop out of their sockets.

"How can she not know you had sex with Medusa?" Patti asks bluntly. "_We_ all know. The entire student body knows."

"Yeah," Black*Star says nodding. "Yeah, Tsubaki and I walked in on you to in the infirmary that one time…"

"Marie doesn't know because I lied to her about it," Stein says simply. We're all silent for a few moments and then he continues, "Let this be a lesson to all of you. Nothing is more important than honesty."

"I'm so sorry," Crona says.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Stein says as he turns to leave. "Except for leaving without talking to anyone. I'm serious, don't do that ever again, _any of you_. You've no idea how much affection we teachers have for all of you."

I watch as he walks away marveling that he could have told such a lie to Marie. She couldn't honestly have believed that he never gave in to Medusa's seductive tactics, could she?

"Soul, you don't have any illegitimate children running around do you?" My meister whispers to me. I know she's trying to make a joke, but I can tell she's shaken up. We all are. The DWMA drills into our heads that there can be no secrets between partners and now we see that one of the DWMA's most gifted meisters has lied to the person he says is most important to him in the world.

"Nope, no bastard children," I tell Maka. "But I _do_ have a basement full of unruly brats who are probably about to riot if we don't hurry up and get them their morning snack."

She glances at her wristwatch and with a sigh agrees that we really ought to get going. Honestly, I think she and I would both like to hang out with our friends for a little while and do some 'processing' of our own, but we're DWMA students and there's a war on, so that's a luxury we don't have.

As we exit the Death Room, I put my hand in Maka's.

"Maka, I promise I'll never-"

"I know," she says smiling. "I won't either. I promise." I smile at her. We may be only teenagers, but sometimes I swear we have our shit more figured out than the adults around here.


	97. Chapter 97: Fruits and Fruit Salad

**Risenfromash:** Sorry this took so long. I wasn't having writer's block… it was more like editor's block I couldn't figure out how to polish the turd and make some of the intricate timeline make sense!

_**Chapter 97: Fruits and Fruit Salad; Does Kid Need a New Butler?**_

"We really need to go to the market," I comment as I stare into our refrigerator hoping magically something appetizing will appear in it.

Maka walks up beside me and puts a hand on the small of my back. "What? Suddenly mustard cracker sandwiches aren't good enough for you?"

My stomach growls as though it's trying to talk back to my meister. We haven't been at home for any length of time in months and I can't recall the last time we actually walked through our doors laden with groceries like we used to. I frown. I'm too tired to go shopping for food, but I'm too hungry not to. It's a dilemma I've often faced before, but today I may just curl up and die from it because there is _nothing _left in our cupboards, not even a morsel. Last time we ate at home we picked them clean to feast on a nutritious dinner of canned ravioli, toaster pastries, and tiny packages of oyster crackers left over from some time when we went out to eat.

Mira obviously had no idea about our kitchen wasteland or she wouldn't have kicked us out of the Sanctuary telling us to get some rest and have a home cooked meal for once.

I walk out of the kitchen and fling myself into our sofa face down. "God dammit, I'm tired," I mumble. Maka murmurs her agreement and comes and sits on the edge of the sofa next to me.

"You think Tsubaki'd feed us?" I ask.

"I think her and Black*Star need some alone, time," she says. "He's been gone a lot lately and it's making her feel insecure."

I roll over a little and lift my eyebrow. "Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?"

"I dunno, she told me yesterday that all of a sudden he's gone all the time and won't tell her what he's up to." Maka's eyes turn cold. "Do _you_ know what he's doing?"

"No! Last I knew he practically wouldn't let her be alone to go pee."

Maka shrugs. "Well all I know is something has changed and she's not very happy. She's worried he's got a girlfriend and he's too embarrassed to tell her."

I snort. "There's no way Black*Star is seeing someone. His desperation is still too great. Maybe Kid gave him a special assignment or something."

"And didn't let him tell Tsubaki?" Maka asks knowing that it's unlikely.

"I dunno. I know it doesn't make much sense, but…" My stomach growls loudly, again. "Damn. We need to get some food," I moan.

My meister sighs and walks over to the cupboard we keep our shopping bags in. "Come on. It'll only get harder the longer we wait."

I grunt my agreement, grab the shopping bags, double-check that I have my wallet and we head out. First, we head to the bakery to get some bread and then we go to the marketplace to buy some fruit and produce.

"Hey." I hear a voice greet us from the next stall over and see Brian standing there with a cantaloupe in his hand.

"Nice pair of melons you got there," I tell him.

"And I wasn't even tryin'," he says grinning broadly as he glances downward at his pseudo breasts. "It's gotta be some kind of gift."

Maka looks up from the tomatoes she was scrutinizing. "Don't encourage him, Soul!" she exclaims. "He's perverted enough without your assistance."

"I choose to take that as a compliment," Brian says bowing to my meister.

Maka rolls her eyes. "Brian, how are you ever going to be able to work with a girl?"

"You let me work with you," he says, "And you're a kickass meister so I'm not too worried." Maka hangs her head slightly in that modest way she does when someone pays her a compliment. "Sure, I won't be able to work with some _sheltered_ chick, but someone like you or the Thompsons I could pair up with. And if she gave me _special_ rewards for a job well done I'd-"

I clamp my hand over Brian's mouth and he inadvertently tosses the melons in the air. He and my one free hand juggle them as the fruit stand salesman shouts at us that we'll have to pay for any we drop.

Brian manages to catch them both and as he leans over to get them I whisper, "You can't say stuff like that aloud, buddy. Those kind of favors are against the rules."

The boy straightens up and looks between me and my meister. "Sure they are," he whispers back to me unconvinced.

"No, I'm serious. You suggest something like that to your partner and Kid won't have a choice but to expel you. And quit staring at my girlfriend," I grumble to him under my breath.

"_Anyway,_" Maka says glaring at the two of us because she knows whatever we are saying is something she would disapprove of. "Thanks for your help last night."

"No problem," Brian says. "All you had to say is ménage a trios and I'm there."

"I didn't say that," says Maka, annoyed.

"Oh, that's right," Brian says mischievously. "You said it was for Kid. Seriously, I'd do just about anything for him. It was just a bonus that he might get some kinky sister sex out of-"

"Arrrrggghhh!" she groans as she whacks him in the head with a book and I feel an odd pleasure in the fact that for once I'm not on the receiving end of her fury.

"Owww!" Brian says rubbing the top of his head. "All I meant is Kid's awesome and he _is_ letting me crash at his place. Crona told me that when he first came to DC he got housed in one those scary rooms in the school basement." Brian shudders. "I don't think I could handle that."

"Sounds like you and Crona are getting along well," Maka comments noticing Brian's use of Crona's catch phrase.

Brian nods. "Oh, yeah, he's cool. I can see why you guys missed him so much. Marie was so excited when she heard he was back." Maka's eyes meet mine, but she doesn't say anything about how Marie might be less than thrilled to learn of Crona's companion, so I don't either. "Aw, I better get back. These melons are for Louis. He's making some kind of fruit salad for dinner tonight. I guess Marie and Stein are coming over. I bet if I asked Louis he'd be fine with the two of you coming over, too," Brian says.

My meister and I shake our heads in unison. No way do we want to be there for _that_ dinner. The Professor and Marie are probably going to be fighting the entire time or Marie is going to be drowning the place with tears of betrayal. Marie's a very nice person, but she can get a little carried away sometimes.

"Ok, but don't say I didn't offer," the young pervert says as he pays the man for the melons and plops them into a shopping bag. "See ya later."

Maka and I finish our shopping and go home and eat and then I crash on the couch while she sits in the overstuffed chair reading. I alternate between snoozing and staring at her hoping she'll put down her book and pay attention to me. I walk over to her and hang my head over the edge of her book which causes her to emit that agitated choking sound she makes whenever I interrupt her reading. Then, she sets the book aside, takes a deep breath and says, "Tell you what. Why don't you go figure out what Black*Star's up to? You two could hang out for a while. You're probably sick of spending time with me."

I'm not at all, but she obviously wants to read her book.

"Is this one of those 'hardened member' books?" I ask picking up the book and flipping through it.

"No," she says blushing a little. "It's not a romance. It's about a bunch of mice that fight ferrets."

"Sounds stupid," I grumble.

"Well, it isn't," she says standing up and shoving me in the direction of the door. "And I'm in the middle of a really good part so… _go_, please do something without me for a while."

I stick my lip out and pout. She opens the door and puts her hand on my face and shoves me out the open door. "Soul, I love you, but I will kill you if I don't get to finish this book today."

"Ok," I say glumly. "I'll go see what the guys are up to."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later," she says as she shuts the door in my face.

I stand their grumbling for several minutes. My girlfriend would rather read about a bunch of fucking rodents than spend time with me! And on top of that she has the audacity to throw me out of my own apartment! I mumble curses the entire way over to Tsubaki and Black*Star's place.

"Oh, sorry, Soul, Star's not here," Tsubaki says when she answers the door. "You want to come in? We were just talking." I peer into the room and see that the Thompsons are over. The smell of nail polish and popcorn hangs heavy in the air. It is obviously girl time.

"Naw, that's ok, never mind," I say backing up. "Where's Black*Star at?"

"I wish I knew," Tsubaki says sounding a little hurt and I remember Maka's comment about my friend suddenly being gone a lot. I apologize to the girls for the interruption and head out.

Black*Star's MIA and I'm _sure_ Kid is working. Dammit. I could go hang out with Crona, but… I don't really want to have to hang around with a baby. Contrary to what Crona and Black*Star seem to think babies cramp a cool guy's style. I'll just swing by the academy and spend some time in the music room.

I pass by the gym and see that a bunch of students are training, including Kid who is practicing martial arts. I stop and talk to a couple people I know and Kid must hear my voice as he looks in my direction and puts up a hand to indicate that he wants to talk.

The other students continue with their dueling and he easily weaves through them dodging all of their attacks as though it's a passive thing he doesn't even have to think about doing.

"How ya doing?" I ask him. He has a serious expression on his face.

He grumbles and pulls from his pocket the puzzle box. "Frustrated. I haven't been able to open this thing. So, I came in here to train for a while. I thought taking a break might help."

It dawns on me then that he is alone because Patti and Liz are at Tsubaki's. My eyes light up. This is my chance to get the dirt on last night!

"Yeah, you need a break. For sure!" I startle him by grabbing his arm and practically dragging him from the gym. "When I'm writing music and I get stuck I go do something else for a while, and Maka told me to get lost for a while." He looks concerned, but I shake my head. "She's reading," I say rolling my eyes as I release my grip on his arm. "So, you're gonna go out with Black*Star and me, and tell us a little more about last night."

"It was great," Kid says smiling goofily. "You can quote me on that, but I really should-"

I grab his arm again. "Un, uh, you're not getting away that easily."

Kid tips his head, an expression of agitation appearing there. "Look, I didn't give _you_ the third degree when you started dating Maka."

"Yeah, and I was dating _one _girl. One. Numero Uno."

"It's really not that different," Kid says innocently.

"Nope. You're taking a walk with me. We're gonna go find Black*Star and then you're gonna tell us what a guy does to get two girlfriends in one night," I tell him.

"I'll walk with you, _because I need a break_, but I'm not telling you anything." His smug confidence other serves as a challenge. I can't back down now; I will get him to tell us everything, but I'll need Black*Star for back up. "So, do you know where Black*Star's _at_? Tsubaki didn't seem to know and I guess he's been gone a lot lately."

"He said something to me about doing some training in Skeleton Key Park. Of course, I assumed he meant with Tsubaki, but maybe he thought she should get some rest. We can go together to see if he's there. I've just got to stop by the house and let Louis know where I'll be," Kid says with a sigh. "Being Lord Death takes all your freedom. I used to be able to hop on Beezlebub and cruise to Australia, Japan, Russia. It was awesome."

"We'll rescue your dad and it'll be like that again," I tell him.

Kid shakes his head. "I'm in too deep; even if we find my father nothing's going to be the same." He sighs. "Such is the life of a Shinigami." I'm not used to Kid being so gloomy and it seems weird considering that last night he was supposedly doing the horizontal tango with both of the Thompsons. I guess that damn puzzle box is really driving him nuts.

As we approach Death Manor I see a figure pacing in front. Whoever it is is skinny and sways their hips in a very seductive manner with each step.

"Cherry?" Kid calls to the person. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Kid," Cherry runs to him, wailing, and throws her face into his chest, which is a feat since she would be taller than him even without the purple stiletto heels she's wearing. "I didn't know where else to go!"

Kid pats her on the shoulders. "What's wrong?"

She pulls her head away from Kid to look at him. "I'm leaving Carey."

Kid's shoulders sag. "What'd he do this time?"

"No, it isn't like that. I'm really doing it, but I have nowhere to go. You're the only friend I have who doesn't work at the club or go there all the time." Kid shakes his head at me to indicate he doesn't go there at all. I just grin back at him. "I was gonna get a room at the _Silkweed_, but then I realized I don't have any money cause Carey handles all of that and I don't want him to know where I am."

"Wait. You don't have any money of your own?" I ask. If I fucked on film and stripped naked for strangers I'd make sure I had the money I earned.

"I didn't need to, Carey lets me get whatever I want, but I don't want to rely on him anymore. I don't wanna feel like-" At this she makes a high pitched shriek that I swear could break glass. "I don't know what to do!"

"Ok… ok," Kid says rubbing her back a little. "Just take a breath. It'll be ok. How 'bout you stay at my place for a while. It's not like I don't have the room. Come on, we'll get Louis to get you all set up. He can get you anything you need. OK?"

"Really?" she pulls her chest away from him and there is not only a trail of tears from each eye there's also a large snout bubble from each of her nostrils. I've never seen a stripper look more unattractive.

Kid walks with her to the door and rings the door bell and Louis opens the door. Louis, novice butler that he is, can't hide the look of surprise on his face at seeing the stripper glomped onto Kid.

"Louis, Sherry is going to be staying with us for a few days."

She lifts her head. "I'm leaving Carey," she says sniffling.

"Oh," Louis says nervously as he eyes the rather cozy position Cherry and Kid are in.

"We ran into her out front," I explain. "She's a wreck and Kid's been a shoulder to cry on, but he and I are going out."

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry," Cherry says pulling away and then running her hands over the tear stains on Kid's shirt. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to keep you."

"It's fine," Kid assures her. "Louis will get you anything you need. You can take a nice long bath and watch some TV and try to get your mind off things for a while, ok?"

"Oh, you're so wonderful!" she says kissing his cheek. Louis' eyebrows go up.

As we walk back down the stairs to the street, I ask my friend what I'm sure Louis must be thinking. "You sure that was a good idea?"

"What?" Kid asks confused. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, I dunno… you just invited an exotic dancing, porn star who has the hots for you to stay in your house along with you and your two incredibly territorial girlfriends."

Kid shakes his head. "The girls won't mind."

"You don't really understand what it means to be a _boyfriend_ do you?" I comment suddenly feeling as though there is something I know all about that Kid doesn't.

Kid pauses in his descent down the staircase. "Let me get this straight, I _just_ became their boyfriend and now I have to worry about losing them?"

"That's how it works, bro," I tell him.

Kid glances back at the house with concern. "I guess I could have paid for her to stay at the _Silkweed_. A hotel just seems like such an impersonal place for a person going through-"

"Either way the Thompsons are going to be suspicious," I say with a shrug.

"Only because Cherry tends to be a very physical lady. Liz and Patti trust me. We wouldn't make such an awesome team if they didn't." His confidence should reassure me, but I know that Maka would not be ok with me inviting a stripper to shack up with us for a few days… though that is basically what living with Blair is…er, was like.

Kid alternates between appearing confident and seeming anxious about his choice to have Cherry stay at the manor, so I change the subject. "Hey, have you given Black*Star some special missions lately?"

"Of course. He's an amazing fighter, though the girls and I could still cream him with one hand tied behind my back," Kid says proudly.

"But you aren't having him meister someone else or something are you?"

Kid cocks his head to the side and looks at me inquisitively. "Why?"

"Maka said something about Black*Star suddenly being gone all the time. First, he won't leave Tsubaki alone and now he's disappearing on her."

"It's not my doing, I assure you," Kid says.

We walk through the streets and Kid comments on how nice it is to be out. He doesn't get to spend much time away from the manor or the DWMA campus, I guess. As we walk by _Baubles and Beads_, the jewelry store on Raven and Eighth, I remember his rings and ask him about it.

"I gave them to the girls," Kid says. "It's always challenging to find a present I can give them that they know is truly special because I can buy most anything for them without a great deal of thought or effort and I wanted to give them each a present that they knew meant a lot… and I don't cook or sew or knit."

I grimace. "Aren't those special Shinigami rings only worn by Lord Death and his descendants?"

"Liz and Patti are my family."

"You're gonna be in a shit ton of trouble when your dad gets back, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes," Kid says with a mischievous smirk. "Perhaps I should be thanking Avian Flu for stealing him away for a while. If he were still in charge I would never in a million years have admitted to the girls how I feel about them."

"So, did the girls get _you_ a present? Or were _they_ your present?"

"No, they got me something… a cowboy hat, a really nice quality one, just the right size," he tells me. "I think I look doofy in it, but they don't seem to think so."

"I bet."

"Yes, well, Liz does have a bit of a thing for cowboys," he admits, his pale face flushing just a bit.

"I'm never gonna see this hat, am I?"

"No, probably not," Kid says grinning. "It's hanging by the bed right now."

"Gross!" I grumble. "I don't want to know about your fetishes."

"Not _my _fetish. Liz's." Kid says as though that ought to make it so much better.

We turn the corner about a block from the corner of Skeleton Key Park to find the streets littered with heaps of ice the fish mongers have left on the street to melt. In the middle of the street heading in the direction of the park is Black*Star. Kid and I call his name and he turns around then shouts, "Oh, hey, dudes," and comes running over. When he reaches us we see that he is dripping with sweat as though he's been working out for hours.

"We wanted to see if you wanted to hang out," I explain.

Black*Star looks at his watch. "I can for a while."

Kid's eyes shift toward mine. Since when does Black*Star _check his watch_ to see if he's free? What is our friend up to? And why does he smell... I sniff the air… fishy? Kid's nose wiggles up and down as he, too, notices the funkiness in the air. He steps toward Black*Star and shouts, "Good god man! What have you been doing bathing in a koi pond?"

"Oh, hah," Black*Star says embarrassed. "Sorry 'bout that. Kirikou said I could use the shower at his place." Black*Star leads the way to the student/rapper's abode and Kid and I follow exchanging glances of concern.

We reach Kirikou's and our friend stands on the stoop of the lower level apartment and wraps on the door with his enormous knuckles. A moment later the door is opened by one of the twins.

"Sssshhh. Everybody's asleep," one of the twins' caution, and as Kid and I step into the room we discover that when they said 'everybody' they didn't only mean everyone in the place but something like half the DWMA student body. There are teenagers sacked out all over the apartment. Heaps of pillows, blankets, and backpacks are everywhere with snoozing students collapsed over or under them, and ever chair in the place has at least one person occupying it. Everyone looks completely passed out. I guess that the partying must have continued long after Kid and the girls left the club last night. I step into the kitchen thinking that will be the most out of the way spot to wait with Kid, but I almost step on Freddy's face and part of his rainbow mohawk on my way in.

"Shit," I involuntarily mutter as I stumble over him. This throws off Kid who was following behind me and he grabs the back of my shirt trying to right himself rather than step on Freddy's kidney. Completely lacking in grace and coordination we manage to get over the sleeping Laughing Sun student and come to lean against the counter in front of the kitchen sink.

Freddy rouses a little, but makes no attempt to get up. "Yooow… what up… my home…ees?" he says, extremely slowly as though he's a record set to the wrong rotation speed.

"Nothin' much," Kid says.

Freddy looks up at him with the haziness of one who is not entirely awake or sober. "No bombings? No invasions?"

"Only in New Zealand and we've got that covered," Kid says seriously.

Freddy yawns and pats Kid's shoe, "Good. You're doing a really great job, Lord-"

"It's ok," Kid says with that tight-lipped smile of his. "You have my permission to go back to sleep."

"Thanks, man, you're the best," Freddy says with a final affectionate tap of Kid's shoe and then he's out again.

Kid and I glance at each other and bust up.

"And I thought you'd be the most tired person after last night," I tease Kid. Kid nods, but doesn't take the bait to open up about his evening at the Silkweed with Liz and Patti.

"So, why you think Black*Star stinks like fish?"

"My guess would be that it has something to do with the fish monger on Regulus Avenue, but I could be wrong. I don't know why he'd be there."

We stand there side by side staring at Kirikou's kitchen cupboards for lack of something better to do until Black*Star pops his head into the kitchen and almost clobbers Freddy with his big booted ninja feet.

"Oh, shit, sorry, Fred-dude," he says. "Black*Star was just super excited about gettin' in here and hearing about Kid's wild night."

"Kid… wild… night…" mumbles Freddy as he readjusts himself on the floor.

"I somehow suspect that his night was wilder than mine," Kid says as we carefully step over Freddy making our way out of the kitchen and out of the apartment.

"So, you think your night wasn't all that wild, huh?" Black*Star asks as he waves goodbye to the twins and shuts Kirikou's apartment door behind us.

"Yeah, I mean it was just me and the girls," Kid says, trying to downplay it.

"I think Soul and Black*Star should be the judge of how crazy it was," Black*Star says. "That's what you've got friends for, ya know."

"I think I'll pass. I was there; I know what it was like," Kid evades.

"Dude, don't do this to us. You say it was no big deal, but you're smiling," Black*Star points to the reapers' lips.

"I am not," Kid says as he smiles bigger.

"I knew it!" our blue-haired friend wails. "It was super hot wasn't it? I bet you didn't even have to work at it! I bet you just laid back and they were _all over_ you."

Kid grins bigger and puts his hand up. "I'm sworn by-"

"Bullshit!" I shout. "You can tell us! Come on. You can't become Liz _and _Patti's boyfriend overnight and not answer our questions!"

"Yeah," Black*Star whines. "How's that supposed to work? Don't give me that look, Reaper! You guys were totally making out in front of us this morning. You can't pretend you wanna be all private about everything and then act like that." Kid rolls his eyes. "I think you wanna tell us. You're bursting at the seams with how bad you want to tell us what a badass you were in the bedroom last night."

I grin. "Yeah, I think bagging the two of them in one night earns you some bragging rights."

"What are you? Neanderthals?! They're my friends, not some girls I picked up in a bar!" Kid exclaims.

"We know that," I say. "Which makes us even more curious. Black*Star and I need to make sure that you're treating the girls real good."

Kid stops walking and gives me an extremely dirty look. "Is this why you suggested we go out? I thought we were supposed to hang out and relax, but right now I'm getting interrogated, which I don't appreciate. I already have to do a stupid interview with some stuffy British reporter so I can reestablish my 'professionalism'."

"That sucks," Black*Star says kicking a pebble in the road, and then with a grin says, "But could you at least tell us if you _really_ made it with both of 'em at the same time?" I nod and waggle my eyebrows.

Kid grumbles, "I've already told you! A _gentleman_ doesn't-"

"That's true," I concede. "A _gentleman_ doesn't, but I know a couple hot ladies spilling all the details to _their_ friends." My grin exposes every one of my pointy teeth to him as his eyes bug out.

"Are you _serious_?! Good grief, can they not keep _anything_ private? I understand that it's too much to expect of Patti, but _Liz_?!"

I'm not lying to him, by way of Maka I've already heard a few interesting tidbits about the evening… and they've whetted my appetite to hear the story from Kid's point of view.

"Oh, come on, man, we're like brothers. You can tell us," Black*Star goads. "We won't tell anybody. Avian Flu could torture me and I'd never say a word about how you are with those two. I swear." He places a hand on his heart. "I just gotta know, man. It'll drive me insane otherwise."

I nod. "And all of us helped you to have an uninterrupted evening together: Black*Star and Tsubaki, and Crona, and Brian, and me and Maka, and-"

"Ans they've got black licorice ice cream back in at _Scream's_!" Black*Star says knowing that Kid is almost as obsessed with licorice ice cream as he is with symmetry.

Kid stands there debating for a moment. "I _would_ enjoy a licorice sundae…"

"My treat!" Black*Star says waving a wad of cash he pulls from his pocket.

Kid thinks about this for a moment and nods. "Well… what are Liz and Patti saying?" he asks nervously.

I play dumb as though I have to reach way back into my memory banks to retrieve the info when it's right there at the forefront of my mind. "I seem to recall Patti saying it was better than she imagined it could be… and Liz saying that you were the best she's ever been with."

Kid's eyebrows arch ever so slightly as a self-satisfied smirk appears on his lips. "Reeeaaallly?"

Black*Star grins at me. Kid's gonna spill and we both know it. "Well," Kid says with a shrug. "If they're talking about it I guess I can say a _little_."

"That's all we ask," I say winking at Black*Star.

"But you can wait until we get you your ice cream," Black*Star says thumping him on the back. "And Soul and I'll make sure it's a perfectly rounded scoop."

Kid shrugs as we head toward the ice cream shop. "You don't have to worry. I'm too busy obsessing about getting that damn puzzle box open to worry too much about the symmetry of my dessert. And thanks for your help last night. Patti told me what you guys did and it was nice. Though it was _entirely _unnecessary," Kid mumbles. "I had things under control."

"Yeah, it really looked like it with you puffing away that entire pack of cigarettes in twenty minutes," Black*Star mutters sarcastically.

"Hey, I had every reason to be anxious. Doing this was a big risk," Kid says.

"But it was worth the risk wasn't it?" I say smiling broadly.

"Oh, yeah," Kid moans, his eyes shutting remembering what I can only assume are some very lustful moments with his partners. "They are… incredible."

Black*Star and I squeal like a couple fan girls. We can't help it. Kid and _both_ of the Thompsons! Holy crap! I never thought this day would happen!

Kid shakes his head and laughs at our excitement. "I really just couldn't choose between them. I don't desire a harem or something."

Black*Star and I snicker as I hold the door to the ice cream shop open for my friends. "Sure, sure," I say placating him as I wave him in ahead of me.

"No, I'm serious. I just couldn't take it anymore, guys," Kid says glancing up at the menu board.

"What man could? What with the naughty talk, the groin grinding…" I say as I eye the menu. Do I feel like a banana split or the chocolate overload? It's been a long time since I've been here because Maka's lactose intolerant.

"Patti's very naughty," Black*Star nods.

"You have _no idea_," Kid says shaking his head. "Not to mention the way the two of them always hint at things-"

"I'm pretty sure that's what's called 'flirting'," I tease.

"And the way they always leave the door open just a crack when they're changing so that no matter how I try not to I see a _sliver_ of their naked bodies and then they claim _I'm _the pervert."

"Cause you are," Black*Star says whacking the reaper on the ass.

"I am not a pervert. I have perfectly normal urges," Kid says glaring at the ninja.

"Dude, you're dating a pair of sisters," I laugh. "How can you say that and keep a straight face?"

The reaper hushes me and glances around to make sure no one is eavesdropping on us. "Don't say another word until we have our ice cream!" he orders scanning the restaurant.

We get our ice cream and Kid picks out a table in the corner that he deems is private enough to allow us to talk. I pull out my chair and sit down. "Ok, so tell us about your forbidden sister love."

"That makes it sound like incest!" hisses the Shinigami. "And it's not _my_ fault. It's them. They're demons, I swear it. Gorgeous, smart, sexy, _wild_ demons. I am merely their prey… albeit _willing_ prey… but still."

Black*Star nods. "Sexual ninjas would call it 'entrapment'."

"'Sexual ninjas'?" Kid and I ask looking at him as though he's suddenly sprouted a third eyeball.

"It's a thing," Black*Star assures us as he shovels an almond covered heap of ice cream into his mouth. "But it's off topic. Black*Star wants to hear more about last night."

"Yeah, when did you go from 'they're like sisters to me' to wanting to jump 'em?" I ask. I can tell Kid doesn't appreciate my choice of words, but he doesn't comment.

"Well, Patti developed this habit of sneaking in bed with me if she couldn't sleep… and after a couple times when I about had a heart attack I thought it wouldn't hurt if they stayed with me. I mean, we do it when we're on missions."

"And getting felt up by Patti was just a bonus, right?" Black*Star asks as I slow my ice cream consumption rate down to prevent a brain freeze

Kid frowns. "No seriously. I just wanted them near me and to not accidentally attack my partners because I mistook them for Flu operatives."

"Fair enough," I say signaling to Black*Star that if we want the dirt we're gonna have to let this rationalization slip by.

"And, of course, Liz insisted on being with Patti and me so the two of us didn't do 'anything stupid.'"

"So, now all three of you have done something stupid," Black*Star says chuckling.

"Not stupid," Kid says happily. "Something about having them in my bed every night, made me realize that's what I wanted. That I didn't feel imposed upon at all. That I wanted to snuggle up to them and…" he appears lost in thought for a moment. "Anyway, we did _nothing_ stupid, quite the opposite in fact. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant." He stretches. "I've felt like I was walking on air all day… other than not being able to open the puzzle box." He scowls for a moment remembering his agitation with the item given to him by Tran. Then his face brightens. "I can hardly wait till tonight."

I grin. "You do remember how Black*Star told you _over and over_ again that you had the hots for them and you denied it, right?"

An embarrassed smirk appears on his lips, "Well, they are my partners, it's challenging to sort out all those emotions-"

"And how right after taking out the kishin you were like 'oh, no, they're like sisters to me. I would never dream of-'"

"I'm not the first person to feign strictly platonic feelings to preserve a friendship," Kid says defending his actions. Then, looking directly into Black*Star's eyes he says, "At least I wasn't assuming that they'd just be my life long companions without me saying crap to them about my feelings."

"Burn!" I howl.

"Hey, man!" Black*Star says outraged. "That's not fair. I thought Tsubaki knew. I didn't know she was gettin' all horned up and ready to jump the first guy who asked her out. If she'd just said something you know Black*Star would have been more than happy to take care o' those needs."

Kid laughs so hard he almost spews out black ice cream. He coughs and croaks out a warning to Black*Star. "You need to tell her. Take action, man."

"Aw, shut up! I told you, I got a plan," the ninja says.

"Yeah, what is this plan of yours?" I ask turning on my friend. "When do we getta hear about it?"

"Too soon," Black*Star says waving his gloved hand dismissively. "I'll tell ya when I'm ready. I've got things under control, too."

"Of course you do," Kid says smiling at him.

Black*Star slumps down in his seat and crosses his arms as he chomps on his ice cream. "I do! Besides, we're _supposed_ to be hearing about your night not making fun of me 'cause I'm the only one without a girlfriend. You can't begin to know how much it sucks. You have an _spare_ girlfriend and I don't even get _one_."

"It isn't that you _can't_ have a girlfriend, Black*Star," Kid says kindly. "It's that you're waiting to be with the right person and sometimes that takes time… things are complicated for all of us."

Black*Star mumbles something else I can't make out.

"So, let's see," Kid says apparently returning to the original subject after attempting to light a fire under Black*Star's ass. "The girls and I went out to dinner. We ate by candlelight and I had the _best_ linguini I've ever had with these little shrimp…" Black*Star groans and Kid grins coyly. "Oh, you don't want to hear about the menu and the amazing dessert?" Black*Star threatens our friend with his fist and Kid continues, "Then we went dancing and Liz and Patti got kind of silly. It sort of felt like that night when we were celebrating and we did karaoke and I kissed both of them… only this time we started talking and so we went to the coach so we could talk some more and things started getting kind of serious and Liz started to try to leave and I wouldn't let her. I told her I wanted her to stay… and _Patti_ said she wanted her to stay and then we all started arguing and it got heated. We were all shouting at one another, and then finally I got so pissed off I asked Liz if she didn't have feelings for me why the hell she'd gone down on me in bed that one night."

"It was _Liz_?!" Black*Star asks. "For reals?"

"How'd you know it wasn't Patti?" I ask leaning in.

"I couldn't be one hundred percent positive it was her, of course, but I put the odds at about ninety-five percent. I was sure that those lips knew what they were doing, if you know what I mean," Kid says blushing.

"I don't, I wish I did, though," Black*Star says looking at Kid with envy.

"Well when I blurted that out to Liz, Patti squealed in shock so then the jig was up. Liz couldn't pretend that it wasn't her and so she admitted to it, and then she proceeded to claim it was no big deal and didn't mean anything, which neither Patti or I believed. Finally, Liz said that '_sure'_ she had feelings but it didn't matter because I needed to be with her sister and then we started arguing again, or rather Patti and I were arguing with Liz. And, finally, I told her that I refused to choose between the two of them so either I was with both of them or neither and then Liz got _really_ angry and said I had no right to do that to Patti and she slapped me."

"Patti?" Black*Star asks.

"No Liz," Kid clarifies. "_Liz_ was mad at me because she thought Patti deserved to have a 'normal' relationship and when Patti and I pointed out that 'normal' is _highly_ overrated and that no relationship a Shinigami, or even a DWMA student, has ever had could be classified as 'typical' or 'normal' she slapped me and called me a pervert."

"Liz?" Black*Star asks and Kid nods.

"Wow," I say more than a little confused. "I know I'm gonna sound girly when I say this, but this doesn't sound romantic at all."

Kid laughs. "It really wasn't. Part of me wanted to throw her down and kiss her and the other part felt like throwing her out of the carriage."

"So, how did you go from her accusing you of being pervy to having sex with both of them? Because I still can't figure that out," I admit.

Kid shrugs. "Shinigami charm, I guess. I really don't know. I just told her that I loved her and Patti more than anything and I did everything I could to convince them… Liz, really, Patti agreed with me the entire time, which infuriated Liz to no end because it made her feel ganged up on. If it's going to be two against one she likes it to be her and her sister versus me, not Patti and I against her. But the more she fought the more Patti giggled and told her she was lying to herself and then I simply refused to listen to it anymore and I kissed her."

"Who?" Black*Star asks.

"Liz," Kid said. "_First, Liz. Then, Patti_ and then… well… one thing led to another… and you know the rest."

"No, we really don't," I say scowling at him.

The reaper smirks back at me and Black*Star. "You know enough. I don't know why you think I would reveal to you what my girlfriends and I do in private."

"'Girlfriends'?! That is so damn hot!" Black*Star hoots.

"It's not that I'm prying," I say about to ask another question.

"But you are," Kid says.

"Ok, fine," I grumble, "I'm totally prying, but how do you have sex with _two_ chicks at the _same time_?"

Kid grins. "Guys, I have two hands and lips and a tongue, it's not that hard."

"That's what she said," Black*Star says snickering as he scoops up the last little bit of his ice cream.

"Actually," Kid says leaning back. "They both said something quite the opposite… when I _let_ them talk."

I shake my head. "Na-uh. There is no way that the Thompsons, let you be in charge," I tell him. "I don't buy it. They're way too aggressive."

Black*Star nods, "Yeah, Patti's been riding you with your clothes on forever now. There is _no way_ she just laid back and let you be on top."

"Think what you want to think," Kid says. "We're happy. That's all you need to know."

"So, is Liz gonna stop messin' around with Rodrigo when he's in town now?" I ask.

Kid shrugs. "She hasn't decided what she wants to do. We're trying not to be too worried about the future, but to focus on our time together."

"So, is it common knowledge that you three have hooked up?" the ninja asks scratching his head.

Kid frowns. "You 'hook up' when you meet someone at the club and have sex with them in the alley, not when you're friends for years and then-"

"Yah, yeah, yah, I got it," Black*Star says impatiently. "So is it a secret or not?"

"The girls and I have decided that discretion would be best, considering my position and their criminal history and everything."

Black*Star laughs. "So, this morning were you totally crapping your pants thinking that a sex tape had gotten leaked of the three of you?"

"Oh, God, yes. It didn't even _occur_ to me that I might have missed a surveillance camera at the compound. We took out something like twelve of the damn things right away."

We sit there in silence as this news sinks in. It's not hard to believe that the girls and Kid would be attracted to one another. Every girl seems to want in Kid's pants and Liz and Patti have a unique mix of party girl, farm girl, and girl next door that is definitely appealing especially when they wear those super short shorts they like to wear, but it is going to take me a while to wrap my mind around the fact Kid isn't going to be reprimanding Patti every time she feels him up now.

"I can't believe you had sex before me," Black*Star moans. "_Twice_ even. _Death the Kid,_ one of the nerdiest guys in school, managed to get laid _twice_ before me."

A sly smile appears on Kid's face. "Do you really think I had the Thompsons naked and in bed with me and I only had sex with each of them once? Oh, Black*Star, you are so naive."

"Oh, my god, you did it a bunch of times! I'm gonna kill you," Black*Star springs to his feet and charges the reaper who leaps from his seat and dances out of the way.

"Soul, help me out here," the ninja shouts at me.

I look uncertainly.

"It's ok," Kid says laughing. "It'll even things up. I do have _two_ girlfriends while he has none."

Black*Star lunges for Kid and Kid does an open arm backflip out of the way.

"Maybe instead of getting mad at me you should tell Tsubaki how you feel about her and how you've been in love with her from the first moment you laid eyes on her and how you want to have a million babies with her," Kid says laughing. "You and Tsubaki are perfect for one another and you need to tell her… or maybe I should tell her? I seem to be on a roll with confessions of love right now..." Kid pretends to be debating the point. "What do you think Soul? You think if he doesn't fess up by graduation his headmaster should step in and gets things settled for him?"

"I don't need some dude who's all cocky 'cause he just bagged two chicks to take pity on me and try to help me out," Black*Star growls angrily.

Kid ignores this and continues, "I'll tell her how you're always talking about buying her a palomino to ride and a big kitchen where you can have us all over to-"

"You can't tell her that stuff! I want it to be a-" The rest of Black*Star's comment is lost due to a loud chiming sound from Kid's pocket. Kid pulls out his pocket watch and opens it and turns a nob and the clock face flips open to reveal a speaker.

"Yes, Death the Kid here," he answers as though talking to a watch is an everyday occurrence, which for him it may be, but I've never seen anything like this before.

"My Lord," the voice is unmistakably that of Sid. He's probably filling in for Kid at the moment receiving news and transmissions in the Death Room. "Spirit checked in. He has located Blair." His next words are drown out by our elated shouts. Blair!

"I'm sorry, Sid, you'll have to repeat that last bit there," Kid says. "Is she ok?"

"She's injured. Spirit doesn't know the extent of it yet. Professor Stein has departed and is set to rendezvous with them in B.C. tomorrow morning… barring any altercations with Avian Flu."

"Excellent!" Kid murmurs. Then to us he says, "We'll know more tomorrow. Sounds like we don't have more info yet. I hadn't told you anything because I didn't want to get your hopes up."

Sid continues, "We know she's alive, which is good news. I don't think she'd like having to go undead like me." He chuckles.

"Few people can pull off zombism and keep their humanity intact. You are a rare gem, Sid."

"No need for flattery, Lord Kid. I just enjoy my job too much to quit for any reason, even death," our teacher tells us.

"And for that I will be eternally grateful. Keep me abreast of any developments. I'm out with Black*Star and Soul."

"Will do," and the communicator goes silent and Kid clicks the pocket watch shut again. "Ingenious device isn't it?"

"Joe?" I ask knowing he had to have engineered it.

"Yes, I told him that while in DC I wanted some kind of two way communicator that was less conspicuous than a walkie-talkie. It only took him a couple days to design the prototype. I'm considering making them standard issue to students and faculty. It's so much easier to reach someone that way then to have to leave a calling card or a written message- oh, no!"

He jerks the watch back out of his pocket and fumbles with it, twisting a hidden nob that turns a cog inside.

"Hello, Sir?" It's Louis. "I've gotten Sherry settled in as requested-"

"Did you send a retraction of the invite I sent to Stein and Marie for dinner tonight?" Kid asks sweat beading all over his pale face.

"Retraction? No, Kid, I just had the message delivered a few hours ago," Louis says sounding confused. "Why would we retract an invitation? I'm no butler but I don't believe that's good etiquette."

"Stein's off on a mission with Spirit," Kid groans.

"Oh, well, good, then we'll have enough food. I was concerned we might not have enough melons for the fruit salad when you invited Sherry-"

"_Not_ good! Marie will find the invite and come without the Professor!"

"And why would that be a problem? Does she find stripping immoral or something? I never took her as the judgmental type-"

"Because she's going to be all excited to see Crona and then she'll meet Adeline."

"And why is that bad?" Louis says. "I'm sorry, Kid. I'm not good at this whole butlering thing. I'm a much better accountant."

"Because Adeline is Stein and Medusa's illegitimate child!" Kid blurts out as though it should be blatantly apparent.

One word comes over the watch-communicator and it's the f-word. I guess Louis hadn't figured Stein's secret out yet.

"When is Marie scheduled to arrive?"

"The invitation said to be here around five thirty," Louis said.

Kid rotates the watch dangling from his hand so he can check the time. "Dammit. That's in like five minutes! Stall her. Don't let her see Crona and Adeline. Sic Cherry on her or something_. Anything._ I'll be home in five minutes! No, two minutes!" And with one motion of Kid's hand he clamps the watch's many compartments shut and tosses down Beezlebub. As he hops on the board he wraps an arm around my waist and the other around Black*Star's and takes off before we can protest.


	98. Chapter 98: Follies and Forgiveness

**Risenfromash: **Thanks for your reviews and your continued support. Yesterday I was so frustrated with this chapter, but today Kid told me in no uncertain terms what I was doing wrong. Apparently, he's in a take charge kind of mood…

_**Chapter 98: Follies and Forgiveness; No Quick Fixes?**_

Kid has a strong hold on us, but Black*Star and I can't help freaking out. I have a new respect for the level of trust the Thompsons have in their meister as this is nothing short of terrifying. As we approach Death Manor and go sailing up the staircase I feel like I'm about to piss myself.

"The door!" Black*Star bellows, but Kid doesn't respond. Instead, he adjusts a ring on his hand and the door flies open just as we enter the room. He hovers us into the parlor and hops off the board releasing us from his arms. Used to his ladies who are immediately prepared for action, he lets go of us without warning and we both fall to the floor forming pancakes like a cartoon character that's fallen off a cliff. He's too preoccupied to apologize to us as we struggle to regain a third dimension. His eyes are transfixed on Marie standing in the middle of the room facing Crona who is holding Adeline. Louis and Brian are there, too, evidently having been unable to hide the baby from the Death Scythe.

My world is spinning too much to take in everything that's being said. I hear Louis profusely apologizing. I hear Crona saying something apologetic as Adeline blows raspberries and makes little baby shouts, and then Marie's choked up voice saying _she's_ sorry but she has to go. She turns and runs for the door we just burst through, her hand covering her one good eye. Before she can get the door closed behind her we hear the sobbing. It's clear she didn't want us to see her cry.

To my surprise Kid doesn't dash after Marie. He just stands there, his back incredibly straight, _abnormally_ straight for the lanky teen who typically slouches backward or to the side. He twitches a little and inhales deeply flaring his nostrils as I fight the urge to puke.

"Dude, I'm so sorry, man!" Brian rushes to explain. "We tried to stall her in the hall, but someone had told her Crona was back and she was so excited about seeing him she kinda ran in here."

Black*Star is already on his feet. I guess he does deserve the 'ninja' title despite the fact he's too noisy to sneak up on anyone. "Leave it to Marie to be early. If it'd been Stein he would have been a half hour late."

Kid silently surveys the room as though reconstructing in his mind how the last several minutes in the sitting room went. Then he thunders, "Where are Patti and Liz?"

"I don't know," Louis answers.

"Are they here?" Kid asks. He's not blinking. His yellow eyes are terrifying like the kishin's. Did we just witness our friend crossing to the dark side? Was he one failed dinner party away from transforming into a demon? A cold chill runs down my spine. I glance at Black*Star, but he seems less concerned about the reaper and more about me.

"You ok, Soul?" he asks loudly as he extends his hand to help me to my feet.

"As far as I know they are in the mansion, Lord Kid, or somewhere on the estate; they could be outside," the pseudo-butler explains.

"I think they're up in their rooms," Brian says softly and then hurriedly adds, "But I could be wrong. I mean, I'm not sure and I haven't been spying on them or anything. You know that I don't do that kind of thing anymore…" The young pervert's voice trails off as we all watch Kid march out of the parlor leaving me and Black*Star, Crona and Adeline, and Brian and Louis standing there confused.

"Liz! Patti!" Kid shouts from the bottom of the stairs in the tone of a disciplinarian. He shouts their names again and then barks, "Come here _now!_"

His two girlfriends appear at the top of the stairs. "What?" Patti says sounding put-out by responding to his calling.

"Why are you not at dinner at the appointed hour?" Kid asks his eyes blazing with rage.

"We didn't feel like it," Patti answers cattily. "Thought your special guest would be enough to entertain you. Or are you really forming a harem? Are sis and I not enough for you?"

In much the same way a hunter signals for his hound dog to heel, Kid gestures for them to come join him at the bottom of the stairs, but they make no move to obey and he grows more agitated.

"And I thought Kirikou's thirty-six hour girlfriend was going to remain the record for shortest relationship," Black*Star whispers to me. I nod and Ragnarok chortles. It's not that we'd take pleasure in watching this thing crash and burn, but we can't help staring. The concept of the three of them in some kind of weird triangular relationship is strange enough and then to see them go from making out in front of us to looking as though they might strangle one another is too appallingly fascinating to turn away from.

"Are we under attack?" Patti cries back haughtily. "Otherwise, I see no reason to be by your side."

My jaw drops. I've _never_ seen Patti this defiant of Kid's instructions.

Kid's eyes grow as large as platters and he stamps his foot and points to the spot next to him. "Patti! Liz! You are _my weapons_. Get your _asses_ down here right _now_. I need to talk to you." Again, he has that parent tone, because it went over so well the first time.

"Not till you tell us why _she's_ here," Patti says.

Kid cocks his head a little to one side in thought. "Beeecause I invited her to dinner. I didn't realize that she'd be coming without the Professor."

For a moment, the Thompsons appear confused by this answer. Then Liz says, "She doesn't mean Marie. She means your friend in the spike heels and gaudy earrings." I sigh; I _told_ him this was gonna happen.

"What?" Kid asks befuddled.

"They mean Cherry," I say to him. I think with everything going on he had completely forgotten that he had invited the stripper to stay at the mansion. A look of understanding appears on his face and he begins to stride up the stairs.

"Pat-ti," Kid says slowly as he gives her a Shinigami glare that I'm sure in the olden days would have drained the life right out of her soul. "Cherry and Carey broke up. She needed a place to go. We happen to be blessed with a home that can accommodate many guests, so I invited her to stay here till she's back on her feet. You are my girlfriend, but I am still a _person_ and free to do as I please as long as it doesn't cross any line we've agreed upon and I _know_ I did not agree to leaving my friends and acquaintances out in the cold because you and your sister can't find it in your heart to trust me."

"You could have at least told us," Liz says more gently than I would have expected from her. For once, she seems more even tempered than her younger sister.

"I didn't have time!" Kid hisses. "I can't believe I'm having to say this to the two of you, when I would think that after last night it would be blatantly obvious how strongly I feel about each of you, but-" He grabs Patti by the upper arm and roughly yanks her close giving her the sloppiest, craziest French kiss I have ever seen. Releasing Patti, he grabs Liz's hand pulling her from the upper step she is on before crashing his lips into hers. Her eyes go wide for a moment from the shock before closing and seemingly kissing him back.

Apparently satisfied that he's made his point, he withdraws his lips, a string of saliva bridging the space between Liz's lips and his own. He wipes the spit away with the back of his hand as his eyes stare down Liz and then turn to bore into Patti's.

"Obviously, I love the two of you far more than you are capable of fathoming or else you would not doubt my commitment to you. As your boyfriend, I am _deeply _hurt by your insinuations. And as your meister I am very disappointed in you. Your _job_ is to have my back and if you had not been acting like petty little children tonight, you could have prevented Marie a ton of heartache."

"I-" Patti starts to make an excuse, but Kid will have none of it.

"What have I ever done to make you so distrustful of me!" He yells. "I could understand the insecurity and the jealousy before… I was the same way. But now! Now you have no reason to behave this way."

His stiff back is giving out. He wobbles reaching for the banister for support. The girls rush to his side and ease him down till he's seated on the grand staircase, his head in his hands.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Patti asks.

"I'm mad. That's what's wrong! I feel betrayed by my partners."

"Hey," Liz barks at him. "We aren't your property! We have the right to not come to dinner if we don't feel like it!"

Kid turns to her and growls, "Not for stupid reasons like doubting-"

"I don't doubt you, Kid, but that skank has a total thing for you-"

Kid places his head in his hands. "Liz, please! Shut up. Just shut up. I want to believe that you're better than this."

"All we want," Patti says. "Is if you're going to invite some slut-"

"Don't call her that!" Kid says jumping up, tears flowing from both of his eyes. "Cherry has done nothing to deserve your name calling, so obviously your problem is with me. You don't trust me. And don't you _dare _criticize how she dresses when I know perfectly well you _taped_ yourself into that outfit you wore to the spring dance."

"That was for a dance!" Patti squeals. "And you liked that dress!"

"Oh, don't make it out like you did that for me! You wanted to flaunt everything you had and dance with everyone _but _me because I was 'just' your meister!"

"Kid!" Liz squeals. "We danced with you!"

"Not the way you danced with that guy from Vegas!" Kid looks murderous. "And we're not going to play these little games anymore. You got that? No more teasing, no more jealousy. You have a problem with me or something I do you come to me and you talk to me about it. Everything in the open remember? Isn't that what we agreed upon? I don't lie about my feelings and you don't either." The girls hang their heads. "So, I'll start. Here's how I, Lord Death the Kid is feeling this evening. Crappy. I feel like shit. Got that? Pure unadulterated shit. Cherry's world has come crashing down around her and you weren't kind enough to make her feel welcome here and now Marie's devastated and-"

"But, Kid, it isn't your job to make everyone's problems go away," Liz tells him.

"I am _Lord Death_! I have to care for our community and protect her people. And thanks to your blind hatred of a woman you barely know Marie's found out about Stein's lying and-"

"You're not responsible for Stein's lying," Liz repeats.

"I know that! But Marie and Stein are our friends, our mentors, and… and… I want them to be happy together. I want to believe that _someone_ can be happy together… and really in love."

Liz glances at her younger sister.

"Kid, we want that, too," Liz says slowly as she puts her hands on his shoulders and eases to a seated position next to him. "But you have to understand our perspective. You invite a woman into our home that is attracted to you, emotionally vulnerable… who has no qualms about getting naked-"

Kid cuts her off. "Liz, you got Soul his motorcycle by upping the ante in a poker game to include me doing some weird kinky bondage thing with that horrible witch! And I said _nothing_. How'd you think that made me feel? When all I wanted was to be with you-"

"_You're_ the idiot who signed that contract," points out Liz.

"_I was eleven_," Kid moans. "You were also eleven once."

Patti sits down behind him and leans over to rest her head on his chin. "I'm sorry, Kid."

"You need to stop thinking only about yourself," Kid grumbles.

"Are you saying I'm self-centered?" she says sounding on the verge of tears.

"Sometimes," Kid says turning his face so he is practically nose to nose with her. "Could you at least _try_ to get to know Sherry before you judge her?"

"She has a crush on you," states Liz flatly.

"Probably," Kid admits with a slouch of his shoulders. "But I'm sure it's just the damn Shinigami thing… If she actually knew what I was like she wouldn't be able to stand me, besides she's in love with Lava Snake." At this every one of us cringes, I swear, even Adeline. "And he's been a piece of work for as long as I've known him, which means she could probably use some other girls to talk to. I don't think the other girls at the club are very nice to her. She's the star of the show and the boss's girl. That can make it tough."

"You know an awful lot about this strip club," Liz grumbles.

Kid sighs. "I've been there a time or two. Father sent me there-" We all gasp. Kid frowns. "To drag Spirit out a couple times when he got hammered and was refusing to leave at closing time. And a few more times when I met with Lava to work on expunging things from your records."

"What? You said that was on the level," Liz says more to herself than to anyone else.

"I lie," Kid says. "It comes with being a Shinigami. It's unavoidable, but I swear I'd never lie about how I feel about the two of you. There's no reason for you to act so insecure. I'm yours. Don't be jealous. Help me be the leader I need to be. Liz, under all that hostility I know you want to take care of everyone just as much as I do, and Patti, you have what you want… so start acting like a victor. Instead of acting all insecure gloat a little. I'd rather you rub it in other girls faces that you're with me than be like this."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Liz asks. She shoots Black*Star and I a look as though we might have an idea what's gotten into him, but I shake my head.

"No, I'm not ok!" Kid mumbles. He points to a decorative side table sitting to the left of the doorway to the sitting room. "That tablecloth is crooked and I just want to grab a pair of scissors and even it up _permanently, _and I can't get this damn thing open," he says hurling the puzzle box up the stairs, "And my girlfriends think that a hot body would be enough to lure me away from what we've spent years building together." He pauses. "This has been a _shitty_ day, if you must know."

I nudge Black*Star. I get where he's coming from, but Kid, in true Death the Kid fashion, is being a tad overly dramatic. Things aren't that bleak. For one thing Liz and Patti are still talking to him which is probably more than Maka would do if I invited Cherry to crash at our place. And Stein's problems are his own mess to clean up, not Kid's, even if he _is_ Lord Death right now.

"Kid," I say interjecting my cool into the soap opera atmosphere and praying I won't get contaminated by the craziness of their little threesome, "everything that's happened since we sailed in here sucks. You're right about that, but don't forget, Spirit found Blair."

Black*Star grins and winks at the distraught Reaper. "Our favorite pussy is comin' back!"

"Oh, please," the Shinigami grumbles. "These two already think they need to shorten my leash. As though they haven't had me at their mercy for years."

"He acts like we've entrapped him," Patti says to her sister.

"Didn't we?" Liz says with a little smile. "You think you can forgive me and Patti?"

Kid shrugs. "Don't have much of a choice, do I? I love you and I need you."

"You think maybe you could give us a heads up before random hot women take up residence in the East Hall?" Liz asks.

"Cherry isn't random. You know her," Kid persists.

Patti shakes her head. "No, we really don't."

"Then, maybe you ought to get to know her before you judge her. I haven't heard _her_ say anything rude about either of you. She's actually a very sweet person."

Liz and Patti look at me and I nod. Cherry may be envious of the girls but she has never said a bad thing about them. I remember her enthusiastically admiring their clothes and sighing happily when she saw them on Kid's arm.

"He's right. I understand why it'd make you uncomfortable, but Cherry is really nice and I think she's really happy Kid has the two of you. Maybe you should try to forget what she does for a living. And you can trust Kid. He'd have some kind of aneurism before he could mess around with a girl who wasn't one of you."

Kid rolls his eyes. "Thank you for that vote of confidence."

"Anytime," I say with a smile.

"Oh, Kid," Patti throws her arms around him, but his arms don't reciprocate. Instead, he just sits there with one arm hanging from the bannister, like some kind of oranatan or something.

"Kid?" Patti's voice is wavering. She's about to start crying. "Kid, kiss me again."

"Not right now," Kid answers. "I'm thinking."

"Just one little peck so I know I'm forgiven."

"I'm too angry with you to forgive you yet."

Patti's eyes well up with tears. "Kiiiiddd!" she wails. "Don't you dare stay mad at me!"

"You are my partners in all things and I need you to _help_ me. You have got to trust me or this will never work. Your jealousy just made this a very, very bad day for Marie."

Patti starts crying and Liz wraps her arms around her.

"Kid, she's not the one who lied about things."

Kid sighs, "I know. Ultimately, this is the Professor's fault, but he needs Marie every bit as much as I need the two of you."

Patti raises her head. "I am sorry."

"I know," he says. "But I'll still be sore about it for a while. I expected better of you."

"But, you gotta remember Stein's dumbassery is not yoru problem," Liz says. "Kid, you're already giving your all to saving the world, don't take on Stein's mistakes, too."

"I know, but… I just feel bad," Kid says looking crushed.

"Kid, you keep acting this way it's gonna take years off your life," Liz tells him.

Kid snorts. "Well, good. Then maybe I won't have to worry about outliving you and your sister by hundreds of years."

Liz and Patti pause and glance at him. "You think about that?" Patti asks quietly.

"Of course I do," Kid says awkwardly refusing to look at either of them. "And you can't make me believe you haven't thought about it, too."

"Yeah," Patti says. "It's crossed my mind, but I thought we had agreed to live in the moment and-"

Kid puts his hand on Patti's lips gently hushing her. "You're right. We need to stay focused on the here and now. I'm sorry I freaked out. I just…"

"It's ok, Kid," Liz says. "Things are kind of a big fucked up mess right now."

"You can say that again," he says rising to his feet.

Crona walks up and hands the puzzle box to him. "You don't want to lose this."

"Thanks and Crona, I'm sorry," Kid explains. "Stein was supposed to have talked to Marie-"

"I know," Crona says sadly. "But don't be mad at Liz and Patti because of this. It isn't their fault. I just wish I'd dyed Adeline's hair like I'd planned to. I should have lied. Then everyone would have been happy. Marie's heart is broken."

I thought that Crona had perhaps lost his ability to cast a dark aura over an entire room, but apparently not. We walk into the sitting room together and I find myself wondering if Marie and Stein would rather have never known the truth. Is happiness an illusion that has to be built on lies? Are we all doomed to upset our partners when we're honest?

No one says anything. I wonder if they are contemplating the same things I am. Kid slumps into an overstuffed maroon chair by the fireplace and idly twiddles the puzzle box between his fingers before setting it on the end table by the chair he has settled into. Louis stands nervously near the door cringing. I think he's probably feeling inept at his butlerly duties at this point.

"Now what do we do?" the Shinigami asks looking dejected.

"We go eat dinner," instructs Liz.

"I don't feel much like eating," Kid mumbles. "But I guess the rest of you can go on in. Louis, make sure Cherry knows that dinner is being served."

"She thanks you for your hospitality, but she says she would prefer to not put in an appearance tonight. She says you and the girls deserve some time to yourselves."

Kid flops back putting his hands over his eyes, his legs spread eagled in front of him. Liz walks between them and leans over.

"Kid, things aren't as bad as you think."

Kid doesn't look at her.

"You still have us even though you brought home a stripper," she says flirtatiously.

"You have a knack for making me sound like a _very_ bad boyfriend," Kid grumbles.

"You are. Just terrible," she teases.

His hands fly away from his face. "Excuse me?!"

"Well, let's think about this. Being a Shinigami makes you far too career-oriented to be fun to be around, you aren't monogamous, you bring home scantily dressed friends of the opposite sex-"

"And you screwed Rodrigo in the carriage house knowing that there was a very good possibility I would see you. You have just as many flaws as I do."

"Kid!" Patti squeals.

"What? We're not really arguing, Patti," Kid says dismissively. "You don't need to worry. I'm just pointing out that your sister has just as many-"

"It's just this wasn't what we expected… after last night…"

Kid smirks. "You had to know I'd ruin the moment somehow. It's what I do, right?"

"Kid!" The two girls squeal and leap upon him leaving the rest of us standing there awkwardly as it becomes apparent they're going to make out in front of us again.

"How's he do that?" Black*Star whines to me and Crona. "I don't even yell at Tsubaki and sometimes she gets so mad at me she won't talk to me for a week!"

I shrug. "They're mentally ill. That's the only explanation."

Crona smiles. "Don't be silly, Soul. They're deeply in love and forgiveness is at the center of love. That's why so few relationships last." And then in a goofy voice he says, "Isn't that right, Adeline? But not everyone deserves forgiveness. That's why your big brother is going to chaperone all your dates, and if anyone hurts you me and Ragnarok'll take care of them, won't we?"

"Any excuse to pound the snout outta someone's good with me," Ragnarok says happily. "Now, did I hear something about a fruit salad?"

"He eats?" I ask pointing up at the personification of black blood puzzled by how exactly that would work. Crona starts to answer, but Black*Star off-tracks our discussion of demon weapon gastrointestinal anatomy completely by asking a far more important question.

"You gonna try going to talk to Marie?" he asks Crona.

Crona looks at his feet. "I don't know what to say. I never wanted to wreck her dream, but at the same time Marie shouldn't take it out on Adeline. Marie loves kids and who couldn't love Adeline?"

"She is really cute," Black*Star says grinning. "I like babies."

I groan. Why does it seem like all our conversations lately head to this weird domestic place? I put up my hands. "Can we all please remember we're just a bunch of kids and-"

A sound comes from under the tangle of legs and arms that is Team Kid and we hear a giggle from Patti as Kid's arm appears above the three of them like a periscope surfacing from a body of water. The communication device pops open and we hear Kid say, "Lord of Death speaking."

"Sir, there's a report of something coming across the desert toward DC fast… from the east. Appears to be Flu, sir. Coming by ground… no flyers, yet."

Kid is on his feet, guns in hand before I even see the girls rise.

"Louis, you and Crona defend the estate. Make sure Sanctuary is at Level 10 security. Come on guys," Kid says as he scoops me and Black*Star up. "We'll pick up Tsubaki and Maka on the way."

And with that, the melodrama is forgotten and we are back to being DWMA determined to save the world. It's amazing how fast our minds can change gears, and for all that bickering Kid and his ladies just did I notice they are functioning just as well, if not even better than usual. Seeing them makes me all the more eager to show the world what me and Maka can do. Maybe today will be the day we make the decisive victory we need to end this conflict once and for all. I'm not becoming overly optimistic or anything, but I figure there's no harm in holding out some hope… and praying that it'll happen before our junior Lord of Death cracks for real.

"Kid, we're sorry," a couple soprano voices say in unison.

"Don't worry about it," Kid says as he repels off a wall. "It's not your fault. Just remember I've got a lot going on right now… and I'm new at this whole boyfriend thing." He pauses for a moment. "Head's up, Soul!"

That's all he says. No warning. No countdown. No _nothing_ before the reaper flings me toward the side of my apartment complex. "You bastard!" I'm spewing a slew of obscenities as I cartwheel through the sky toward the brick wall that comprises the outside wall of my home convinced that I have about twenty more seconds to live.

"Soul?!" I hear Maka's voice and the sound of our living room window opening. Could he seriously have anticipated that she would hear me?

The dark night of Death City is on all sides of me as I feel arms grab me and yank me through the open window.

"Are you alright?!" Maka shouts.

I nod or at least I think I do. I'm more than a little confused about which end is up. Earlier, Kid had just dumped me, but this time he spun me like some kind of Frisbee.

"In…va…sion… com…in'… from… east…"

She pulls me to my feet. "Get the bike," she orders as she buckles her shoes. "We have some souls to claim."

I'm still too dizzy to do anything other than nod and give a weak thumbs up. "Yay," I say half-heartedly. "Avian Flu wat…ch… out."


	99. Chapter 99: Riders in the Darkness

**Risenfromash:** Did you know there doesn't seem to be a good equivalent phrase for 'badass'? This has plagued me for the last week. The closest my friends could come up with was 'righteous mother fucker' which isn't the same to me. Sigh. Soul's limited vocabulary sometimes stunts my growth as an author. Ha, ha. Hope you enjoy…

_**Chapter 99: Riders in the Darkness; What Does It Take to Get Your Head in the Game?!**_

As we head toward the industrial district that forms the eastern boundary of Death City, alarm sirens blare the news to the civilians that we are once again under attack and like two opposing forces the 'normal' people head toward shelter in the city's core while we, along with other DWMA students and faculty head toward where the action is at.

"Where are we going, Meister?" I shout, but the damn sirens are so loud she can't hear me. I know they need to be loud, but they've been going for at least five minutes straight. At this point if someone doesn't know we're under attack they are either completely deaf or already dead.

I look back from the corner of my eye and see Maka grimacing and saying what I can only assume from her expression are cuss words. Obviously, the racket is annoying her as much as it is me. She taps my arm and points in the direction she wants me to go and I carefully roll us through the onslaught of civilians.

She leans in close and shouts in my ear. "Hampton and Cocklebur." It's cute how she thinks I know the names of streets. I do, usually, but not in this district. I start to roll the wrong way and she leans forward and shouts, "Where we took out the lamppost."

Oh, _that_ Hampton and Cocklebur. How could I forget? When we were newbs we had a little accident there with my scythe blade and an iron lamppost. Maka was not the calculated meister then that she is now and due to our combined lack of discipline we spent months having to eat nothing but PB and J and ramen while we repaid the city the cost to repair the lamppost. I swore there had to be some clause in our contract with the academy that made shit like that the school's liability and not the individual meister/weapon team, but Stein insisted there was not and that the experience was 'character building'.

Not as character building as the last month or so… I think as we roll past the infamous light post and find a couple DWMA students with walkie talkies assisting a couple of distressed looking evacuees to figure out where they are supposed to be going.

"Whata we doin', meister?" I ask.

"Stay here," she says hopping off the bike and approaching the two girls with the radios. I take in the scene and see that there are DWMA stationed on rooftops and positioned strategically around the intersection. A boy and girl are huddled under the eaves of a building trembling with fear. This is probably their first time this close to the front lines. They won't have the luxury of cowering soon.

Before Maka comes back she stops and exchanges words with them. I have no idea what she's saying, but she gives them each a hug and they step away from the building and appear ready to defend the city. I'm about to ask Maka what she said to them when Sid appears. Wielding a megaphone with one hand and a clipboard in the other he starts barking out meister names assigning each team a location. The teams are obviously not alphabetical because he doesn't say Albarn.

"I think they're assigning the Laughing Sun and Shooting Stars students first," she whispers to me. "We'll be on the offensive since we've got a bike."

I nod. It makes sense, but that means I can't actually be Maka's weapon which doesn't make me happy. As I wonder who Maka will be wielding on this mission, I look toward the black of the desert. There's no moon tonight making it unusually creepy. It feels like the edge of DC is the edge of the universe… and we could be about to fall off into oblivion. A whooshing sound is heard and a split second later Kid appears in front of us just to the left of Sid. Suddenly, he's standing there, facing us, on his hands whirling as the Thompsons appear, each running off in a separate direction to give other orders, I presume.

With Flu rapidly approaching we don't have a lot of time to strategize. Kid tells us that there are something like thirty or forty motorcycles crossing the desert headed for us all led by a lone rider in the front. "Taking out this lieutenant is of great import, but even greater is to ensure that not a single Flu motorcycle infiltrates our fair city. The sophistication of their weaponry could cause a great deal of destruction in a very short period of time. Therefore, we take no prisoners and we let no one through our line. Do you understand?" We nod, and Kid continues without hesitation, "Normally, I would honor the sanctity of life and encourage the taking of POWs, but these individuals have made the choice to join with Blitzengard in the desecration of their souls, melding them with unnatural elements and warping themselves to the point where the most generous thing we can do for them is to end the suffering of their poor, mutilated souls."

Kid releases us with the shout of one of his father's traditional battle cries, "In the name of Lord Death, for the souls of the world, this day make the DWMA proud." Everyone scatters to their individual posts. I see our friends and some DWMA members I haven't seen in a while like Justin Law's roommate, but everyone is finitely focused on performing their part.

Maka hops on the bike and adjusts her gloves. She is completely focused. I take a deep breath. We are significantly outnumbered. There are only going to be five of us on bikes against all those Avian Flu on bikes… if only there was some way to get more riders. Lord Death forbid that the school buy us a few more hogs instead of building a special bathroom for Excalibur. I hate how everyone has to cater to that dickwad who can't even set aside his ego long enough to allow someone to wield him to ice Blitzengard.

"Soul, _focus_," Maka scolds. She must be reading my soul.

"Yes, Meister," I grumble as she begins scanning the crowd. "You see Brian anywhere?"

"He gonna be your weapon?"

She nods. "Patti said he's gonna meet us here."

I really need to figure out a way to drive and scythe at the same time. I like Brian. He's got good instincts… in battle, I mean. But he's less experienced than a Laughing Sun and it should be _me_ protecting my meister. I'm supposed to be her weapon not her chauffeur, but I know that with as few experienced riders as we have they really need me. If only we had some more motorcycles to create chaos in their formation…

An idea pops into my head and I grin. I'm fucking _brilliant_. It's _probably_ something I should run by Kid, but there's no time. He can thank me later. I make a u-turn and peel out heading back into the main part of Death City.

"Soul! What the hell are you doing?!" Maka shouts as I gun it.

"I'm getting us more help so this won't be a suicide mission," I tell her as I drive as fast I possibly dare through the cobblestone streets of DC.

"How exactly are you going to do that?" she shouts into my ear.

"Like this," I say as we pop out of an alley directly across from the _Screaming Eagle_. "Go in and tell them we need as many of them as we can to distract the incoming."

Maybe it's not right to turn to untrained civilians… but they've always acted like tough guys and all we're asking them to do is help defend their own turf. Plus, it gives what's-his-ass a chance to show off in front of Maka which I know he's been hoping for all along.

Maka gets off the bike and runs in. She's only gone a second but when she runs back out she is followed by -at-my-girlfriend-and-now-owns-my-favorite-Comic-Book and about a dozen other bar patrons. Most of them fit the biker stereotype by being large, burly men with beer bellies, but there are also a couple tall, skinny dudes and at least one chick. I'm impressed with how fast they move considering that whenever I've visited the _Screaming Eagle_ they all seemed really sedate.

"All we need you to do is to try to break up their formation so that Kid in the air and other meisters on bikes or on foot can take them out," she tells them. "But we gotta hustle!"

Her words are punctuated by the roar of mechanized power and for once I'm thankful that the bartender has a bit of a thing for my meister. Their help could make all the difference.

"After you, Meister Albarn," the bartender says. "We are at your service."

I groan. What is it about me that makes people think they can flirt with my girlfriend right in front of me? I'd like to know but I've got bigger fish to fry because if we don't get back to the front lines right away we will be in deep shit.

"They're good, Soul!" my meister shouts in my ear.

"Good," I say. I can't be the judge of how much they'll help. I'm too busy trying to get us back to the front line before our friend, Lord Kid, is forced to court martial us for going AWOL. Fortunately, the citizens who had to be evacuated from this sector are now out so I can go full throttle.

"Watch out for the damn lampposts!" Maka shouts waving her pointer finger up and down. "I'm not eating more PB and J because of you!"

I snicker as I bring us dangerously close to a lamp post.

"Quit showing off! You're as bad as Kid on that board of his!"

As we get in range of the front line I see Brian waiting for us under a streetlamp with his arms crossed, cussing. I pull up beside him and he transforms into gun form and Maka picks him up. "Next time you get a bright idea, tell me where you're going," he complains. "I've been standing here trying to figure out why the DWMA's best team was turning chicken all of a sudden."

"Sorry," Maka said. "Soul got us some reinforcements. And we aren't the DWMA's best team… we're _one_ of the best."

I frown. "Meister, learn to accept a compliment. Will ya please?" I use my feet to walk Seraphina over to the edge of the outlet to the desert. She bounces as we go over the uneven street. "And, Brian, no funny business with Maka, ok?"

"'Course! Whad daya take me for? This is all business. There's no time for breast ogling in battle. Now afterward, after I've saved the day if you feel moved to offer a reward for my brave-" Maka barks his name and moves to slug him, but stops short when she hears Kid holler for everyone's attention. Our heads all whirl his direction in unison, as though we are one body. Kid scans the troops to make sure everyone is accounted for and Liz and Patti come running from wherever they were leaping into his grasp as the Twin Demon Pistols.

Kid smirks at me as his inventories the forces around the Albarn team. I suspect we will have an interesting discussion later about the chain of command when it comes to recruiting additional volunteers.

"I… I… got…," pants a voice from behind us. "A baby… sitter." It's Crona. He must have run all the way here from the mansion. "I'm sure that's what all badasses say a moment before they enter the battlefield," Ragnarok adds sarcastically. Crona shrugs. "It's what _I_ say."

Fascinated with the meister with the strange black puppet looking thing riding around on him, a particularly heavy set biker with tattooed hands and a massive tangle of red facial hair grins at Crona and offers him the seat on the back of his bike. Without a moment's hesitation Crona climbs on board, but instead of sitting he stands with one hand resting on the biker's shoulder the other tightly grasping Ragnarok in his sword form.

I stare. Crona thinks he's going to _stand_?!

"He'll be fine, Soul," Maka says. "He wouldn't do it if he wasn't confident he could manage it."

"You sure?" I ask, cringing and wondering when, if ever, Crona has been confident about something.

"We can trust our friends to take care of themselves. You just take care of me and Brian." She says as she scans the DWMA forces and looks out into the inky darkness.

"You guys? I'm gonna be concentrating on keeping _this _beauty intact," I say caressing Serif between my legs.

"Soul!" my meister wails angrily. Our current Lord of Death is no longer facing us but looking out into the night. He bends his knees slightly assuming his battle position with a Thompson in each hand. It's almost go time. Kid raises his right hand holding one of the Thompsons in the air. "On the count of ten," he says. One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight… nine times… and then he shoots two soul bullets straight up into the sky to signify that it is time. As though shot from a cannon we burst from DC's streets into the barren desert rocketing toward the incoming enemy that we can just barely see as a hazy blur of oncoming headlamps.

As loud as the roar of the motorcycles is it is nothing compared to the shout of the DWMA forces as we plunge forward. Bikes serpentine across the sandy ground, closing the gap between us and the enemy, while Death Scythes and Meister-weapon pairs on foot find advantageous spots to stand to hold our ground. I have no idea where are friends are. It's dark and we have a mission.

We hear shots ringing out and explosions from what must be egg grenades or the like. Headlights will illuminate a spot for a moment so you can see something clearly, but then immediately the spot of clarity is gone as the rider is still on the move. It's like being under a strobe light except lacking in any predictability. I feel like we're back on the dance floor at the club only instead of everyone trying to bump and grind against one another we're trying to kill each other. Good times. I'll have to tell Maka that I can dance only when I am on a motorcycle.

I try to tell myself this is just another mission, but something about this feels far more monumental to me and the foreboding in my heart is scaring me. I know part of it is because I'm not Maka's weapon and that always puts me on edge, but it's more than that. There isn't enough illumination to do the kind of maneuvers I'm needing to do and if I screw up… I can't think about that. I just gotta tell myself I can't screw up… but not 'cause anyone's gonna die.. cause it's a video game and I'm on Nightmare level and I can't let Black*Star beat me. It's a matter of honor, not life and death, _honor_. I can't be out done by the ninja. I gotta have bragging rights over him. That I can navigate through all of this at over eighty miles an hour while he has to do it on his feet.

I don't usually have to lie to myself like this, but something's different tonight and I've got to do whatever it's gonna take to get me to hold my ground despite the wall of riders clad in black headed my way.

Maka grips my shoulders, but I tell her to do it tighter. "Just till we get there, ok? It'll be just a sec. I'll bring us up beside a couple. OK?"

"OK," she says and then begins to instruct Brian.

"Holy crap," Brian shouts. "They're _terrible_ shots. Did you see how close that last one was to hitting their leader?"

I shake my head; I didn't notice, but it doesn't surprise me. They have no respect for anyone- even their own. It's such a fucked up way to live and undoubtedly they only do Blitzengard's will out of fear.

"Let's try to take out that one directly behind the lieutenant," Maka tells us.

"I'm game," Brian says with determination. "It's been too long. Though, no offense, I'd rather it was Lydia holding me." Maka growls. "Not that Lydia compares to you as a meister and certainly not in the Soul's eyes, but she really has nice ti-."

"Head in the fuckin' game, dude," I shout back to him. "I'm trustin' you with _my_ meister!"

"Right," he replies as Maka leans her side and shoulder against me so that she can stabilize herself and place both of her hands on the AK-47.

"Alright, let's do this," Maka says and begins shooting. Her very first shot connects with the upper chest of the Flu member.

Brian lets out a delighted whoop. "Just remember about my recoil- aim a little lower than you want the hit. I gots me a bit of a kick."

"Right," I hear her say as she takes another shot at the same Flu. Again, the shot connects with his flesh, but we can't linger to see how bad off he is, because I've got a Flu coming up behind me.

"Hold on!" I shout as I tip the bike and perform a turn, weaving behind the Avian Flu leader. Something explodes next to my head with a loud bang and the scent of sulfur. Looks like it's some kind of fire bomb. Those things are gonna hurt like shit if they hit us and I'm betting they'd do some major damage to our bike.

The battlefield is loud and getting foggy from the use of explosives and soul bullets. It looks like we've effectively divided the enemy's formation. But I'm not hearing much to make me think we've taking out many Flu yet. I weave us in and around the enemy bikers. We get one, but miss another. We miss three shots in a row because I'm forced to continually jerk us out of the way of bombs and bullets. We finally get one, but there is no time to celebrate as a bullet whizzes past my right ear.

"Holy fuck!" I shout as I look over my shoulder. We're in the sights of a Flu and I'm pushing the bike to the limit and not losing them. "Shit, shit, shit!" I chant crazily as I try to lose the Flu on our ass. We're so busy evading, Maka's got no chance at hitting anything. Instead, she's clinging onto me while Brian, still in weapon form, is squished between our bodies.

Bombs from Flu are popping so dangerously close to us that all three of us cough from the fumes.

"Shit! How's he gaining on us?" I hear Maka exclaim.

I'm giving her all she's got; I'm not even serpentining anymore. I'm just trying to get the fuck away from this one on our tail. I point us toward the throng of fighting forces, but that doesn't deter the one on us. He's a determined mother-fucker. I don't know why he hasn't taken his shot yet.

"Goddammitdammitdammit,fuckitalltofuckfuckfuckfuck!" A slew of curse words flow from my mouth a verbal representation of my scared shitlessness. Right about now I wish I could resonant with the bike…

"Soul," I hear the fear in my partner's voice. I haven't told her why I'm no longer weaving, but she knows. She knows we're in trouble. She probably knew before I did. She's that good a meister. "I love you."

"Love you too, Meister," I say leaning down even lower hoping a little less wind resistance could make the difference in our speed as she points Brian toward the one on our ass.

"For the record, I think both of you are pretty awesome, too," Brian says as he pops into human form behind Maka shoving her down.

"What are you doing?" Maka shouts at him.

"They're gonna have to get through me before they get to you, Maka."

"Brian, she's _my_ meister!" I shout wishing this thing were a damn bicycle so at least I could pedal or do something to make it go faster, because they're nothing more I can do. The girl's at her max speed.

"I know and you taught me how to be a good weapon and I'll gladly give up my life for my meister. Just keep driving, Romeo."

"Don't call me that, you little punk! And don't you be thinking that this is gonna make Maka want to show you her-"

"Less argue more drive, Soul! I can do this," Brian swaps his arm out for some kind of weird long barreled finger gun and starts firing at the dude in black on the bike behind us.

"Brian, let me shoot you!" Maka shouts angrily.

"No can do, Girlie. You're temporarily _my meister"_ I growl out of habit. "And so you're my responsibility and I ain't having none of it."

Then we hear a loud shot ring out. It isn't Kid's; Liz and Patti have a distinctive timbre to them. I look back and see that Mr. Flirts-with-my-meister-in-front-of-me has come out of nowhere and with a traditional _normal _gun has shot the dude who was on our tail squarely in the head.

He carries a gun with him?! All the time? Holy shit! He could have shot me before?! Bikers are scary mother fuckers!

He salutes Maka and despite the fact he just saved our hides I find myself greatly disturbed by the way he's _smiling_ after having just shot somebody in the head.

"Maka, you can thank him later, but do _not_ say you owe him, you got me?" I tell her.

Brian snickers. "Yeah, I know what he'd want as a thank you," Brian says getting all handsy with my meister.

"Brian! Not cool man!" I shout.

He throws his head back laughing. "You're so easy to mess with. All I gotta do is run my finger-"

"Stop it before I throw you off this bike," Maka says flatly. "You guys are _sick_! We're in the middle of battle and you are thinking about sex?!"

I shrug. "We're guys, it's what we do. If we have to die we'd rather do it while screwing than any other way."

"We're not dying today!" asserts Maka. "And you told me you'd most like to die while playing piano."

"I'm pretty sure I said that when I was a virgin."

I hear Brian snicker. "She's blushing."

"Shut up, you two! Quit screwing around! Soul, get us closer to the leader. We're gonna take him out. And quit antagonizing one another."

"He started it," I mumble.

Brian laughs. "I'm just giving you practice for when you two have kids."

"I don't know if we're gonna have kids," Maka says automatically. She's so raw at this moment she doesn't even think about how embarrassing this discussion would be under normal circumstances. She just answers frankly, "I haven't made up my mind yet."

I smirk. Of course, she's gonna give me _no say_ in the matter. That's my meister for you.

Maka and Brian take a few shots at a rider at 7 o'clock. I hear more shots and a whoop!

"Got him!" Maka announces triumphantly.

As they take out some Avian Flu peons I navigate through the battlefield moving back into the thick of it. Crona is using Ragnarok like a baseball bat hitting explosives, sending them back toward the enemy with mighty swings and looking like a total badass standing on the back of the motorcycle.

Kid is above our heads, then near the ground, then above us again performing some kind of loop de loop trying to get close to the leader. Shots are flying every which way. Brian gets clipped and lets out a sharp yelp.

"I'm fine, don't worry. It just startled me," he says dismissively.

"Ya sure?" I ask, unable to look back at this point for fear I might run into someone or something ahead of us if my eyes deviate from the path before us.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We're here for a reason. Let's give Kid a clear shot."

I find the lieutenant. He is still set apart from the others but now surrounded on all sides by both Flu and DWMA forces. Like all the other Flu he wears black pants and a black helmet, though his looks a little more beat up. I wonder who it is. I find it hard to keep all the Avian Flu leaders straight in my head, because the DWMA has been pretty good at consistently cutting them down as fast as they ascend to power, but somehow that mad man, Blitzengard still eludes us. My hands clench down hard on the handlebars. I hate Blitzengard. He's killed students, he's brainwashed them, turned kids into demons and then sent them out to do his dirty work. He rarely does any of his own dirty work. In yet, somehow he constantly finds more people willing to step forward to become commanders in his perverted army. I wonder what he promises to them or are they so corrupted by their ill souls that they no longer care that he is a cruel, inept, and narcissistic leader.

We're close and there are stray bullets everywhere. We see a couple bikes hit each other but my mind is too overwhelmed to comprehend whether they were both DWMA or Flu or one of each. We're getting near the leader and soon one of the meisters will be trying to take him down. The question is who's got the best chance.

Black*Star is on the ground and using Tsubaki as a lasso to force riders off their mounts. With a leap, he throws her toward a rider and ensnares them and then tugs them to the ground and leaps upon them stabbing them with a dagger or choking them with her chain. It seems to be an effective technique as he has a heap of three or four bodies with their souls floating over them.

"You want to take a shot at the lieutenant or are we sticking with the plan of leaving that for Kid?" I ask.

"No, leave it for Kid. Let's clear the area for him. Get me to that one at two o'clock," Maka instructs and I head in that direction.

I pass behind the lieutenant and see that something is flapping near the back of her helmet. What it is doesn't register with me, just that it looked like it was a god-awful shade of pink.

Maka and Brian rain bullets down on the one that is now at 1 o'clock and heading to 12 o'clock trying to get away from us.

"After him!" Maka orders and I swerve in front of the lieutenant following the lead of the Flu we are in pursuit of. As we head that direction the one we're following holds out a gun and shots in the direction of the lieutenant. What the hell's he shouting at? Maybe he's blinded by the fog…

"Brian, I'm gonna resonant with you. Try to make your breathing and your heat rate steady," Maka says. "You ready?"

"Uh…" he mutters and then a moment later exclaims, "Holy shit that's a weird feelin'!"

"Focus, Bri!" I shout at him.

"Brian, match my breathing, my heartbeat, reach out toward my soul."

"Are you sure that's ok? I mean, you are Soul's girl-"

"For fuck's sake," I say interrupting. "Resonate with her and quit making it weird. We're in the middle of a battle."

"Ok, whatever you say…"

And a moment later a ginormous gun forms. "Whoa, I'm all different!" he shouts excited.

Maka is delighted but doesn't break her concentration to consider it which is good because if she saw the thing from my angle she'd realize it looks like she's just sprouted a giant cock. I try to tell myself that guns are by nature phallic, but I know this has something to do with the little hornball. I sigh. I need to teach him how to drive better so that Maka and I can do the fighting and _he_ can pilot.

Maka puts her hand on the top of the apparatus and then shoots it toward the enemy. I'm relieved to see it doesn't shoot out white liquid. I'm _more_ relieved that it packs a mighty punch sending a bike to its side.

"Keep it up. Get as many down as you can," I shout. I see Death Scythes moving in to take out the one we have knocked down.

I'm bringing us up alongside of a rider when Kid gets a clear shot at the back of the lieutenant's head. I see him line up the Twin Demon Pistols a split second before I hear the sound of his guns. But then something happens. I see it, but I don't understand. Tsubaki lets out a shout as Black*Star jumps toward the lieutenant. I can see the outline of Tsubaki and Black*Star as he grabs the bike rider and pulls her to the ground. Kid's shots connect with the ninja's back as his weapon flows behind him like a ponytail blowing in the wind.

"Black*Star!" I scream as he hits the earth with a thud. Tsubaki appears beside him sobbing as she rips a part of her skirt off to use to apply pressure to her meister's wounds. But what she's shouting makes no sense to me. "Take off your helmet! Hurry!" she wails.

I'm not the only one confused; Kid is zooming over nonplussed (a Maka word) as to why our friend would take a bullet for an Avian Flu commander.

The leader in question reaches up and yanks his helmet off with one hand, hurling it across the battlefield, and we see a sea of black hair and a large pink bow that is barely hanging onto the end of her hair.

"It's Sandra!"

My mind reels. Sandra's been promoted within Avian Flu? But Maka had said she was on the run from her dad… It hits me like a bullet. They weren't bad shots. They were trying to kill her! She was only 'leading' them because they were following her trying to annihilate her.

"Soul, we gotta get her out of here! She's a refugee!" Maka shouts.

Kid steps off his hover board staring at Black*Star's wound. He isn't giving orders. He isn't playing doctor. He's just staring. The Thompsons appear, one on each side of him, but Kid's eyes are still unable to stray from the growing pool of blood surrounding Black*Star.

"We've got to get him out of here!" Tsubaki shouts.

"Form a perimeter around us with the bikes! Protect Tsubaki and Sandra," Liz shouts. "Kid, take him! Get him to the hospital!"

"But-" Kid starts to say something back.

"Beezlebub is fast. You can leave us. We'll be ok. I promise."

Black*Star is moaning and it sounds like he's trying to say something to Tsubaki but it goes unheard.

Kid scoops up Black*Star sending blood _gushing_ from the wound. The sight makes me ill.

Black*Star's been hit… bad. Taking one of Kid's bullets when he doesn't intend to do permanent damage hurts like hell, but he was shooting to kill tonight.

Maka places her hand on my arm. "I know you want to be with him. I do too, but we gotta be strong. We'll go visit him right after."

I nod. We can't all leave. DC still needs us… even more now that Lord Kid and Black*Star's team is out of commission.

Tsubaki is still on her knees in the middle of the circled bikes a trail of blood next to her. Her head is turned in the direction her meister was taken and she lets out a massive, primal yell. You can hear the pain in the shout. It's bad enough when your partner is injured because you love and care about them unlike anyone else in the world, but when it happens while you're resonating with them it's physically painful. The resonance being ripped apart forcefully like that makes you physically hurt or at least it does for weapons. I've never really asked Maka about it. It's something we weapons don't like to talk about.

"Get Tsubaki out of her," I shout to one of the bar patrons. "She needs to be with her meister now." The skinny dude nods and rolls over to her and takes her hand and leads her to the bike and then sets off for DC like a bat out of hell.

I realize I'm shaking. I may have just seen my best friend get killed by a DWMA bullet. I'm unable to process everything that means, but Sandra is still being targeted and she can't fully change into weapon form because there is no one there to meister her. Liz is wielding Patti and trying to keep the encroaching forces from entering our circle.

"Come on. We've gotta keep fighting," Maka says.

Brian growls. "I hate Avian Flu," before she showers the other side with bullets. She and Brian are no longer looking for the clear shot. Bullets fly and ping off of things wildly.

I look across the battlefield and see Crona cutting down a Flu member who has wiped out. Our friend closes his eyes as he swings the decisive hit, probably feeling sad for the person unfortunate enough to have been taken in by Avian Flu's lies.

We swing around and Maka and I have to duck as a bomb comes our way. Popping back up Maka hits the person who threw it in the chest. We are more or less doing donuts in the middle of the field at this point waiting for the enemy to get close and then doing our best to obliterate them before they can take us out.

On one pass through I see Crona. He's grabbed the bike of the person he killed and with one hand piloting it, he is swinging Ragnarok with the other. His attacks are smooth and calculated like an experienced killer, but even in the darkness the whites of his eyes are so prominent I know he's probably completely freaking out on the inside.

He rides right up to Tsubaki and Sandra and I hear his ever-wavering voice ask, "Are you seeking refugee status?"

"Yes! Oh please, yes. I've been on the run from my father. Maka can tell you. He's trying to kill me! You won't believe what I've been through-"

"I understand," Crona says nodding. "My mother's a piece of work, too. Get on."

"Get her to safety," I hear a woman's voice say. It's Marie. She was stationed on the edge of town, but is now running toward us her hammerfist bashing any Flu that get in her way.

Ragnarok transforms and rests on Crona's head as Crona grips both hands on the handlebars and guns it toward DC.

"Cover them," we hear Liz and Patti shout. The DWMA forces follow the orders of Lord Death's weapons as though they are an extension of himself, an annex he has left behind while he goes to get his affairs in order.

"What about you?" Maka shouts.

"We'll make sure they're fine," Sid shouts. "They're right. You need to help Crona get Sandra to safety."

And we do help, but it's all a blur… literally. I've got tears flowing from my eyes in a steady stream and my driving is on autopilot. Avoid the hazard, dodge the bullet, get back to DC. Make sure no one hits Crona or Sandra or Brian or Maka. Get back to DC. Pray that Black*Star will be ok. Bargain with the gods that Black*Star will be ok. Swerve to avoid an oncoming bike. Let Maka take out the enemy with Brian. Worry that Black*Star will not be ok. Get back to DC.

As we reach the edge of the city we are met by an onslaught of DWMA. Maka asks if we should turn back around and return to battle now that we've gotten Sandra to safety, but they shake their heads. "You've done enough," I hear someone say. "You need to get to the hospital."

I wish they had told me to go back to the fight. Then I would know he was going to be ok, but being told we need to get to the hospital…? Maka takes my hand and we jump back on the bike. We've lost Brian somewhere, but he'll figure it out. He knows where we're going. He knows Black*Star and I are tight.

"Maka…?" I ask before I turn on the engine.

"He's still alive, Soul."

I nod. Good. We haven't lost him. At least not yet.


	100. Chapter 100: Fears and Faith

**Risenfromash: Here it is. The one hundredth chapter! Wow. Thank you for your continued support. I realize the plot has meandered so thanks for hanging in there. It is actually going somewhere- believe it or not and hopefully I can tie some things together soon.**

_**Chapter 100: Fears and Faith; Did Black*Star Hit His Head?**_

We park the bike in front of the academy and run thru the school toward the hospital wing. I imagine what must be going on; Black*Star is probably being taken to surgery because even though Professor Stein has developed a special tincture for dissolving soul- generated projectiles like the Thompsons' bullets, they can still do massive damage to tissue and bone on impact. Last year, in one of our less sleep-inducing lectures, Stein told us his theory as to why soul bullets cause such terrible trauma; he said he has evidence that they attack both the physical _and_ the ethereal form, the soul itself. It was fascinating stuff… Maka called it 'existential'… I think. But thinking about the fierce firepower of Kid's team burying itself into my best friend's back only serves to make me ill right now. Oh, well. At least Stein knows what he's doing. I shouldn't be so worried. Stein'll stitch him up, just like he stitched me up, and Black*Star will be good as new with nothing but a scar and a story to tell. I don't even remember much pain after he put me back together. Stein's that good- Shit!

I screech to a halt in the middle of the academy hallway leading to the hospital wing. For once, Maka isn't in the lead and when I stop, she stops a couple paces behind me. I'm too out of breath to tell her what I'm thinking. As I attempt to regain speech, I rest my hand on the brightly colored mural with a depiction of Lord Death ordering, "Homies, Ya All Get Funky Now!" Kid used to say the first thing he would do when he became headmaster was paint over the thing, because he finds it to be 'tacky' and 'demeaning' to his father, but, of course, that hasn't happened. Like the rest of us, Kid probably never envisioned taking over leadership of the DWMA would be under circumstances like these.

"What's wrong?" Maka asks.

"Stein's… not here," I pant. "Who's gonna do surgery on Black*Star?"

Maka's reply doesn't ring out automatically. This concerns me. Maka is _supposed_ to rattle off the name of an equally qualified surgeon that in my panic I have foolishly forgotten about, but to my great disappointment it takes her a moment or two to say anything. The fact she has to _think_ about it worries me.

"I don't know. Sid maybe?" she says. The uncertainty in her voice is undeniable.

"He's still at the front."

My meister's lower lip stretches in that way it does when she's unsure of what to say. "Does Joe…?"

"I don't think so," I whine. _Shit! Shit! Shit!_

She puts a hand on my shoulder. "Soul, I'm sure there's someone here who's just as good. Kid wouldn't let our only surgeon leave if there wasn't."

She's speaking sense. Kid would have considered this scenario. He dabbles in medicine himself so the needs of the wounded are definitely not a blind spot of his… and just because I can't recall him having discussed the contingency plan in place for Stein's absence I'm sure there is one. This is _Kid_ we're talking about, after all. I'm sure one of the Death Scythes is a world-class doctor and that no one ever thought to mention it to any of us Crescent Moons. Who knows, maybe surgery is Ms. Leech's hobby?

I grimace. Looking to that dreaded woman to be my savior means I'm fucking desperate…

"Try not to worry too much," Maka says taking my hand in hers. "Black*Star can seem really impulsive but he's a great meister. He wouldn't have done what he did if he didn't think he could handle it. It's like with you and Ragnarok."

I don't correct her, but the truth is I didn't think I was going to live through that hit from Crona's screeching weapon. It was simply my duty to protect Maka, and I did it without thinking. Though, I think that my love for her may have made me act a _tad_ faster than I might have had it been some other meister… not that I admitted to myself back then that I actually had _those_ kinds of feelings for her. I was still trying to maintain my cool back then by dissing her brain and her tits and her work ethic while secretly admiring them all.

She squeezes my hand before we begin jogging down the hall once again. "Promise me you're not gonna pull a Black*Star and break down the door."

"I make no guarantees." I smirk as we turn the corner, entering the academy's hospital wing. We find Tsubaki sitting on a padded bench in the hallway. She's all alone which immediately strikes me as being a terribly cruel thing; at a time like this company is a good thing, but I guess everyone else is still trying to defend the city… which is, of course, also important.

Tsubaki's eyes are closed and she appears to be chanting quietly to herself, probably repeating some type of prayer or meditation that she learned in her village. We don't interrupt her, but her eyes flutter open as we approach as though she was able to sense our presence.

"He's in surgery," she says pointing to the room across the hall. With a grimace she adds, "With a _normal_ doctor."

I don't know what to say, but Maka gently reminds her, "You see normal doctors for the baby sometimes and most of the world finds them to be good enough."

Tsubaki nods. "I know, we get so spoiled having the Professor around… but, this doctor… he…" Her lower lip quivers and she pauses to press it against her top one forcing the shaking to stop. "He won't let me be in the operating room. He said I would get in the way."

"He just doesn't understand what it means to be a weapon," I say dismissively as I sit down on the floor in front of her and Maka takes the spot to Tsubaki's left on the bench.

"I know it's not his fault," she says. "But Star and I have been through so much. I can't help feeling like I should be there, you know?" I nod. I do know. She starts trembling and reaches out for my hand. "Soul, what are we gonna do if he doesn't make it?" she says beginning to cry. The words and the tears tumble out of her like an avalanche. "Those were Kid's bullets and you know what a good shot he is-"

I spring up and join her on the bench. I never thought I had much in common with Tsubaki, but now I realize we do share something, something really special, we're both weapons and the same crazy blue-haired ninja means a shit-ton to both of us.

"Tsubaki, Black*Star's gonna make it. He's tough. He's practically a god remember?" I say it wanting to convince myself too.

"I want to believe that. I do. I don't want to doubt my meister," she whispers guiltily. "But there was an awful lot of blood, Soul." There is no denying it. It is all over her clothes, but it no longer looks like healthy, freshly spilt blood. It's starting to dry to that sickly red-brown of a wilting flower. Again, my stomach flip-flops. Right now, I don't even want to think of _flowers_ dying.

"Hey! Remember me. I took Ragnarok to the chest and I'm still here and… don't tell Black*Star this, but…" I whisper, "He might actually be stronger than me."

Tsubaki smiles a little. "He works hard to be. You wouldn't believe how much he works out. Sometimes I think he does it so much so he has an excuse to get out of doing housework."

I laugh. "Yeah, well I'm pretty impressed with how domesticated you've gotten him. I think before he partnered with you he just ran around naked, beating his chest."

Tsubaki smiles and wipes the tears from her eyes before returning to staring at the room across the way. "He's never been _that_ bad… close maybe, but not that bad."

"You know what would make you feel better?" Maka asks breaking Tsubaki's unblinking glare at the wall of the surgical suite. "Getting out of those clothes."

Tsubaki shakes her head, but her eyes stay locked on the room across the hall. "Probably, but I'm not going to leave. Not when he's hurting. I know I can't be with him, but I can't leave."

"I know. That's why I was thinking I'd leave you and Soul here and I'd go over to your place and get you some clean clothes."

This kindness is enough to make Tsubaki's eyes stray from the wall. "That's so sweet of you. You sure you don't mind? You must be tired, too."

"It's no trouble," Maka says. "You want me to get you something to eat?"

Tsubaki shakes her head vehemently. I know how she feels; the mere mention of food has made my stomach lurch.

"Ok, I'll be back in a little bit. I'm gonna try to track down Kid, too," Maka says softly. She's not only worried about the ninja.

"Please tell him not to feel bad. This wasn't his fault," Tsubaki says sincerely.

Maka nods. "I'll try, but you know how he gets."

"Well, hopefully when Black*Star tells him he'll listen," the shadow weapon says as a short man in surgical scrubs appears in the doorway of the operating room.

Why is he out of surgery already? My heart plummets to my feet. My head whirls toward Maka. I reach for her with my soul. Maka would have signaled me if she had felt Black*Star's soul fading… wouldn't she? My mouth goes dry as my madly pounding heart makes my entire body throb. I feel Maka embracing my soul, reassuring me that everything is fine. Black*Star is ok; she knows he is. She wouldn't keep anything from me. She is my meister and we have no secrets between us. She would never hide something from me. She would find a way to tell me the truth even if it were horrible…

"What's wrong?" Tsubaki and I demand as we both jump up. Tsubaki isn't crying anymore. Instead, she's assumed a fighting stance. Whatever bad news he is bringing she is determined not to accept.

"You're Tsubaki, right?" he asks, his voice slightly muffled by his surgical mask. Despite the man's unimpressive stature he looks more professional than Stein ever has. His adherence to sterile technique makes him seem like an alien in a place as overwhelming mystical as the academy. "You're the young man's partner?"

"Yes, sir. I'm his weapon." Her stature is straight. Her head is held high. "What can I do for you, sir?"

It's impossible for me to read the doctor's expression, but I think I hear him mumble something under his breath.

"Is he going to be alright?" presses Tsubaki. She's breathing fast, but still not letting a tear fall from her indigo eyes.

"Honestly, I don't know. He's refusing to relax and let the anesthetic do its job. He's bleeding out because he won't hold still and let me do my job and he keeps muttering some nonsense about being a god and weapons and divine retribution. He didn't hit his head did he?"

"No," Tsubaki explains. "Black*Star's goal is to rival a shinigami's power, and he's well on his way, but he's a bit of a baby when it comes to doctors. I have to hold his hand when he gets shots."

I bust up. This is something I did not know about him. I thought he didn't like our annual physical because like the rest of us he wasn't wild about having his privates groped by another man, but I guess that's not the only reason.

"And you put up with this?" the doctor asks.

"He is my meister," Tsubaki says.

The doctor inhales deeply. "Well, come on. We better get you in some scrubs. I will not tolerate the pseudo-sterility that your teacher does. It's deplorable and a wonder you haven't all died from gangrene," he mumbles as he leads Tsubaki through the door into the surgical prep area.

As Tsubaki follows him she looks back at us over her shoulder. Maka and I nod our approval and I make faces at the surgeon behind his back and it makes her smile.

"I'll tell him you'll be here when he wakes up," she says and I nod. I'm not going anywhere till I see for myself that the doofus is ok.

"We know you'll take good care of him," Maka says with a wink.

"Alrighty. Young lady let's get you in there before he loses any more blood." We hear the doctor say as the door swings back and forth. I watch as its swinging gradually lessens and it finally comes to a standstill sealing Tsubaki and the doctor away from sight.

Somewhere behind that door my best friend is fighting for his life. The thought sends a chill down my spine.

Tipping her head in the direction of the set of swinging doors she teases, "You feelin' left out?"

I smirk. "Naw, I'd have no patience for him. I'd tell him if he didn't shut up and hold still I'd slice him."

"I suspect Tsubaki's method is-"

"More like yours," I say pulling her close and giving her a brief kiss on the lips. I really don't want her to leave, but we're all worried about Kid and the girls. Someone needs to go check on them and do sensible things like get Tsubaki clean clothes and of the two of us Maka is always the sensible and responsible one. She's good at this sort of thing.

"I promise I'll hurry," she says softly as I embrace her. "Try not to freak out, ok? Black*Star's gonna be alright. I can feel it."

I nod. "Yeah, I should probably be more worried about Kid."

"I'll make sure someone's looking after him and then I'll come right back."

"Sure." I sit down on the bench facing the surgery ward. Now it's my turn to stare at the wall, I guess.

"Soul?" I look up at my meister. Her hair is slipping out of her ponytails and she looks greasy and dirty. "I'm really proud of you. You did really good tonight."

I shrug. "All I did was drive."

"And you were great at it. Thank you."

"You're welcome, meister."

She walks away and I let my eyes follow her backside. Her ass is fucking awesome. For a split second I forget my fear and realize I actually am hungry.

"Hey, Maka," I shout after her. "I changed my mind. You think you could bring me a sandwich and a soda?"

"No problem," she says and then hurries off around the corner leaving me alone.

It's funny. I used to actually like being alone, but these days it feels weird. With the exception of when I'm in the music room composing, there is always someone around me these days… Maka or Black*Star or Blair. When did my life get so full of people? I don't remember deciding that I liked being around people. At every school dance, I still hang out on the balcony away from the crowds and I still find a lot of people to be dumb and annoying… but here at the academy I've really come to like people. I didn't really have any friends before I joined the DWMA. I ran everyone off with my moody music and my pointy teeth, but then I signed up and all of a sudden there was this type-A chick with ponytails and a blue-haired loud mouth hanging out with me all the time. Funny thing is I don't remember how I met Black*Star. I remember every detail about the first time I laid eyes on Maka. I remember how big her eyes appeared and how her face didn't betray what she was thinking and how much that intrigued me. I remember the color of the ribbons she wore on her ponytails that day. I remember it all, but with Black*Star I don't remember anything. It's like we just started playing basketball together like we were old pals. It's weird. I don't remember him introducing himself (I'm sure he would have introduced himself to me and not the other way around) and I don't recall learning that he was a meister. The more I try to unlock the memory of our first encounter the more convinced I am that Black*Star and I have just always been best friends even before we met… or something. Ugh. I don't know. I guess that doesn't make any sense.

I put my head on my forehead. I'm getting a bit of a headache. I glance over at the surgical suite. Should it be taking this long? Sure… it takes time to do stuff like that. But what if he's bleeding out? I groan. I'm not a patient person. I lie down on the padded bench and stare up at the ceiling tiles. Time to start counting the holes. One… two… three… what would I do if I lost Black*Star? We're tight. He's more of a brother to me than Wes… four… five…

Somewhere around fifty-six, I give up counting and cover my eyes with my hands. My headache is worsening and I'm close to breaking down. I can't handle losing my best friend. It's hard enough losing anyone from the DWMA… we're like one ginormous dysfunctional family, but to lose him…

When I came to the DWMA I was determined to become a Death Scythe and as we got to be good at demon hunting we all got cocky. It was like we were playing some kind of live-action video game, but then all of the sudden it went from being a fighting game to a full-fledged war game. If someone had told me my first year at the academy that before graduation we would end up battling an organization hell-bent on world domination I'd have laughed my ass off. Yet, here we are, soldiers in a conflict the likes of which the world has never before seen… and that leaves me here praying to Lord Death that he doesn't claim my friend today.

I lift the hands form my eyes and sigh as I stare at the ceiling tiles. Where was I? Forty something? Twenty-six… no it was higher than that. Oh, well. Here we go again…one… two… three…

I drift into a sleepless trance as I count the holes.

DWMA begin to trickle in. I sit up and ask a short brunette with glasses if the battle is over. She says she isn't sure. She's here because she got a nasty burn from one of the firebombs. The injury was bad enough that it made it difficult for her to wield her crossbow. The crossbow, a boy with curly blonde hair, stands obediently by her side gently suggesting that instead of gossiping with me she should be getting her arm attended to.

"It's not that bad, Peter," she grumbles. "I swear you fuss over me something awful."

Her weapon's jaw is set. "Because you take unnecessary risks-"

"What risk is 'unnecessary' that brings us closer to victory?" she asks. I suspect this is a long standing disagreement between the two.

"Risking permanent or prolonged injury because you won't retreat and allow someone to care for your arm-"

"Enough! Let's ask Soul. He's been in enough battles to have gotten banged up plenty." She grins at me. "Soul, my weapon thinks that I should turn tail and run whenever I sustain any kind of injury. I say that he should trust my assessment of whether or not I can continue to perform my mission and fulfill my duties as a meister."

I stammer out that I don't really think it's a good idea for me to get in the middle of an argument between partners.

"No, it's ok," the young man says. "I respect your opinion. You and Maka work really well together. All we ever do is argue."

I grin. "Maka and I argue more than you think. Just remember that you're arguing because you both want what you think is best. That's better than complacence… at least that's what I figure, but it all comes down to trust. You gotta learn to know one another inside and out so you can trust one another's instincts."

The girl smirks. "See, Peter? He agrees with me."

"Alright, Missy," he grumbles. "Get your ass into the dispensary and get that arm cleaned up."

She heads in that direction, but he lingers with me and when she's out of ear shot I tell him, "Actually, I agree with you."

He nods. "I knew you would." He says fist bumping me. "We weapons know it's important to take care of our meisters." Then his face pales. "Maka's ok isn't she?"

"Yeah, we're both fine. It's Black*Star. He got shot."

"I heard. It's bad, huh?" he says glancing in the direction of the surgical suite.

"I don't really know." Talking to him has been a welcome distraction so I switch the topic away from my fallen friend. "How long you and Miss Bossy been a team?"

With a groan he tells me, "About eight months. My partner didn't cut it and dropped out and her's got too sick to continue so we got stuck with one another."

"I don't think you mind it as much as you pretend you do," I tell him with a sly grin. He gives me a dirty look. "Am I wrong?"

He moans. "It's obvious isn't it?"

I shake my head. "No, I just know 'cause I've been there."

"Yeah… you and Maka are dating now, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I can't imagine having _that_ conversation," he says with a shake of his head in the direction his meister went. "I better go make sure she's actually getting her arm looked at. Take it easy, man."

I can't believe how puny he and his meister look? Were Maka and I ever that scrawny?

"Yo, dude! How's Black*Star?" I hear Kirikou's voice shout down the hall as he weaves his way through the onslaught of students and faculty.

"Don't know yet. He's still in surgery."

Kirikou is still wearing his gauntlets but Pot of Thunder looks dinged up. As his weapons appear on either side of him in human form he tells me that we successfully defended the city. "Marie was on a rampage out there. She was clobbering birdbrains left and right like she was some kind of bezerker."

I don't tell Kirikou that probably had more to do with Professor Stein than with Blitzengard.

Kirikou and I pass the time talking about music, but the conversation isn't really occupying my brain. We're both worried about Black*Star and it seems like he's been in there for a long time. About the time he takes off, Maka returns with a couple bottles of orange soda and a sack with sandwiches from _Drops of Magic_.

"I didn't get to talk to Kid directly," she tells me in-between bites of her ham and turkey. "He was too busy interrogating Sandra, but Patti's taking it pretty hard."

I don't know what to say to this, so I just take another bite of my roast beef and watch as those with minor injuries slowly clear out from the hall. And still Black*Star is in surgery.

Maka and I have consumed our sandwiches and our sodas and are running out of things to say to one another when we finally receive word that Black*Star is being brought out of surgery. He is wheeled into the hall and to the dispensary to let him recover there. Looking like another member of the nursing team, Tsubaki, dressed head to toe in surgical scrubs, is by the side of his gurney holding his hand as he is wheeled out of the surgical suite.

Black*Star looks pale, but not too bad considering. Maka and I follow the team as they transfer him from the gurney to a bed in the dispensary for recovery. The two of us stand at the foot of the bed observing him as the surgical team scurry about doing whatever it is that they have to do whenever they move a patient, but no one gives us an update and I'm impatient. "He's gonna be ok, isn't he?" I say inadvertently making the question sound like some kind of threat.

Someone in surgical garb nods. "It wasn't easy, but we got him put back together. You guys gonna be in here? We've got other people to patch up, but we don't want him to go unobserved."

"We'll be here," Tsubaki says answering for the group as she caresses his hand. She has remained faithfully by his side this entire time as they've gotten him settled.

"Good. He wakes up painful, looks any paler, or has any trouble breathing you call us right away, you got that?" Maka, Tsubaki, and I nod. "Good. Mira will be back after a while to help you, but she's tied up at the moment." Then the surgical team clears out leaving the three of us staring at the ninja.

Tsubaki lets out a deep breath. "I feel like I just ran a marathon," she says letting her shoulders sag. "That was freakin' intense."

"Yeah, why don't you sit down?" Maka suggests as she goes to stand next to Tsubaki.

Tsubaki smiles sheepishly. "Easier said than done. He won't let go of me. See?" My eyes travel to his right hand. While the rest of him looks relaxed he is tightly clasping his partner's hand. "The doctor said he shouldn't be able to do that while anesthetized, but he did. He did it through the whole surgery. He's an anomaly, I guess."

"We knew that a long time ago," I say with a smirk as I hop on the empty bed behind Tsubaki and Maka.

Maka leans over him and forcefully says, "Hey, Black*Star. It's Maka. You need to let your weapon have a rest. Tsubaki needs to sit down."

The fingers of his hand wiggle a little and then slowly his grip loosens and he moans something that I can almost convince myself is the word 'sorry'.

Confused, I ask, "Didn't they just say he wasn't supposed to wake up for hours?"

"Star, you're not in pain are you?" Tsubaki asks softly.

"A witt…le p…pain's good fer… teach… ya… strong… got…ta be stronger." His voice has a rough around the edges quality that tells me he's not feelin' so hot, but even so hearing his voice makes the three of us smile widely.

"I think he's going to be just fine," Tsubaki says happily. She leans over and brushes the hair from his forehead. "You're amazing you know that, Star?" A few moments later, her meister replies with a grunt. He seems to be aware of what's going on but there is a definite lag in his responses as though he's receiving all our communications by telegraph instead of directly hearing us.

Tsubaki bows her head, "But, Maka, is right. I am tired. Do you think Soul could stay right here with you while I take a nap?"

"Sleep…wif… me…" Black*Star moans and Tsubaki turns bright red.

"Star! I only did that that one time 'cause I was worried you were going to freeze to death!" I raise an eyebrow. Maybe my best bud's been getting a little more action than I thought. "And that bed is not big enough for the two of us. Besides, I need a break. The baby's hungry."

He mumbles something about her being right… I think… and finally let's go of her hand.

Tsubaki turns toward me looking extremely concerned. "That's ok with you, isn't it, Soul? I really don't want to leave him, but-"

"Yeah, of course," I reassure her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I was gonna hang out anyway, and you probably should feed the tapeworm."

Tsubaki defensively covers her belly with both hands. "Tapeworm?! Excuse me?"

"Isn't that about what it looks like now?" I tease.

Indignant, she clucks her tongue in that way she does when Black*Star is being an especially big embarrassment to her. "No! It looks like a tiny person. Though it might still have a tail… I can't remember."

"It's ok, it could have three eye balls and it would still be adorable," Maka says glaring at me. "Ignore Soul, he's very anti-baby."

"What the hell?!" I spat defensively. "I never said I was anti-baby… and I like What's-Her-Name." Before my eyes Maka's glare transforms into a look of exasperation.

"Adeline!" my partner hisses at me. "And don't dare call her that around Crona or he'll sic Ragnarok on you."

"I could handle Crona," I say smugly flopping back onto the bed.

"Not without your meister," Maka threatens as she leans over me menacingly.

"You sure you guys'll be ok?" Tsubaki asks uncertainly her eyes traveling back and forth between me and my meister.

"Absolutely," Maka and I answer in unison and Tsubaki arches an eyebrow. "Watch out, Maka. I think you may be rubbing off on each other a little too much."

"Oh, like the bluenette here hasn't rubbed off on you," Maka teases.

"I'll just be gone for a few hours," Tsubaki says suddenly sounding rather drowsy. "I've just gotta eat something. And," she pauses to yawn, "take a nap."

"It's fine. Take as long as you need. I won't let him do anything stupid," I tell her.

"Then you'd be doing a far better job than me," she says happily as she waves goodbye from the doorway.

For the next half hour, Maka and I try to decipher my friend's mumblings in case he's trying to communicate something important, but eventually the exhaustion catches up with both of us and I tell Maka to go home and get some sleep. She's more than willing to stay, but I know from experience just how uncomfortable the hospital beds can be and insist she go catch some 'z's at our place. Meanwhile, I stretch out on the bed next to my best pal, thanking Lord Death that we are both still alive, and close my eyes.

"Soul? You still here? Tsubaki?"

My eyes pop open. I leap from the bed. It's Black*Star and he's obviously much more with it now. How long was I passed out?

"You ok, buddy?!" I blurt, panicked. "What do you need? You need me to get Mira? You're not bleeding again are you?"

"I'm ok! Don't be a dork. I'm fine," my best friend says. "But, you…" He pauses apparently still weak from his ordeal. "Can sure make a dude feel special. 'Tween you and Suebee… I'm really feelin' the love today." He is silent for a bit. Then asks, "Who's here?"

"Just me," I say.

"And me." I'm startled by Kid's voice.

"Kid? When'd you get here?" I ask.

"A while ago, but you were both asleep so I just sacked out, too." Rustling from the other side of Black*Star's bed indicates to me that Kid's probably somewhere over there.

I say that I'll turn the lights on, but Kid stops me.

"No. There are a couple other students in here. We should let them sleep. Here." I hear the sound of Kid dragging a chair across the floor and the curtains being drawn around Black*Star's bed. Then with a click he turns on the light on the bedside table.

"Is Tsubaki at home?" Black*Star asks.

"I think so," I say nodding. "We told her to go home and-"

"Good," he says, surprising me. "I need a favor." We give him a moment. "It's important-"

"First," Kid says as he dramatically rises from his seat in preparation for a monologue.

"Apology accepted," the ninja says cutting him off. "Now… I gotta…. have you guys do somethin' for me."

"Excuse me?!" Kid exclaims in an annoyed whisper.

"Dude, I know you feel bad," Black*Star explains. "But I've got-"

"Black*Star! You nearly _died_!" Kid whispers angrily leaning over our convalescing friend.

"But I didn't, did I? So, we're… cool."

"But-"

"Kid, I got your back. It's no big deal. I wasn't… about to let you kill…" His words trail off as though he's blanking on the name of Kid's intended victim.

"'Sandra'?" I supply her name unsure if it's the anesthesia, the pain, or Black*Star's unique brain causing his confusion.

"Yeah," Black*Star says. "Her."

Kid groans that guttural moan of exasperation that only a Shinigami can produce, his hands bent into claw-like hooks, his face elongating till it almost reaches the floor. His agitation at not being able to make a speech is too much for me and the tension I've been holding in bursts out of me into a blast of belly laughter that makes me grab my sides for fear I'm going to wet myself.

"Yow! Shut the fuck up!" another student yells from somewhere on the other side of the room. Obviously, it's not a real good time or place to be busting up.

"Oh, ah, sorry!" I shout back.

"Whatever," mumbles whoever shouted.

I look back to Kid who still appears incredulous at Black*Star's cavalier attitude about the entire incident. "Black*Star, do you know how lucky-"

"Yeah… yeah," our friend says impatiently. He goes to move an arm, probably to wave off Kid's concerns but winces and gives up on it. "I need… one of you to go to the fish… shop… not the place where you buy goldfish…"

"Not the _aquarium_ store," Kid says once again supplying a word our friend seems to be struggling to recall.

"Yeah, yeah," Black*Star says nodding ever so slightly. "The fish-for-eating store."

"Where Blair goes?" I ask, confused. What in the hell would Black*Star want with the fish-shop-guy?

"No, the one… over by Kiri…kou's. I need you to go… and tell… the owner… that I won't be making it in to work for the next coupla days. Maybe I can make it on Thursday… wait, what day is it?"

Obviously, Kid is as shocked by this as I am, because he whispers, "Work?! You have a job _on top of everything else?"_

Black*Star inhales slowly. "Yeah, sorry, Kid, I know it's frowned upon, but-"

"It's _more _than frowned upon," hisses Kid. "It's in your student contract that you will not hold a job when school is in session."

"Yeah, well… I needed… more money… than my piddly allow…ance."

"What could you possibly need so bad?!" Kid asks appalled.

"And _technically… _school isn't in session," Black*Star says, the light of the bedside lamp casting odd shadows on his face making him look just slightly more off his rocker than usual.

"That doesn't matter!" Argues Kid. "The fact we are at war makes this an _even worse_ decision. When have you had the time to…? Have you even been sleeping? Does Tsubaki know?"

"Naw, Tsubaki… don't know," Black*Star answers. "And you aren't gonna tell her. And since she could show up at any moment… you're gonna shut up about it right now and… just go tell the fish shop guy... not Blair's one… that I'm not slackin' off I'm just laid up… for a bit."

"You haven't answered my question," Kid asks in a threatening whisper.

"You know what, Lord Kid?" Black*Star grumbles. "I thought you were nosey before you became headmaster but now-"

"Shut up, Black*Star," Kid says flatly, "and tell us what is so damned important that you would risk the safety and security of the DWMA and the free world-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Kid," cusses Black*Star. "Give it a rest. You're headmaster… Lord of Death… _and_ you manage to have… _two_ girlfriends and _still_ practice your skateboard tricks."

"I-"

"Can I trust the two of you?" Black*Star questions as his eyes study each of us in turn.

"What?!" I whisper back angrily. What the fuck is he thinking asking that after everything we've been through? Can he trust me?! What a fucking asshole!

"I just mean… can I trust that you ain't gonna blab to your girl…friends what I tell you," he explains.

"I don't do a particularly good job of keeping things from Liz and Patti," answers Kid honestly. "I find it best not to keep secrets-"

"Well, if you want to be in on the secret you're gonna havta _grow a pair_ and keep your damn trap shut," Black*Star tells him.

I laugh. It's rare for someone other than the Thompsons to put Kid in his place. The interim Lord of Death glares at me and I know what he's thinking. He's thinking that I'm just as bad with Maka as he is with the Thompsons.

I grumble, but speak up. I guess I owe Kid that much. "Kid has a point. Having secrets between partners is never a good idea."

"It won't be a… secret forever. But, _I_ can't have _Tsubaki_ knowing about it… not yet and _girls talk_. So, no telling Maka… or Liz… or Patti. _No matter what. _ You got it?"

"Fine," I say.

"I will do my best not to tell the Thompsons, but-"

"Dude! You are _Lord Death_ and you don't think you can stand up to those two?!"

With a sigh, Kid admits, "That should come as no surprise to you."

Black*Star rolls his eyes. "Fine, but if Tsubaki finds out about this before I'm ready to tell her, I _kill, _ok? I do a one-two punch to your face _and_ your nuts. Got it?"

"I consider that to be fair," Kid says nodding earnestly.

"I'm saving up to buy a house."

"A house?!" I squeal in a kind of strangled whisper trying to keep quiet.

"For me and Tsubaki to live in so we have somewhere nice to raise the baby."

"What?! Are you out of your _fuckin' mind_?" This time I forget to muffle my words and scream them.

"Soul!" a shout comes from across the dispensary. "I know where you live. Tomorrow. Two am. I'll be there outside your door-"

"Sorry!" I shout back.

"If you aren't injured you should go home," shouts the same voice. "Maka's probably missing you." The way he says my meister's name has an edge to it… a tone I definitely don't like.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" I shout back angrily.

"That you got no life outside of that meister of yours," the voice answers back.

"Want to make something of it? Just cause I'm her weapon and-"

"_And_ her boyfriend." The voice now has an unmistakable tone of disgust. I feel rage swelling inside me. "You freakin' Crescent Moon students can't keep things professional. It's fuckin' ridiculous."

It's convenient that this jackass is here in the dispensary because he's going to need some medical attention when I'm done with him. I think I'll cut off his limbs! Insulting Crescent Moon, Lord Kid's own class! Who does this bastard think he is?

I yank back the curtain around Black*Star's bed and start to run toward the student with murderous intent as every other curtain in the room also slides open and the entire dispensary erupts with the sounds of every student weighing in on the worth of Crescent Moon and the pros and cons of sleeping with your partner. I ignore all their comments while I attempt to pinpoint in the din the voice of the student who started it all. The one who needs to pay.

Kid grabs me by the torso pinning me against him with that incredible Shinigami strength of his.

"Let it go," he whispers to me and then to the group he shouts, "Enough! As headmaster I will not tolerate this kind of insubordination. The DWMA handbook-"

Everyone groans. Kid's lectures on DWMA policy are universally despised even by loud mouth jackasses like the mystery man across the way.

"It's alright, Kid. I was just pissed off 'cause your _boyfriend _there is awful loud."

"Understood. I will personally ensure that 'my boyfriend' doesn't disturb your slumber again," Kid says shaking his head and dragging me back toward Black*Star's bed.

"He insulted our class," I whisper in Kid's ear.

"Yes, I heard," grumbled Kid.

"He insulted my meister."

"Yes, and he's been hurt in the war and you're able bodied. You don't want that kind of reputation, Soul."

"He insulted the Thompsons and you, too."

Kid nods and says nothing as he manages to somehow maintain the death grip he has on me while drawing the curtain around the bed again.

"Are you gonna take this?!" I ask.

Kid's lips twitch. "I know who he is. I'll make sure the faculty pays special attention to him. I ensure you. He'll get his, if that's truly how he feels. But I think we have more important things to discuss than one know-it-all underclassman."

For a moment I'm discombobulated. What was it I was so worked up about before that ass hole interrupted? I think I'm more fatigued than I realize… I was objecting to something my dumbass best friend had said. Something Kid thinks is important…

"You're serious?" Kid asks turning his attention back to Black*Star as he releases me from his grasp.

"Yeah. Tsubaki doesn't _really_ want to give the baby up, and why should she? She's gonna be like the perfect mom-"

"In another ten years," I tell him, suddenly remembering what it was we were talking about before being interrupted by the prick.

"Yeah… well things don't always turn out the way we plan… or the way that is the easiest," says Black*Star.

"Black*Star, she's just a teenager and so are you," I say firmly.

"Why are you so against this? Just because it's not right for you and Maka doesn't mean it's not the best choice for the two of us."

"There is no 'two of you'," I whisper. "_You aren't together, Black*Star_."

"We know how we feel about each other. We don't have to talk about it."

"How fuckin' stupid are you?!" I ask.

"Fine, if you won't help me, I bet Kid will."

Kid bows his head and softly says, "Yes. I will."

I yank Kid's collar upward suspending the Lord of Death in the air. "Just 'cause you almost killed the guy doesn't mean you have to do whatever dumb thing he-"

"I don't think it's dumb," Kid says his voice sounding strange due to my hold on him. "I, actually… think he's right, Soul."

My eyes bug out of their sockets as I let go of Kid's collar. "You have gotta be kiddin' me," I say.

"No, I'm not," Kid says as he readjusts his neckline. "Tsubaki and Black*Star are young but they have all the elements of good parents and it's not like they aren't used to hard work."

"But it's a _baby_!"

"And Black*Star is the biggest baby I know and Tsubaki does an excellent job of taking care of him."

I can't disagree with this logic as much as I want to find fault with it.

"But I don't see how you're going to earn enough money for a house in such a short period of time," Kid says.

"The person selling it is willing to take a really low down payment because I'm a DWMA student and fighting in the war."

I stare into the shadows in the room. This is really happening. There's no more denying that we're growing up long before we're ready.

"Soul, I know you think it's a bad idea. But you think you could maybe… not be a complete ass about it?" Black*Star asks earnestly. I have to think about it. I'm really, _really_ opposed to it… but he is my best friend in the whole entire world. He'd take a bullet for me any day and if the roles were reversed he'd do whatever I asked because he's just that kind of friend.

I sigh and nod. "Yeah. If you really think it's for the best, I'll do whatever you need."

"Thanks."

A little while later Tsubaki returns and Kid and I take off, but all night long I feel fixated on how our lives are changing whether we like it or not.


	101. Chapter 101: The Loudest Lies

**Risenfromash: **Thank you to **Loki son of Laufey **for becoming my beta reader and helping me not only with punctuation but with motivation. Thanks also to my dear friend for figuring out how to put the proper accents on a certain foreign phrase…

_**Chapter 101: The Loudest Lies; Ninja Babysitting Class? **_

"Don't even _think _about it," I growl at Black*Star from the neighboring hospital bed. For _at least_ the last five minutes, he has been inching his way teeny-tiny bit by teensy, wheeny little bit toward the far edge of the bed probably so he can try to sit upright. The dummy is insisting he's ready to get back to meistering and working at the fish place and his misguided attempts at flirtation with Tsubaki because it's been…oh… I look down at my watch… like a whole eighteen hours since he got shot.

"I'm _fine_, Soul. I'm tough, see?" Black*Star lifts his arm up in an attempt to thump on his chest gorilla style, but instead winces in pain. His hospital bed is surrounded by pillows I've thrown at him every time he's tried to move around too much, but the only pillow I have left is the one my head is resting on and I refuse to sacrifice that one.

"Yeah, you're ready to take on the world," I tell him sarcastically. "Blitzengard better watch out."

Black*Star mumbles a slew of curse words, followed by, "Some friend you are."

"Hey, man, Tsubaki made me promise on my _honor as a weapon_ that I wouldn't let you do anything stupid while she was at her doctor's appointment, so I'm duty bound to keep you in that bed and not moving around."

Black*Star groans again. I understand how he's feeling; I've been there. I always hate being stuck in bed… actually that isn't true, I love staying in bed at home and I doubly love it when Maka's there with me… damn I better not start thinking that way. I close my eyes, at least babysitting Black*Star means I can stretch out and take a load off, too, though the hospital beds are notoriously lumpy.

"When's Tsubaki gonna be back?" he asks with a sigh.

"It's only been forty-five minutes," I groan.

"I was just wondering. Don't get pissed 'cause I like her nursing better than yours." He says defensively as he eyes the mess I've made around his bed.

I roll my eyes. "Well, I would hope so, since you're talking about marrying her for fuck's sake." Why does that concept piss me off so much? I should be happy for him. I get up and snatch the water bottle from his bed side table and stomp over to the nurse's station to refill it with ice from the freezer. I remember that some of the tinctures they give for pain can make a person hella thirsty, at least they did me.

"Thanks," he says as I nuzzle the squirt bottle up next to him so he can drink the ice water from its extra-long bendy straw. He sucks on the straw and then lets out a loud, 'aahhhh' and then stares at me for a moment.

"You know Maka would totally marry you, right?" he says and I actually find myself looking behind me to see if he's talking to someone else.

"_Excuse_ me?! What is with you?"

He grins slyly. "Don't play dumb with me. It's what you want. You just think it would be uncool to say it."

I lean in to him and whisper, "I do not want to _marry_ my meister."

Black*star laughs, but then he grimaces his chortle presumably cut short by pangs of pain.

"Lord Death, that hurts…" he comments as he moves his upper body a little.

"Then stop it," I tell him emphatically as I grab his shoulders. "If it hurts, _don't do it_, man! Just let me and Tsubaki wait on you for a couple days."

He frowns. "Days?! I got shit to do!"

"Oh, Shiiiinnnigami! Shut the fuck up and behave yourself or I'm going to fucking sit on you," I yell angrily.

"I can see this is working out swimmingly," Maka says from across the dispensary. "I could hear you idiots all the way down the hall."

I panic for a second thinking she heard me saying that I didn't want to marry her and the pounding of my heart and the sudden sweating of my palms signals to me what a liar I am. Black*Star has me pegged. If Maka heard me say that, I would freak, because I don't want to ever lose her and… but I remind myself I whispered it. There's no way she heard me. It's only now that I'm yelling… at an invalid. Awesome. I'm such a good person. 'Mr. Cool' for sure.

"How are things?" I ask her, hoping to distract myself from the frenzy of fears ravaging me. Maka twitches her lips in that way she does when she's not sure what to say which means that she's managed to ensure the demon kids aren't hurting themselves or each other, but isn't satisfied with the progress we are making with them. "I'm going to go the library later," she tells me, "and see if I can dig up anything that would give us a hint as to how we reverted Valerie."

"They find her folks yet?" Black*Star asks.

Maka and I shake our heads. The former demon child has been staying with the grandparents of a Deathscythe in the NE district since her conversion back to human form. Maka and I keep meaning to go by and check on her, but with everything going on, we haven't had the time. As it is, I'm getting worried about my meister again. I have the sneaky suspicion she hasn't actually slept since before the battle. I look at her, sizing her up for signs of fatigue, but she knows that's what I'm doing and dashes up to Black*Star's bedside to ask him how he's feeling before I can really decide if she's ok or not.

"You think I'll have a scar?" our friend on the injured list asks her. "I think it'd be cool if I had a scar… you know, kind of sexy." Maka scowls. "Aw, come on Maka. You know that slash across your scythe's chest turns you on." His grin is as wide as a jack-o-lantern's.

She glances over at me and shakes her head. "No it doesn't. It scares me. It took me forever to be able to look at it without freaking out."

"But now you think it's hot, right?" Black*Star insists.

"No, not really. It reminds me too much of Professor Stein."

"Oooooohhh!" Black*Star howls. "It's amazing you're getting any play, Brother!" I don't dignify any of this with a response. I just stand there shaking my head in irritation.

"Besides," Maka says. "Kid would feel awful every time we went to the beach or a pool together because he would see it and be reminded that he hurt you. You know he doesn't deal with that kind of thing well."

"Aw," Black*Star frowns. "He needs to quit blaming himself. He had bad intel and he needs to just be happy that Sandra's ok and I'm ok so no harm, no foul. He really needs to lighten up."

"There _is_ a war on," Maka says seriously as she eases herself up onto the bed on the other side of Black*Star. "Speaking of which they still aren't letting me in to see Sandra. Kid's insisting on a forty-eight hour quarantine."

"That for her protection or ours?" I ask.

"Probably both," Maka admits. "The news about her arrival leaked out before Kid was ready and some of the underclassmen aren't thrilled about her being allowed to stay in Death City."

"Underclassmen are inexperienced morons." Liz's voice drifts in from the doorway of the dispensary. "If I have to deal with one more scrawny, pimple-faced, runny nosed head-up-their-ass Laughing Sun student….urrggghh!"

"Bad day?" Black*Star asks.

"Arrrrrrgggghhh!" she groans. "Yes, but I can't even say it because _I'm_ not the one who got shot!" She plops down in the chair that Kid was sitting in last night and uses her feet to 'walk' it to the foot of the ninja's bed.

"What's wrong?" Maka asks.

"Oh, Kid's just sooo upset about shooting Black*Star I'm worried he might just throw himself off a tall building or something. He's fighting with everyone about when to let Sandra out of isolation and that damned British reporter is due to get here any moment and once she's here Patti and I have to act like we're just Kid's partners. He's thrown us out of his side of the house, he's hidden away any sign that we're together and-"

"Calm down, Sis," Patti says coming into the room carrying a huge platter full of what looks and smells like hamburgers.

"Yes, it's only for a few days," says Kid as he pops into view behind Patti carrying a tray laden with baskets of French fries.

"You know, I don't need _all_ of you here," Black*Star says seriously as he smiles at all of us as we assemble around his bed enjoying the aroma of junk food.

"No, you do," Kid says. "If anyone asks _you do_ because you are my excuse for not going to a luncheon meeting with the DWMA Alumni Association. They want to lobby for me to send more Death Scythes to the Philippines and I just can't swing the man…er…" He glances at his partners, "personpower at this point."

"Are we really that short on Death Scythes?" I ask.

"Unfortunately," answers the Shinigami. "We've never had to manage an assault of this magnitude previously. This is much more than dealing with a couple covens of witches or a single madman, like the kishin."

"What's taking my dad so long getting home with Blair?" asks Maka.

Kid shrugs as he examines the baskets of French fries to determine which offers the most symmetrical heap of potatoes. "Maybe he found some sort of cabaret girl convention to attend. I'm Lord Death, but I'm not all knowing."

Maka curls her lip, "It's a good thing. There are some things he does that no one should have to know about."

Kid agrees with a shake of his head. "Undoubtedly."

"They're ok, though, right?" I ask as I grab Maka's pickles, which she has set on the side of her burger wrapper for my taking.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure they are. I haven't felt the loss of their souls or anything… and I think I probably would since my father and Spirit are so bonded. Honestly, I'm guessing Professor Stein is intentionally taking his time in getting back to town."

"Bastard," Patti comments. "I never realized what a chicken shit he was."

"Well," Black*Star says. "Marie did kind of lose it."

"Wouldn't you?" Maka says. "He did lie to her… and it was about something pretty big."

"Yeah, but how many people are honest about the stuff they did before they were together?" Liz asks as she hands Kid his perfectly round, specially cooked cheeseburger.

"You are," Kid says a small smile gracing his lips as he looks up at her.

"Yeah, but you can handle it," Liz says. "Marie is…"

"Crazy," Black*Star grumbles as he takes a massive bite of a quarter pounder with bacon. "Do wo wealize she's been in here every couple ohwours to check on me? It's like she thinks I'm gonna spontaneously combust or soomthing. Last time she almost suffocated me with her boobs… not that I'm complaining about that part."

"I think it's sweet she cares so much," Patti says.

"Yeah, but I got Tsubaki," Black*Star says. "I don't need anyone else-"

"What about me, asshole?" I say scowling at him.

Kid grins. "Now, Soul, I thought you wanted those rumors about your sexuality to die down. People are on to the three of us, remember."

"Oh, yeah," I groan. "Liz, you aren't the only one having a hell of a time with the newbs. We had a run-in with one last night. So tell me, who the hell was that prick?"

"Just some underclassman," Kid answers evasively.

"You know who it was," I state.

Nodding, Kid asks, "What kind of headmaster would I be if I didn't know everyone in the student body?"

I growl. It sucks that he won't tell me who it was. I'm sure the punk's injury was relatively minor since he was released before daylight, so if I _had_ decked him once or twice, like he deserved, I don't think it would have been that big a deal.

"Soul, he's a pot-stirrer," Kid says leveling with me. "And I assure you that he _will_ be dealt with."

"What are you guys talking about?" Patti asks.

"Oh, it's not a big deal," Kid says dismissively as he gently pats her on the knee. "There was a patient here last night whose behavior bordered on insubordination, but I've chosen to deal with it as head master rather than allowing Soul to cut him to ribbons. Which has, of course, greatly upset Soul."

"And me!" The invalid shouts from his bed. "I would have really liked to see Soul tear him a new one."

I mouth the words, "We'll get him," to Black*Star, who nods ever so slightly and winks back at me.

Kid tilts his head to one size with a sudden jerk. "_Please_, behave yourselves. That damn reporter should be here in less than two hours and the last thing I need is more controversy or things that can be sensationalized. We have to make everything about the DWMA squeaky clean."

Patti laughs. "There's no way to make the academy like that! Or to make our _naughty _headmaster proper," she says leaping into his lap and begins to suck face while he sits there awkwardly holding his burger and attempting to swallow what he has in his mouth.

With a backward tug of his head he yanks his lower lip from between hers, exasperation evident in his tone. "Pat-ti! What did I tell you?"

"That I have to be _super good_ while she's here," Patti says smiling.

"Yes, so why are you-"

"She's not here yet," the younger Thompson says sweetly as she presses herself into his lap suggestively and wiggles her feet like she's just an innocent little school girl.

"Patti," Liz says as she pops a couple fries in her mouth and crosses to the chair on which her partners are tangling. "Remember we're supposed to be practicing making Kid look like a world class fuddy-duddy, so… _off_!" Placing an arm under each of Patti's armpits she attempts to extract her sister from the Shinigami, but Patti clamps her legs around his thighs like some kind of vine. "Remember… Kid… has no girlfriends," Liz grunts as she tugs. "You're… interested in Kirikou and… I'm… not seeing anyone. We are his _sisters…_ and Kid would _never_ do anything fun like do skate…boarding tricks mid-battle… or messing… around… with his partners."

"It's gonna be a long week," Patti says pouting. Liz glares at her as she places a leg up on the chair to get additional leverage against her sister. "This isn't funny, Patti! Let go of him!"

Kid's lips twitch with amusement as he watches the girls struggle. "I don't know why having things return to how they were just a few days ago feels so challenging."

"Cause you're a hornball," Patti states matter-of-factly as she gives him a little peck on the cheek as she succumbs to Liz's pulling and the two go toppling backward legs over head.

"I am not," Kid says turning his head away from them. "Just because I have the _two_ of you-"

"Oh, come on, Kid," Patti says scurrying over to him. "A week without your new favorite pastime. It's going to kill you." She says running her tongue up his neck making him quiver.

Twitching, Kid says, "Well, what man would be looking forward to you stopping that?" Patti giggles and begins to suck on his neck. "And in my defense," he continues, his voice quivering with that desire we teenage boys know all too well, "the impending lack of…" he waves his fingers in a circular motion as he searches for the appropriate word. "_Physical intimacy_ isn't the only think bugging me."

"Oh?" Liz says having stood back up and brushed herself off. "What else has your panties in a wad?"

Kid glares at her and says, "Believe it or not, it's work related. It isn't only you two that agitate the hell out of me. It's this blasted thing. I can't get it open no matter how hard I try." He plunks a small dark object down on the bedside table. I recognize it as the puzzle box Maka and I were given by Tran. "Now, please, stop that, Princess," the reaper says brushing Patti off him. "You're going to give me a hickey and Lord Death knows I don't want to have to explain _that_ to the reporter."

"Aw, Kid," Liz says with a smirk. "You could always wear makeup."

"I think that coming up with an excuse for that would be even harder," he calculates. "And I know it's just us right now, but I'd greatly appreciate it if you didn't make it sound like I'm some kind of sex addict."

"Takes one to know one," Patti says smiling happily at him as she hugs his neck.

"I assure you that we will all manage to go a few days without," Kid says seriously.

Liz grunts. "Oh, I know _**we**_ can. It's you I worry about."

"I'll be fine and we all know that if we can dispel rumors of romantic entanglements between the three of us it will mean the two of you will be safer and more little old ladies will support the DWMA, which is what we need right now."

Confused, I tell him that I'm sure none of my grandmother's friends are Avian Flu and he laughs.

"It's not that we necessarily require people who are in the sunset of their years, but _people_ in_ general_." He sighs. "Avian Flu offers a pipe dream… a life of ease where you're handed things on a platter rather than earning them-"

"As long as you agree with every crazy ass thing they say," Maka spits with distaste.

"Exactly, but as long as the news is good they are willing to take it. Blitzengard can portray himself as some kind of humanitarian with some new brand of socialism that's good for everybody except those radicals who believe in freedom. Sadly, liberty loses a lot of support when people use it to do things that the majority consider to be immoral, rude, or in poor taste…"

As Kid monologues I find myself unable to concentrate on his theories about civil rights, personal freedoms, and the right to exercise magic abilities because I'm too busy trying to imagine him and Liz and Patti having a ménage à trois together. I still can't believe they _actually _do it… and all together. I mean, how does that work _exactly_? And there is _no way_ that Kid is this god in bed that the girls make him out to be. It's ridiculous. He'd be crying and pounding the floor with his fists if the sheets on the bed were crooked…

"…but those kinds of ideas are simply too radical for the age we live in," Kid sighs and once more picks up and begins fumbling with the puzzle box. "Ugh! This damn thing! It's impossible," He says slamming the trinket back down on the nightstand by Black*Star's bed and making Maka and Black*Star startle. I think they were dozing off a little. "I've tried _everything_ and the damn thing refuses to open. I can't underst-"

Kid's grumblings are interrupted by his pocket watch loudly chiming. Flipping it open, Kid says, "Lord Death speaking. Please state your name and busi-"

"Kid, you're gonna want to turn on channel seven," says Sid.

"This can't be good," Kid groans, more to himself than to anyone else.

"It's not, Sir."

Liz dashes out of the room and returns a few minutes later with a TV on an AV stand. Rolling it in, Patti sets to work unfurling the cord and plugging it in, while Liz messes with the nobs and dials until the picture and sound comes in. With a final adjustment of the rabbit ears on top of the TV, we hear some kind of news report already in progress. It sounds like it could be some kind of magazine style program, but not one I recognize.

Black*Star growls like a dog as Harold Blitzengard comes into focus on the screen. "So you say that the DWMA, the nation's oldest and proudest institution of miraculous learning, has kidnapped your daughter _and_ the daughter of a member?"

"Death the Kid has no qualms about playing dirty. Nothing is considered too cruel and he refuses to follow any rules of engagement. He is _nothing_ like his father. Lord Death knew what was proper and what was not, but now… Death _the Kid_ using his Shinigami power has lured my daughter away to join him."

"Could it be that she has betrayed you?" the reporter asks gently. "Many young women choose boyfriends that their fathers are not willing to accept."

"No, she would never do that. I raised her right. She knows that nothing is more important than the bonds of family. By birthright she should be the queen of the new world we are creating, but, instead she is being _used_ by the DWMA and…" He begins to break down. I sneer. The man is actually crying; I half expect his tears to be made of formaldehyde. "Probably by Death the Kid himself… When I think of _how_ he may _use_ my daughter."

"Damn that man! Damn him to the depths of the inferno for his depravity!" Kid screams at the television as though Blitzengard is really in the room with us. Maka shoots me a look and I shrug. None of us know what to do to calm him down.

Liz and Patti have him surrounded, one on each side encompassing each arm with a loving embrace and whispering things into his ears as Blitzengard continues to tell lies laced with insinuations that Kid is unworthy of followers, a 'monster' and a 'sociopath'.

"He has stolen away my daughter to make it _appear_ as though no one in their right mind would follow me and that even my own flesh and blood have abandoned me. But take a look around, see all these people," the camera draws back and pans to show a packed auditorium. "These are all Avian Flu members. These 'birdbrains' are people committed to living at peace with the world and ascending to a higher plane of being. This is Sandra's home. She belongs here amongst the people who love and understand her and accept her for who she is."

Black*Star growls and starts to say something, but Maka hushes him so we can hear the interviewer's next question for Blitzengard.

"What would you say if your daughter refuses to come home?"

"Refuse to come home? I assure you that Stockholm Syndrome does not kick in that quickly. She was kidnapped."

"Were there signs of a struggle the day she disappeared?"

"She was bewitched by the power of the Shinigami and I was too weak… too weak to…"

I'd never admit this out loud, but Blitzengard is a good actor. If I didn't personally know what a sick and twisted bastard he is I might believe what he's saying and something tells me that Kid is thinking the same thing too.

"Dammit!" His voice rings out, echoing off the walls of the dispensary.

"Well, you heard it here folks. Harold Blitzengard's _own daughter_ has reportedly joined the DWMA. Is this the rebellion typical of a girl her age, a power play by the academy, or a case of a personal vendetta between the young Lord Death and his archenemy? Stay tuned… after the commercial break for more news of the DWMA stealing youth from their parents."

The screen flashes with a teaser clip of a blonde woman crying. "They took my baby!"

"How can they show such total and utter bullshit?" Kid's voice thunders. "Where is the journalistic integrity! Did they even think to fact check… oh, I don't know… anything?" Liz and Patti say nothing apparently having decided that Kid's ranting is merely a rhetorical conversation.

"The horrific thing is that people will actually believe this… this… garbage. Like we would have cause to kidnap Sandra! What total and utter bullshit." Our leader begins to pace at the foot of Black*Star's bed as he strokes his chin in thought. "I intended to keep Sandra protected from the public eye, but now that may be impossible to do…"

My meister dashes to my side and whispers in my ear, "That was Medusa."

My head spins to look at her. "Who?"

Maka hushes me. "The next woman. It's Medusa."

"You sure?" It didn't look anything like Medusa to me, but then again I only saw her for a second.

"I can't explain it. I just know. Look at her eyes when she's on the screen. Tell me it isn't just me."

I nod as the program's name, _Today in the World_, pops up indicating the end of the commercial break.

"Welcome back," the man at the anchor desk says. "Before the break we told you that another Avian Flu member has come forward accusing the DWMA of stealing their infant. Let's meet the baby's mother, Andromeda Durst."

Again the image of a woman with sandy blonde hair braided and pinned upward in a style I associate with an old fashioned milkmaid appears on the screen and introduces herself. She looks beautiful, but there is something about her I find unattractive. Maybe it's the angular nature of her long nose or the width of the space between her eyes or the way she doesn't seem to blink often enough or the braids that are so strangely reminiscent of Medusa's hair style when she infiltrated the academy. All I know is that I think my meister may be on to something.

"My name is Andromeda," she tells the reporter. "And my baby…" She pauses as the tears well in her eyes, "was stolen by members of the DWMA. They broke into my home and took her right out of her crib. This is a photo of her."

As far as I'm concerned all babies look alike, except for the really creepy ones which look like Martians. But the moment the baby's photo is splashed up on the screen; Liz and Maka declare that it is definitely Adeline. Meanwhile, the interviewee continues her sobbing and it's hard for me to appraise whether this would seem genuine if I wasn't in on the secret that it's all bullshit.

Kid walks up to the television and crosses back and forth in front of it at what would be point blank range had he been armed. "That woman is Medusa. 'Andromeda'? She did that intentionally."

"Did you see the kidnappers?" the reporter asks.

"Only as they fled, but it was one solitary youth with black wings."

"Could it not in fact have been a member of Avian Flu? Wouldn't that make the most sense since Avian Flu members are the ones who take on-"

"They were not _bird _wings. They were the wings of a _demon_. Their school is an abomination. They bring forth the unnatural. All we want to do is be more in tune with the natural world."

"What would have spurred the DWMA to _steal_ your child?"

"My child is gifted. Both myself and the baby's father are magic users. They identified her as someone who would aid their army and they took her to begin her indoctrination before she could even begin to know a better life."

Black*Star growls from the bed, "I lived that better life and I still get nightmares about it, ya bitch."

"What are you going to do?" the reporter asks the seemingly distraught mother.

"I'm going to make the DWMA pay for what they did to my family and to Harold's. The academy has no right to take children from their parents and I assure you that a mother will go to the ends of the earth to retrieve her child because no one can love a childlike their parent. We are of the same blood and that blood is boiling within me."

"She's threatening us," Lord Kid says pointing to the TV screen. "Medusa likes the game every bit as much as Harold. She is telling us she is coming to take Adeline back."

We are all transfixed. Medusa has joined Avian Flu. For a split second we all stand there stunned almost like that night when we fell through coffin shaped holes in the floor before going to fight the kishin. And then as if the checkered flag has been swung we are off in a million directions Kid shouting orders at us and his watch simultaneously. "Liz, Patti, find Crona. Under no circumstances is Adeline to leave his side." He's like a cassette tape playing on too fast a speed. He needs this person to go there and do this. He needs this person to prepare a statement. He needs to meet with Sandra. He needs Professor Stein to check in. He needs Mira to work overtime. He needs this and that.

"Kid-" Patti says tugging on his arm.

He shakes his head. "Not, now Princess," he says ignoring her.

"But, Kid-"

"I said _not now Patti_! Can't you see that we have got to-"

Patti's nostrils flare. "Kid!"

"For the last time-"

"_I got it open for you!_" she screams over the din of activity.

The Shinigami stops and turns. "I'm sorry… what?"

"She told you she got the damn puzzle box open, Kid," Liz says arching an eyebrow. "The appropriate response is to say 'thank you' not gawk at her."

Kid shuts his mouth. "You got it open?"

Patti smiles and rocks back and forth on her feet. "Yup. It wasn't that hard. See the trick is-"

His lips connect with hers so suddenly he almost knocks her over, but despite what his lips are doing his hands are grabbing the puzzle box.

"I have to get this over to Joe right now."

"You don't have time," Liz says. "I can do it. You go talk to Sandra before the reporter gets here."

"The reporter, right," he says. "Ok, yes, let's do that. Maka, Soul, I need _you_ to find Crona and evaluate the perimeter of Crona and Adeline's rooms. We will need to assign them a special security detail."

He heads toward the door, but then turns and runs back.

"Sorry," he says blushing a little as he runs over to give Liz a kiss. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

He takes each of his partners by the hand and takes a deep breath and smiles at them and then suddenly blinks, looks down at their hands. "Patti, Liz, where are your rings?"

"Oh, sorry, they're at home," Patti says sheepishly.

"We got a bunch of crap in them at the fight yesterday so I cleaned them and I guess they're still by the sink," Liz says. "Besides, do you really want us wearing them while the reporter is around?"

"_Yes_," Kid says seriously. "I want you to _always_ wear them. I don't want them to ever come off of you. They help to remind me that no matter what, I will always have you to support me… and they are Shinigami rings so if they were to fall into the wrong hands…"

"Sorry, Kid," Patti says. "It's not that we don't love them."

"I know," Kid says. "All right, I've got to go. Black*Star, I may not-"

"Just go," the ninja says raising a hand as much as he can without wincing. "And tell Mira I can go any time. I'm fine."

"Right," Kid says waving as he runs out.

"Come on," Maka tells me. "We gotta go find Crona and Adeline."

"Just what we need to be dealing with, fucking Medusa," I mumble. "When we need a witch we get a cat and now when the last thing we need is-"

"We should have known that she'd come out of the woodwork. She's like a roach. She won't die," Maka says.

I arch an eyebrow and look at her. "You wanna bet?"

She grins at me. "We have learned a lot since the last time we faced her."

"That's right, Meister. We're upperclassmen now. We're experienced," I lean in and wrap an arm around her waist in such a way that she knows I'm not just meaning our mastery of dueling. "We catch fire now."

She nods. "We're gonna work with Crona to take out Medusa," she says slowly. I can tell she's visualizing the different scenarios, drawing upon that massive library within her brain to come up with the perfect plan, utilizing all the things we know about Medusa's fighting style and all the things we know now that we didn't know when last we faced her. I sense that this is our mission in this war… not one assigned by Kid, but one my meister and I have selected ourselves.

But is Crona really ready to take out his mom?


End file.
